Published On : Sat, Jun 28th, 2014

Ek Villain : Movie Review by Prashen H. Kyawal

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Ek Villain : Gripping but unexciting ek-villain-movie-poster-copy

Mahesh Bhat, Vishesh Films and talents from Bhat Camp can not getaway from the typical Bhat movie format or stamp. Bhat’s Hero always is brooding from inside due to some hurt afflicted to him in past. He is always restless and never at peace with himself. Almost always he has lost his parents in childhood and raised by some badass in the crime business. The overall movie narrative never leaves this restless and dark or greyish tone even if it is a love story (Ashiqui 2). Event after the talents who started from Bhat camp leave it and bring their own product through some other production house, these traits remains in their story telling.
Mohit Suri isn’t different from these observations. Though his latest offering “Ek Villain”, is produced by Balaji Films, the above mentioned traits in narrative and characterisation remain same. The film’s trailers and posters created a huge hype and audience is expecting a taught suspense thriller based on the image projected by the promotions. Is Mohit able to deliver what is expected out of him?
The story is about a girl Aisha (Shraddha Kapoor) who is in hurry to fulfil her bucket list of things to do in life. She is always chirpy, bubbly and infectiously happy. She witnesses a gangster, Guru (Sidharth Malhotra) being interrogated badly by the Police and decides that she will get him out of crime world. Through various encounters and followups, Aisha finally is able to get Guru on her side and eventually they both fall in love. Aisha helps Guru get out of the darkness he is constantly dwelling in. Soon, Guru leaves his Godfather Caesar (Remo Fernandes) and disconnects himself from the crime world. They both shift from Goa to Mumbai where Guru gets a job to start a fresh new life. However the same day, Rakesh (Ritesh Deshmukh) enters in their life and something happens that pushes his life again towards darkness. What is that? Is Guru able to leave the darkness completely and embrace the good ways of life Aisha had taught him? Watch the film for these answers.
The film’s tory is based on Korean film I Saw The Devil, but is totally Indianised, rather Bollywoodised by Tushar Hiranandani. The original story is a suspense thriller which he has turned into a conflict between Good and Bad within a man.
Thushar has written a good script which falters at many places but soon picks up before audience get troubled by the faults of it. The non-linear story telling works for the movie but fails at many places in suspension of disbelief. The justifications given for many actions of the lead characters does not really make audience trust in their reasons. But the screenplay is so fast that it gets ignore by them. We can say that it is a good example of screenplay writing when you have very less content and events and all the suspense is revealed at the start only. Dialogues by Milap Zaveri are good in intense part but fail at light scenes. Many times his dialogue make the impeccable Shradhdha Kapoor appear like a fool rather than happy, bubbly girl.
Mohit Suri must be applauded for craftily handling the material at hand. With his editor Devendra Murdeshwar, he successfully keeps the audience glued to the screen and engaged in the flow. Though he has succeeded in having a grippy narrative, the loopholes in the script, lack of suspense and events makes it unexciting. Though we are expecting an exponential excitement, movie keeps the flat linearity. That’s the biggest failure of the movie.
Mohit has done fabulous job in extracting some good performances by his cast. Both his hero (Sidharth Malhotra as Guru) and villain (Ritesh Deshmukh as Rakesh) are actors who get to show their different side in this movie. Ritesh excels in his role being gullible, vulnerable and totally cruel and vicious when needed. Sidhdharth does justice to his role and proves that he is not just a chocolate hero. Shradhdha Kapoor as Aisha brightens the screen every time she is there. Though she sometimes looks like a fool due to the Dialogues she has got to mouth, she does fair job in her role. We feel lack of her presence in later part of the movie.
Remo Fernandes as the Gangster Godfather Caesar, is wasted. Shaad Randhawa as CBI officer is second person who appears as fool because of the dialogues he gets to deliver. Though he does a fair job. Child artist Manish (master Nihar Gite) has great potential. Watch him in the scene where he is hiding below the table to save himself from gun. Another surprise element of this movie is Kamaal R. Khan as Rakesh’s friend Brijesh. Mohit has succeeded in keeping him in control and is ok in his job. However when Rakesh tells him everything,  his cool reaction as if nothing extra ordinary has happened, is undigestible.
The film has got chartbuster music and the song “Galiyan” by Ankit Tiwari, is already a big hit. The item song which comes at pre-climax is a big unrequired and Prachi Desai is totally wasted in it. Background music by Raju Singh is very good. Cinematography by Vishnu Rao is a great asset to the movie. Production Design by Sandeep Suvarna and Sets by Salim Razzak are very creative.
Overall, the movie which is expected to be taught suspense thriller is diluted by the internal Good vs Bad conflict and God gives justice angle. Still it is a good one time watch for the lovers of thrillers.
Rating : 3 stars'
Recommendation : A Good One time Watch. However, people who do not like dark and painful portrayals shall skip it. Others can watch it for the lead actors and Music.