The latest offering from Bollywood once again reveals the dark side of today's "Review Market" prevailing in the Industry. Where last week's EK MAIN AUR EKK TU didn't really deserved the 3-4 stars ratings given by many, the current week's EKK DEEWANA THA also doesn't deserve the 1-2 star ratings by most of the critics, stating it as a very poor film. So there is evidently a huge imbalance in the reviews which largely get influenced by the production house and stars in the film instead of the product's actual content.
Coming to EKK DEEWANA THA, it certainly isn't any great piece of art or path-breaking film with some fresh ideas. It talks about the same ages old love story between two young souls, who not only have a slight age difference but they also come from two extremely diverse regional & religion backgrounds causing all the problems. The script can easily be called predictable as we have already seen the same emotional drama umpteen times before on the screen. But still EDT isn't a complete washout as being written in many reputed reviews. It's a sweet film with a refreshing first half which keeps you engaged and entertained till the interval. Plus it also has its moments post intermission resulting in an above average film far better than many craps churned out by some big production houses in the name of Love Stories.
Following the current remake trend EKK DEEWANA THA is the Hindi version of director Gautham Menon's earlier 2 hits namely VINNAITHAANDI VARUVAAYAA (Tamil) and YE MAAYA CHESAVE (Telugu). In the initial reels it even reminds you of Kamal Hassan-Rati Agnihotri starrer EK DUJE KE LIYE which also revolved around a love affair in some similar circumstances. But as it progresses it moves on to a different path involving an interesting marriage sequence and its loving results. So what's watchable in this routine love-saga? The answer comes in the form of Amy Jackson, Manu Rishi and to a certain extent Prateik too.
However the sole charmer in the film remains Amy who looks stunningly gorgeous especially in the Indian outfits. Though she doesn't get a well defined character (who remains confused) along with a poor make-up in many scenes, still she keeps the viewer hooked on to her innocent beauty till the end and acts well. The second reason why EDT rises above a routine love story is Manu Rishi, who holds the film together with his natural style and entertaining one liners particularly in the first half. But if only he had something more to do in the script, it would have resulted in a much finer product for the audience.
Prateik manages to impress in his casual approach towards the role but the boy seriously needs to work harder on his dance and emotional scenes. At times both his body language and dialogue delivery goes in an awkward zone which hampers the impact of his otherwise fine performance. In the supporting cast Sachin Khedekar performs the best as Prateik's friendly father.
Apart from the actors it's the Cinematography (taking you on to a Kerala tour) and few songs by A. R. Rahman which raise the standard of this routine love story. Yet the maestro isn't in his full form in the movie as he once again gives a soundtrack below expectations with traces of "Kabhi Kabhi Aditi" (Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na) in his "Hosanna"".
Actually EDT is a fine film till the intermission and it doesn't disappoint the viewer despite of having a routine storyline mainly due to its fresh pair and Manu. In fact this is the reason why Love Stories have always been there in every decade featuring two unknown faces since they can easily make an instant connection with the public and can deliver a Hit.
But EDT is not able to reach that crescendo due to its pretty weak second half and a prolonged climax which eventually ends on an "All is Well" note unexpectedly. It would have been a different film altogether if it had a more realistic climax where there was no re-union of the lovers but they still remained friends living their separate lives in two different parts of the world.
The writers falter in a big way as they are not able to define the character of the girl in a justified manner. Yes a girl in love remains always in a dilemma to choose between her boyfriend and her parents. But the writers here give no proper justification for their parting away from each other all of a sudden. Moreover it all starts dragging in the last 30 minutes without any purpose, which fails to leave any kind of loving impact on the viewers.
In my opinion the love-affair in the film should have ended right there in the Taj Mahal corridors showing a married Amy saying good bye to Prateik and the film should have ended with everyone praising the directorial venture of Pratiek being loudly cheered by Manu Rishi standing along with him in the theater. That would have been a more ideal and realistic ending of a tragic love story as I see it.
Anyhow, in its present version EKK DEEWANA THA is a sweet film with a fine first half and a beautiful Amy which surely can be watched once without any doubt. So if you are really interested in love stories, then please forget all the negative reviews you might have read about the movie as it certainly isn't that bad at all as being projected in those well publicized write-ups.
