Ek Villain

Hindi (U/A)

Director: Mohit Suri

Cast: Riteish Deshmukh, Siddharth Malhotra, Shraddha Kapoor, Aamna Shariff, Shaad Randhawa, Remo Fernandes



You know you have watched a likeable film when some OK-ish to downright pedestrian acting by most of the cast is overshadowed by a combination of plot, screenplay, songs and action. Add to the mix some intense acting by Riteish Deshmukh, especially towards the end, and you can easily look past the extremely shoddy special effects, a lot of missing plot-points and several other elements of Ek Villain that drag it down.



The story itself is simple enough: For some inexplicable reason, critically ill Aisha (Shraddha Kapoor) falls for tough-guy Guru (Siddharth Malhotra) and decides to “save his life”, meaning, wean him away from crime. Guru reciprocates after learning about her wish-fulfilment scrapbook, and the two get married to continue the journey to fulfil her wishes. But then Aisha gets bumped off, and Guru takes it upon himself to find and punish — but not kill — her murderer.



To explain what the others in the cast do would entail giving away spoilers. Suffice to say, Remo Fernandes should stick to his singing, Siddharth has improved but could do better with a few more acting lessons, and Shraddha oscillates between a caffeine-overdosed teenybopper and an elementary-school teacher.



The film finds redemption in Riteish, who relishes his dark side, and in his perpetually nagging wife Sulochana (Aamna Shariff). The songs are already a hit, and a long-cut action scene can easily stand out for its execution. One only hopes that the director had given the film a little more believability and brain by explaining why or how certain things were happening.