Ek Villain

About the film

Ek Villain: There's One in Every Love Story (transl. A Villain) is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language romantic psychological action thriller film directed by Mohit Suri and jointly produced by Shobha Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor under Balaji Motion Pictures. Based on a script written by Tushar Hiranandani and Milap Zaveri, and reported to be loosely inspired by the 2010 South Korean action-thriller film I Saw the Devil, it stars Riteish Deshmukh, Sidharth Malhotra and Shraddha Kapoor in lead roles. The narrative follows a reformed criminal who is once again set on a warpath when his wife dies at the hands of a serial killer, all the while grappling with his disturbing past and reminiscing his romantic journey with a dying girl.

Ek Villain was released worldwide on 27 June 2014 and received positive reviews from critics, garnering praise for its theme, direction, screenwriting and action sequences with Deshmukh receiving particular praise in his first ever negative role. Made on a budget of ₹39 crore, the film was a major box-office success with earnings of over ₹100 crore domestically and a worldwide gross of ₹170 crore, becoming Malhotra's highest-grossing release. The songs "Galliyan", "Zaroorat" and "Hamdard" became huge hits.

Plot

A young woman, Aisha Verma, tries to leave a message for her husband, Guru Divekar, when a masked man who has entered her house kills her by defenestration. At her funeral, CBI officer Aditya Rathore points out that it is vital to track down the murderer or else Guru will go on a killing spree.

Past: Guru was a ruthless hitman working for mob boss Caesar, who raised and trained him to murder the goons who killed his parents. When Guru is arrested for killing Debu, Debu's mother refuses to testify against him and warns him that one day God will make him pay for his crimes by making him lose his loved one. Guru soon falls in love with Aisha, an optimistic girl dying from a terminal illness, and they get married. Guru gives up 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 when he returns from his interview, but is murdered before she could.

Present: Rakesh Mahadkar is an unsuccessful man who is constantly insulted and ridiculed by his wife, Sulochana "Sulu" Mahadkar, for his shortcomings. While he dearly loves his wife, he vents his frustration by murdering other women who speak rudely to him, and Aisha turns out to be one of them. Guru hunts down Rakesh and brutally beats angrily him up, then admits him to a hospital and pays for the expenses, intending to punish him by repeatedly bringing him to the brink of death, saving him, and doing it all over again.

Production

Ekta Kapoor signed Mohit Suri to direct a romantic thriller. Ek Villain had been reported to be a remake of the Korean film I Saw the Devil, though Suri refuted the claim.

Suri has stated that every character in the film comes with grey shades.

Marketing

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.

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

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. Further, Malhotra and Kapoor promoted the movie at the IPL semi-finals as well as on reality shows like Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa. Promotion campaigns were also organized across the country in cities like Jaipur, Kolkata and Delhi. As a part of the promotional strategy, a television show based on Bollywood villains was hosted by Malhotra.

Soundtrack

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 film score was composed by Raju Singh.

Release

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

Ek Villain received positive reviews from critics with praise for the performances of Deshmukh in particular.

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!" 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." 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."

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