Movie : Ekk Deewana Tha
Cast: Prateik Babbar, Amy Jackson
It's a remake of the Tamil blockbuster “Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa” and is directed by the same director Gautham Vasudev Menon, but “Ekk Deewana Tha” fails to live up to expectations.
What it's about
All of us know the storyline considering the hype because its Tamil counterpart was a blockbuster. The same boy meets girl story where the boy falls in love with the girl and proposes to her. After rejecting the boy a few times the girl accepts his proposal.
But half way through the movie the girl has second thoughts and does not want to hurt her parents and refuses him. A few songs here and there showing the boy's love for the girl, and how hurt he is after she leaves him and then a climax forms the rest of the narrative.
Nothing positive
The problem in this version is the cast. Neither Amy Jackson as Jessie nor Prateik as Sachin look like they are in love. Amy Jackson is stone-faced almost throughout the movie. And Prateik looks too child-like and a slight tweaking of the character from the original has not done the movie any good.
The screenplay is slow and had to be compensated by a good performance, unfortunately that does not happen. Too many casual kisses to show they are in love just worsen the effect.
Coming to the music, except Hosanna A.R. Rahman's music sounds dull and lacks the feel and effect it had in Tamil.
Only Manu Rishi's role as Prateik's friend/mentor is good and brings in a few laughs. The locations in Kerala are a visual treat.
Bottomline: The Tamil version with subtitles would have worked better up North.
V.GIRIDHAR, Department Of Computer Science, SRM Valliammai Engineering College
