Genre: 

Romance

Directed by: 

Gautham Vasudev Menon

Movie Cast: 

Prateik, Amy Jackson, Allepey Vistas

Woes, woes, it’s one of those. He Hindu, she Christian. And even though religious differences are narrowing, here’s an old-fashioned ro-ro-romance that’s mega-harrowing.

So..want to punish yourself? Then Ekk Deewana Tha, directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon, is your ticket. You’re back to the Paleolithic era when fiendish fathers would fume like chimneys, bozo brothers bash up the Romeos and heavens, the hero would be accompanied by a sidekick whose funky facial expressions would make you quite ill. Okay, so Menon’s Tamil original Vinnaithandi Varuvaayaa may have rocked the cash counters but in the Hindi cinema context, it’s totally of sync with the milieu and keeps travelling restlessly between Mumbai, Kerala and woohoo, even Agra. A love story without the Taj Mahal is like a French film without the Eiffel Tower, isn’t it? Merde really.

Also, there are some very strange sightings – and hearings – here. Like Ramesh Sippy fetching up in a cameo, yelling orders to a hero to invest more energy in the next take. Honestly, this takes the cake. Sippy saab is described as the genius of Sholay and Shakti (they forgot to mention Andaz and Saagar) who’s making a huge comeback. Wonderful idea, that. On the hear-front, Javed Akhtar who’s also credited with supervising the script, employs out-of-date words like Zohra Jabeen in the soundtrack. Or was Akhtar saab paying tribute to the Balraj Sahni-Achla Sachdev song in Waqt?
Time, as they say, will tell.

Anyway what on heaven and earth is Ramesh Sippy doing in these parts? Umm, hmmm, more umm-hmmm, lover boy (Prateik) is his assistant director who’s flipped his lid over the door-above-neighbour (Amy Jackson) working ever so primly in an office. She’s a year older and more responsible than the assistant director who begins to follow her with more devotion than Mary’s little lamb. Eeeee. Trouble bubbles: Her churchgoing six-feet-three-inch dad and a weirdo beardo brother are livid. The boy’s dad, however, winks and encourages the Lamb, 'Go for it'. How Anupam Kher from DDLJ is that!

Now come on, don’t be churlish. Just keep following Mary and Lamb, walking in and out of each other’s radar. She doesn’t like him kissing her (which heroine does?) but after a few reels confesses that she’s fruit and nuts about him. In fact, for his sake she even rejects a clean-cut groom before a wedding priest. Not fair. Indeed, your heart bleeds for the jilted groom. No kidding; his pathos would honestly make for an infinitely superior story-script. Be that as it may, now Mary becomes a zombie. Boy Lamb keep bleating, his heart repeating, “I’m waiting for youuuuuu.” Oof, you get the drift.

The ending is a hoot. To avoid spoiler alert, suffice it to say it places your teeth at edge. And throughout, you can’t fathom why the plot compels a self-described senior cinematographer to become the hero’s sidey. Is it vicarious interest in a thwarted romance or is it because the actor has also written the dialogue? Again, no clue. Incidentally, the dialogue drops such conversational nuggets, “All I want is shanti” to which the answer is, “So do I. Where is she?” Hyuk nyuk.

The cinematography is cool enough, the editing isn’t. Rahman’s music score is redone from the Tamil original, and is quite expectedly, the redeeming factor of this long-drawn-out-16-reeler.

Of the cast, Manu Rishi is overwrought. Amy Jackson,in a dubbed voice and pasty make-up, could have benefited with far more grooming. Frankly Prateik still has to grasp the fundamentals of acting. Extremely conscious about how to use his hands, he flings them around in the air much too theatrically, at times even reminding you of a traffic constable giving directions. Truly, it’s high time that he studied his performances minutely in order to become an actor of calibre.

All said and yawned, this one’s Zzzzzz-grade.