Ek Villain

Ek Villain
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mohit Suri
Written by	Story and Screenplay: Tushar Hiranandani Dialogues: Milap Milan Zaveri
Produced by	Ekta Kapoor Shobha Kapoor
Starring	Sidharth Malhotra Shraddha Kapoor Riteish Deshmukh Aamna Sharif Shaad Randhawa Asif Basra Remo Fernandes Kamaal Rashid Khan
Cinematography	Vishnu Rao
Edited by	Devendra Murudeshwar
Music by	Songs: Ankit Tiwari Mithoon Soch - The Band Score: Raju Singh
Production company	Balaji Motion Pictures
Distributed by	AA Films
Release date	27 June 2014 (2014-06-27)
Running time	129 minutes[citation needed]
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹390 million[1]
Box office	est. ₹1.7 billion[2]

Ek Villain: There's One in Every Love Story is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Mohit Suri and produced by Shobha Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor under Balaji Motion Pictures. Based on a script written by Tushar Hiranandani and Milap Milan Zaveri, it stars Sidharth Malhotra, Shraddha Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh^[3] and Aamna Sharif, and is about a hardened criminal whose terminally ill wife is murdered by a sadistic serial killer.

This marked the first time Deshmukh portraying a negative role. It was released worldwide on 27 June 2014 and received positive reviews from critics, garnering praise for the theme, direction, screenplay and performances. Made on a budget of ₹390 million, the film became a major box-office success with earnings of over ₹1 billion domestically and a worldwide gross of ₹1.7 billion.

Malhotra and Deshmukh later reunited for the 2019 masala actioner Marjaavaan, in which Deshmukh's entry as the antagonist was accompanied by him singing the award-winning song "Galliyan" from the Ek Villain soundtrack. A sequel, Ek Villain Returns, starring Arjun Kapoor and John Abraham as replacements in the male leads, along with Disha Patani and Tara Sutaria as the female leads, is in development.

Plot[]

A young woman, Aisha Verma (Shraddha Kapoor), tries to leave behind a message for her husband, Guru Divekar (Sidharth Malhotra), who then calls her, but the call is disrupted when a masked man enters Aisha's house and kills her by throwing her off the window. At her funeral, CBI officer Aditya Rathore (Shaad Randhawa) points out that it is vital to track down the murderer or else Guru will go on a killing spree. Guru's past is shown in flashbacks. He used to be a ruthless hitman working for mob boss Caeser (Remo Fernandes), who raised and trained him so that Guru could have a chance to murder the goons who killed his parents. Guru is arrested for killing a young man, Debu, but is bailed, as Debu's mother, a witness, refuses to testify against him. She warns Guru that she did not testify because one day, God will make him pay for his crimes, and he will also lose a loved one.

Guru meets Aisha, an optimistic girl dying from a terminal illness. She seeks his help to save "Chhotu," an elderly man, from a mental asylum. Guru saves him for Aisha and takes part in Chhotu's wedding with Sheela, in accordance with both Christian and Hindu customs and rituals. Aisha's diary, which depicts her wishes, falls in the Mandap, and Guru picks it up. His friend interprets the wishes, written in English, but the last wish, "to save a life", leaves Guru enraged. Later, as he finds her clicking a photograph of Chhotu's deceased wife's funeral, he confronts her angrily, questioning her views on life and death and accusing her of projecting a positive image in front of everyone, but with a smile full of pain, she reveals to Guru that the wishes in the diary are her last wishes, as she is suffering from a terminal illness. He decides to help her complete her bucket list before she dies. They fall in love and get married. Guru leaves behind his old life and gets a job while Aisha receives treatment in Mumbai and recovers. She discovers she is pregnant and decides to tell Guru in person as he is returning from his interview, but is murdered before she can. Across a parallel story, Rakesh Mahadkar (Riteish Deshmukh) is an unsuccessful and henpecked man who is constantly ridiculed by his wife Sulochana (Aamna Sharif) for his shortcomings, though he still loves her. He vents out his frustration by murdering other women who speak rudely to him or have some complaint about him, and Aisha turns out to be one of them.

Back in the present, Guru finally hunts down Rakesh and brutally beats him, then admits him to a hospital and pays for the expenses, intending to return and keep beating him. At the hospital, Guru learns that Aisha was pregnant, which breaks him even more. While assaulting a nurse (Rishina Kandhari), Rakesh is again intercepted by Guru, who kills him, then revives him with an intracardiac injection and sets him free with a threat to his life. Meanwhile, the police finds out about Rakesh and takes Sulochana for questioning about Rakesh as the officers doubt on him being the one who is responsible for all those recent murders of women in Mumbai. Rakesh realizes that Guru is Aisha's husband and is taking revenge.

Rakesh taunts Guru over the phone before killing Aisha's father Aadesh (Asif Basra). He expects Guru to kill him so that he'll become a "hero" in the eyes of Sulochana and everyone else while Guru will be tarnished. However, Caesar calls Guru and says that he has killed Sulochana but left his little son Manish for Guru to kill. Enraged, Rakesh fights Guru but is run over by a car and dies before he can kill him. Guru adopts Manish instead of killing him and completes the remaining wishes on Aisha's bucket list.

Cast[]

• Sidharth Malhotra as Guru Divekar: Aisha's Husband: a former culprit
• Shraddha Kapoor as Aisha Verma / Aisha Guru Divaker: Guru's wife, killed by Rakesh
• Riteish Deshmukh as Rakesh Raghu Mahadkar: A psychotic killer, Aisha's murderer
• Aamna Sharif as Sulochana Rakesh Mahadkar, Rakesh's frustrated wife
• Remo Fernandes as Caesar, A notorious criminal and Guru's Boss.
• Kamaal Rashid Khan as Brijesh Yadav, Rakesh's friend and colleague (special appearance)
• Md Azimul Islam Sheblu as Alif
• Shaad Randhawa as ACP Aditya Rathore
• Asif Basra as Aadesh Verma: Aisha's father
• Rishina Kandhari as Jia Shinde: Nurse
• Prachi Desai (special appearance in song "Awari")

Production[]

Development[]

Ekta Kapoor signed Mohit Suri to direct a romantic thriller. Ek Villain was earlier reported to be a remake of the Korean film I Saw the Devil, though Suri, the director, refuted the claim.^[4][5] Suri stated that every character in the film would have grey shades.^[6]

Marketing and promotions[]

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) cleared the film with a U/A certificate after a total of eight cuts designed to tone down the action sequences and mute a particular word. Tanuj Garg, representative of Balaji Motion Pictures stated the cuts were less than a minute of screen time.^[7]

The movie's official teaser which was released on 4 April 2014 with the film Main Tera Hero,^[8] got 1 million views on YouTube within three days of release.^[9] The official trailer of 2 minutes 18 secs was launched later and was well received by critics,^[10][11] as well as garnered praise from around the industry, including Karan Johar, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif among others.^[12]

Sidharth Malhotra, Shraddha Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh, Mohit Suri and the film's music directors attended a musical event in Mumbai to promote the soundtrack of the film.^[13] Further, Malhotra and Kapoor promoted the movie at the IPL semi-finals^[14] as well as on reality shows like Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa.^[15] Promotion campaigns were also organized across the country in cities like Jaipur, Kolkata^[16] and Delhi.^[17] As a part of the promotional strategy, a television show based on Bollywood villains was hosted by Malhotra.^[18]

Soundtrack[]

Ek Villain
Soundtrack album by Mithoon, Ankit Tiwari, Soch (Band)
Released	28 May 2014 (2014-05-28)[19]
Recorded	2013
Genre	Feature Film Soundtrack
Length	31:20
Language	Hindi
Label	T-Series
Producer	Ekta Kapoor
Mithoon chronology
Samrat & Co (2014) Ek Villain (2014) Creature 3D (2014)
External audio Audio Jukebox on YouTube
Ankit Tiwari chronology
Samrat & Co (2014) Ek Villain (2014) Singham Returns (2014)

The songs are composed by Mithoon, Ankit Tiwari and the band Soch. The lyrics are written by Manoj Muntashir, Mithoon and members of Soch. The album consists of six songs with Tiwari composing "Galliyan", Mithoon composing "Zaroorat", "Humdard," and "Banjaara" while the remaining track "Awari" is composed by Soch. The songs became successful and were well-acclaimed by fans and critics alike. The Songs "Galliyan", "Hamdard", "Banjaara" became one of the biggest chartbusters of 2014, with "Galliyan" paving the way for Ankit Tiwari's biggest success to date.

The film score was composed by Raju Singh.

Reception[]

Mohar Basu of Koimoi gave the album 4/5 stars and wrote, "Mohit Suri's taste for melody cannot be doubted as the filmmaker uses an album that is a fine blend of ballads and rock, infusing the right octave of harmony is every single song. In a long time, there hasn't come an album which has such perfectly pitched songs, each of them a winner. Music Directors get all the credit for creating a wholesome album like this."^[20] Rediff also awarded the album 4 out of 5 stars and noted, "The music of Ek Villain meets the high expectations that one had from it. Mohit Suri maintains his record of coming up with memorable music for each of his films."^[21] Filmfare wrote, "All-in-all, The OST of Ek Villain is another winner for Mohit Suri who has a knack for bringing out the best in his music directors. Go for it if you like soulful romantic tracks with loads of fusion thrown in."^[22]

Release[]

Ek Villain was released theatrically on 27 June 2014, in 2539 screens in the domestic market.^[23]

Critical reception[]

Ek Villain received positive reviews from critics with praise for the performances of Malhotra and Deshmukh.^[3]

Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama awarded the movie 4/5 stars and wrote that, "On the whole, Ek Villain is a stylish, spellbinding and terrifying edge-of-the-seat thriller. It's a step forward in this genre, without a doubt. A sure-shot winner!"^[24] Raedita Tandon from Filmfare gave the film 4/5 stars and stated that, "Though indulgent in parts, Ek Villain packs in a punch. Copy of a Korean film or not, it's 'good' paisa vasool entertainment. ."^[25] Meena Iyer of The Times of India gave the film 3 stars in a scale of 5, stating that "You cannot fault the scale of Ek Villain or berate its lead star cast. But you wish you could celebrate this thriller like you did Suri's last movie outing Aashiqui 2. This one lacks soul."^[26]

Aparna Mudi of Zee News gave the film a rating of 2.5/5 stars, concluding her review that "The unveiling of the visceral saga has a lot of strong characters and Mohit has done a good job in adapting a foreign film and complementing it with the drama that the Indian audience is used to. But he has gone a tad over in making a thriller. Maybe, filmmakers should step out of this trap more often and we wouldn`t be too far from making beacons of world cinema."^[27] Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN stated that "I'm going with two-and-a-half out of five for 'Ek Villain'. If you're still wondering, the real villain here is the lousy script".^[28]

Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave the film 2 stars, commenting that "Suri is an innate storyteller, and can keep things moving. All he needs is a strong, all-the-way credible, original plot."^[29] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rated the film 2/5 and wrote that "As a whole, this film, besides its surface flair, does not have too much to fall back upon. Watch it only if that is good enough for you."^[30] Raja Sen of Rediff gave the film 1.5 stars out of 5, stating that "Given free tickets, sure, you could escape Humshakals in theatres this weekend with this mediocre effort, but I say do yourself a favour and seek out the Korean DVD. (Uncover it, even.) Now that's bloody special."^[31]

Box office[]

Ek Villain had what Box Office India called "very good" opening, with occupancies at around 55–60%.^[32] The film earned around ���167 million (US$2.3 million) in its first day and around ₹507 million (US$7.1 million) in its first weekend, collecting around ₹165 million (US$2.3 million) and ₹174 million (US$2.4 million) in its second and third days respectively.^[33] The film collected around ₹81 million (US$1.1 million) in its fourth day^[34] and around ₹68 million (US$950,000) in its fifth day.^[35] The film collected ₹1.013 billion (US$14 million) in two weeks^[36] and around ₹1.056 billion (US$15 million) in three weeks.^[37][38] Box Office India reported that it will earn around ₹1.08 billion (US$15 million) in India alone.^[39] The film earned a distributor share of around ₹510 million (US$7.2 million)(Share).^[40]

Ek Villain collected ₹132 million (US$1.9 million) outside India in its first weekend.^[41]

Sequel[]

A spiritual sequel, Ek Villain 2, which was later renamed as Ek Villain Returns, was officially announced on 30 January 2020.^[42] It will show a face-off between two villains played by Arjun Kapoor & John Abraham while Disha Patani & Tara Sutaria play female leads, and will be released on 11 February 2022.^[43]

Awards and nominations[]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ek Villain.

• Ek Villain at IMDb