Wednesday, February 08, 2006

One Night @ the Call Center


I had finished reading ‘One Night @ the Call Center’ a few weeks ago, and had wanted to blog about it as soon as I finished reading it, but I thought I should do Puneet’s tag first.

Anyway, Chetan Bhagat’s latest book is damn good! I liked it better than ‘Five-point Someone’. ‘Five-point Someone’ was also good, a fun read; but I couldn’t really relate to the protagonists. It was easier to relate to Shyam, Priyanka, Vroom, Esha, Radhika, and even ‘Military Uncle’, the protagonists of ‘One Night @ the Call Center’. Each is a stereotype, but yet the characters are so well etched.
Bhagat has used quite a bit of Black humour in the book to make you smirk now and then! The manner in which people working in call centers are taught to relate to Americans is just too funny! Now I don’t know if all this is true, or Bhagat has just exaggerated things a bit, but it’s hilarious nonetheless.

The book covers so many wide topics: love, heartbreak, jealousy, mystery, spirituality and the cynicism of the Indian youth. All these elements have been cohesively bound in a book that is hard to put down once you start reading. You just want to, have to know what’s gonna happen to the protagonists next.

The ending (of Shyam’s story) is quite filmy, very Hollywood­ish. But it made me laugh all the same, and not sarcastically at that!
And recently I heard on GO 92.5 FM that Rohan Sippy (director of Bluffmaster) has decided to adapt ‘One Night @ the Call Center’ for the big screen, and Chetan Bhagat is himself working on the screenplay right now. It’s not like Sippy’s gonna take my suggestions, but that’s not gonna stop me from suggesting the actors who I think would be perfect for each role! :D

I think Ritiesh Deshmukh would be perfect as Shyam and Zayed Khan would make a good Vroom. I guess Esha Deol could play her namesake’s role. I can’t think of anyone else but Kajol to play Priyanka’s role, but then she would look older than the character’s age. Maybe Preity Zinta could also suit the part. Hmmm… I can’t decide on Priyanka’s part. Amrish Puri would have been perfect for Military Uncle’s role, but unfortunately he is no more. But I guess Boman Irani could also do this role justice, even if it is quite small. Now who can play Radhika? Rani Mukherjee could I guess.
Now I hope I have inspired at least some of you to go out, grab this book and read it. And those of you who have already read, how about suggesting the names of actors you think would be perfect for each of the characters.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

hehe.. u started it like it was a book review, and it ended up being something totally different :)
and tohugh i've not read the book... i believe ritesh deshmukh & esha deol should not be cast in any case, they shud infact be banned from doing films :p

i know i m being a little harsh on them, but then anyway it's not gonna happen so i might as well say it.

Manish Kumar said...

Haven't read thos book yet!
But knowing Chetan's writing style it sure will be a funny book which one finishes in one go.
So u couldn't relate to 5 Point someone gang! Opposite is the case with us..:)becoz story revolved with boys & hostel life.
Meanwhile I finished Spouse a few weeks ago and it was grt experience going thru Mrs De observations on do's & dont's of married life.

PuNeEt said...

hey dear
earlier also I had read a post on this...
Now I need to buy this book
heard a lot of appreciation

Nice review
Lets c how the movie is made
u have done the casting for him already :-))

Cheers

DalzRulz said...

Hey Phoenix, nice review, I've decided to grab this book @ the crossword sale now. Ok, u know i left a comment last month on ur blog bout this play called 'butter n mashed banana' Not sure if u read that, so i was just checking it again...and i saw a new post, its the last one on that blog. Did u catch that, haha..its a bit freaky, totally amusing. check it out. Keep blogging...cheers!!

Urvashi said...

Hi Amitken!
I like Ritesh Deshmukh, he acts quite well! And the only movie I thought that Esha Deol had given a good performance till now is Yuva. I think if she gets a good director she is capable of a good performance.

Hey Manish!
'Spouse' really is a good book na? Glad you enjoyed it. I think you will also ehjoy 'One Night @ the Call Center'.

Hi Puneet!
Yeah! May be I should contact Rohan Sippy and charge him for my casting "suggestions" too!! LOL!!

Hi Life!
I had checked out your comment long back, and I completely forgot to reply back. I had visited your blog too.

Did you mean the comment left by Nakul Krishan's father? I was pleasantly surprised by that! :)

DalzRulz said...

Hi Phoenix, yes I was refering to th comment by Nakul Krishans father. I see that you replied to him too, thats cool. And thanks for visiting my blog, its not much yet but I intend to blog more regularly now. Ciao.

Anonymous said...

hey affy!!
Iam back buddy!! i will reply to ur tag ASAP. Read the review of one night at call center and purrfect lover!! BTW, i LLLLLLLLoOOOOOVVVVVVEEEE kunal kapoor. He is like the most sensual looking bollywoood actor i have seen!!(more drooling in person) and i wanna read one night at call centre tooo.(hint, hint)! if they made a movie with all those actors u suggested, i wud love to watch it!!

Urvashi said...

Hi Athy!
How come you didn't use your id?
Anyway, I'll be waiting for your tag to appear.
And what do you mean by "more drooling in person"?? Did you actually see him in person????
And I got your barely concealed hint like it was lit up by a thousand flash bulbs!!

Ar Ar Ar Arrrrr said...

I started "5 point someone" while I was in Hyd...read like 130 pages only till today morning..nice read....I enjoyed his sense of humor...pretty neat...

Next in the line surely will be "one night at call center"

Anonymous said...

hey affy!!
since i just finished reading one night @ call centre, i thot i wud leave this comment. the book is very good, and the MBA jargons especially crack me up!! i think rani wud be suitable to play priyankas part and tabu for radhika's part. i wud say antara mali, or amrita rao for esha part coz esha deol looks too tomboyish and masculine.

Urvashi said...

Hey Arz000n!
You have to read 'One Night @ the Call Center' next! Maybe even you'll like it better than "Five Point Someone".

Hey Athy!
Rani huh?? I was actually thinking that Priyanka Chopra would also be quite good for Priyanka's part.