Ek Villain

Make no mistake, this film is inspired from the cult Korean flick I Saw the Devil as far as the basic premise and characterisations are concerned. However, Ek Villain goes far beyond and explores areas that the original didn’t venture into. Sadly though, it fails at most of it.

To be fair, the film has the similar high points as most Bhatt camp/Mohit Suri movies do. It features uniformly good performances and a very hummable soundtrack in Galliyan and Banjara and kudos to Mithoon and Ankit Tiwari for the same. The gritty production values and nifty direction by Mohit Suri (including a nicely executed long take fight sequence in a dockyard) and less than languid pace of the movie keep you interested for most of it’s duration.

However, the script does not do justice to the premise and falters repeatedly and without doubt the biggest flaw of the movie are it’s dialogues. There are multiple plot points which are intended to be chilling but turn out laughable solely because of the extremely corny lines dished out by the writer Milap Zaveri. There is an overpowering background score underlining each scene and few genuinely good moments are marred by the lack of subtlety in the execution.

Shraddha Kapoor is overtly chirpy, a character requirement, but she is the weak link in the performances department. She needs to up her game if she wants to be taken seriously as an actress. Sidharth Malhotra is impressive in his portrayal of a brutal gangster turned gentleman. As a man seeking vengeance, Sidharth mouths his lines with aplomb and fits the character perfectly. However, Riteish Deshmukh’s turn as a psychotic everyman turned serial killer deserves the biggest  hand. He is menacing in most scenes and very effective. Aamna Sharif, Remo Fernandes, Kamaal R Khan and Shaad Randhawa complete the supporting cast and give average performances.

The songs although good do not help the pace of the movie as they keep appearing now and again. Using a good soundtrack judiciously is clearly not a strength of Bhatt camp. The climax however is a strong point of the film and renders an edge to the otherwise meandering script.

Overall, Ek Villain boasts of some good performances and a m

Hindi, Action, Drama, Color