Ek Deewana Tha (2012) Movie Review, Details

Posted by Goher Iqbal Punn on February 17, 2012 in Movies 21 Comments Tweet Movie Title Ek Deewana Tha Film Critic: Goher Iqbal Punn

Star Cast Prateik Babbar, Amy Jackson, Manu Rishi, Sachin Khedekar and Ramesh Sippy Director Gautham Menon Producers Gautham Menon, Reshma Ghatala, Venkat Somasundaram, Sanjay Routrey and Senthil Veeraasamy Music Director A R Rahman Audio Sony Music Genre Romance Ekk Deewana Tha Release Date 17th February 2012 Rating: Valentine Season is going on and Bollywood industry too seems to be celebrating it with oomph. Previously we watch Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu in this month and now another romantic venture Ekk Deewana Tha hits the space. The movie of Gautam Menon has been well in talks. It created a lot of buzz in the media and among the moviegoers who were eagerly awaiting the release. The film is the remake of Gautam Menons Tamil hit movie Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya. Regional movies remakes into Hindi versions have really spelt magic with the Hindi audiences such as Salman Khan starrer Ready and Bodyguard, which appeared to be the biggest blockbusters breaking records and all that. It is a trend to make regional movies remakes into Hindi and even Hindi films remakes into south films. Well, it is undoubtedly a good sign and lucrative step to develop the taste of the viewers of the other languages. The central man behind this project Gautam Menon is without any single doubt a classy filmmaker and a great storyteller on screen since he has proved his prowess in the art of filmmaking in his career. But with Ekk Deewana Tha, he fails to generate the magic for the

viewers, who were anxiously waiting for the release. The time and tested formula of a romantic film gets the viewer simply bored. No novelty has been put in place in this flick. Decades old formula has been used to make a love story on in this advanced modern world. The film seems stretched. Even there are points in the movie when the audience starts thinking that the climax has approached but the film takes the new turn and goes on. This outing lacks in good story and the script which are the biggest flaws of the movies failure among the masses. Gautam Menon is not complimented well by the script, thus the final product on screen then becomes a lackluster. The movie talks about Sachin (Prateik) who is from a middle class family and an engineering student in Mumbai. He is a big movie buff. He falls in love with Jessie (Amy Jackson). It is a love at first sight. The girl Jessie is quite gorgeous, suave and smart and belongs to a conservative orthodox Malayali Christian family, who considers movies even watching the films and loving someone a big taboo. Sachin always makes plans of how to meet her. He keeps on generating deeper love for Jessie who makes efforts just to form a friendship between them. The movie is laced with the sprinkles of emotions and drama nonetheless it cannot get the viewers along with the flow. The formulaic story does not entice the cinema goers. Once you start staying with the age-old story, you begin to get bored and even do not associate yourself with the two leading characters of the film Sachin and Jessie. The biggest flaw of the script is Jessies character which is utterly confused about her feelings for the guy who loves her madly. Not only does she herself confused but also gets the viewers confused. The writer and the director of the movie could not reveal her exact feelings for the lover boy on screen. The script appears more lackluster when the girl finally zeros in to drift apart. No valid justification has been shown for it at all. Gautam Menon does entice with his direction with some sequences but in total the execution fails to generate the magic. A big fact about the mundane direction is script that is weak otherwise Menon is a master storyteller. The reason of making the flick extended is not persuasive. Story by Gautam Menon is weak. Screenplay written by Javed Akhtar is puny. Manu Rishis dialogues are catchy. Cinematography by Prabhu is a work of art. It is fabulous and classy. Editing portions are splendid. A R Rahmans musical score is brilliant and spongy. Prateik does the fine job and attracts the viewers. He is a good actor and he shows it once again. Amy Jackson is gorgeous but needs working on her acting skills more. Manu Rishi does fine. Sachin Khedekar is apt. Rest of the cast enacts well. Final Verdict by the Critic: In a nutshell, Ekk Deewana Tha is lackluster. It does not have potential to spell magic with the viewers.

About Movie: Opposites attract and by this time we all know that this is one of the commonest themes that have been used in many Bollywood and Hollywood romantic movies. Ek Deewana Tha directed by Gautham Menon once again dwells on the same story line. With Ek Deewana Tha Gautham Menon is trying to remake his own Tamil movie, Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa but to make it look different the director has decided to change the casting and the climax of the movie. Hence, in some ways Ek Deewana Tha is very different from the Tamil version and it could be that people

here would love the Hindi version better than the Tamil version. The same movie has also been made in Telugu which is titled Ye Maaya Chesaave which starred Naga Chaitanya and Samantha. While making the Hindi version, the director initially decided to take Trisha for the lead female role since she has done the Tamil version but Trisha decided to drop the project and Gautham Menon decided to rope in Amy Jackson who gained popularity in Madrasapattinam. While the Hindi version was under production, Gautham decided to shoot at the same locations, but later on they decided to shoot the movie at different locations in Mumbai instead of Chennai. According to the close sources the movie will have the same music that was provided by A R Rahman in the Tamil version and Gautham Menon has decided to retain the technical team and the editor to keep things simple. While the lyrics of the Tamil version were penned by Thamarai, Gautham Menon decided to rope in Javed Akhtar for the Hindi version. According to the information, Gautham Menon and Javed Akhtar are really good friends and therefore they gel well. Hence, Javed Akhtar has made sure that the lyrics are based on the Gauthams recommendation about the mood of the characters and to make it feel like Bollywood movie rather than making it feel a South Indian remake film. This will also be the first time that Amy Jackson will hit the Bollywood screens and will play a role of Syrian Malabar Nasrani Christian. Talking about her debut in Bollywood she said that she is really excited to see how the audiences accept her in Bollywood and that she has worked hard to shape her character as per the preferences of the audiences that watch Bollywood movies. The movie has been shot in Mumbai, Chennai, Agra, Delhi, Kerala and even the United States. The soundtrack of the movie has eight songs like the Tamil version and the movie is all set to release on January 13, 2012.