Ek Villain Movie Review: A Little More Love, Few Lesser Drops Of Blood

There is a sequence around 30 minutes into the film when at its very beginning, I was immediately led to exclaim - 'Here comes signature shot taking by Mohit Suri'. This is the one, set on a ferry, where Sidharth Malhotra covers quite a distance, walks almost nonchalantly, beats the pulp out of 20 odd goons who come to attack him, and meets the villain of the piece. All of that happens in a single shot where at times camera overtakes Sidharth and on a cue, allows the actor to take over.

Though in the larger context of the film this solitary high decibel action sequence may not to too relevant. However, when it comes to establishing the director's prowess when it comes to extending a single shot scene in as dramatic a manner as possible with a sad song playing in the background, as was the case in a similar set up for a scene each in Awarapan and Kalyug to name a couple, this one does wonders.

For me, personally, this was one paisa vasool scene of Ek Villain, albeit the fact remains that it had nothing to do with the core plot of the film.

As for the core plot of the film, it does light up whenever Riteish Deshmukh and Sidharth Malhotra come face to face. Frankly, even though the latter too is evil with at least five murders to his name (on last count), it is pretty much established that former is more of a bona fide villain. Both are looking for redemption of sorts, one of them has killed for a business reason, another for psychological. Still, when it is conveyed loud and clear in the first five minutes of the film that who is the psychopath in the story, there are no guessing games here.

Now this is where one does feel that the film could have been a lot more intriguing had there been a much stronger suspense element running throughout. Here it isn't that aspect of the story that holds center-stage (which could have actually proven to be a much more compelling game-plan); instead, it is the love story that rules the roost. Now frankly, while the songs had conveyed that Ek Villain, despite its heavy weight title, would actually have a love story running, one still thought (and rather wanted) that it is a lot more about high drama, thrills and a bit of gore and violence too. However, it is all in little doses.

(Spoilers ahead)) Instead, the love story takes over the film for a good part of it, especially in the first half and while one would have liked to see a more compelling dil ki baatein between Sidharth and Shraddha, the film lights up every time one is exposed to evil with Riteish standing on the frame. His back story with wife Aamna Sharif is interesting, his modus operandi chilling (though not as brutal as the one that featured Prashant Narayanan in Mohit's own Murder 2), while his theory around cause and effect is engaging.

This is the reason why one watches the film with good interest as the two villains come face to face around the interval point. It is well structured and narrated that makes one believe that a game is about to begin. In fact the plot only gets engaging further as a couple of major scenes follow with Sidharth and Riteish in a bloody face-off. However, the proceedings wobble a little around the middle of the film when the whole saga of 'let me leave him, let me catch him, let me kill him, let him kill me' episodes begin. Frankly, one does wonder what it is all leading to.

Fortunately, Mohit holds the proceedings well in the last 20 minutes of the film by tightening these ends. From the time Kamaal R. Khan (who by the way just plays himself and brings on some good fun on screen) understands Riteish's true character and advices him to go for a kill instead of being hunted, the film takes a good turn with a relentless pace towards the finale. This is also the time when both Riteish and Sidharth get a good platform to demonstrate some histrionics without going overboard even once, a trap they could have easily got into.

Meanwhile, though the love story elements keep making an appearances right till the end, a little less of it and a little more of blood and violence would have made Ek Villain an even more intriguing affair.