Ek Deewana Tha Review

Ek Deewana Tha starring Prateik Babbar and Amy Jackson continues the trend of South Indian remakes in Bollywood. Apart from the ending which has been tweaked to be crowd-pleasing, the film is a scene-to-scene copy of Tamil film Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (starring Simbu and Trisha).

Directed by ‘Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein’ director Gautham Menon, who predominantly directs Tamil films, Ek Deewana Tha has been promoted as an A R Rahman musical. Does it have anything to offer apart from great music? Read on.

Story: It’s love at first sight for Sachin (Prateik), when he first sees Jessie (Amy). She likes him too, but: Jessie has a strict father who is against love marriages; a rough brother; she’s Christian – he’s Hindu; she’s one year older than him. Oh and they do not want to run away and get married either. Do the lovers finally unite?

Ek Deewana Tha Review

What works for Ek Deewana Tha

  • Unfortunately, not much apart from A R Rahman’s music, especially Hosanna – a melodious track that’s placed right at the very beginning of the film.
  • Kerala, which is known as ‘God’s own country’, has been captured beautifully.

What doesn’t (the negatives)

  • The problem though starts right after Hosanna. The performances ruin the entire experience. Prateik Babbar retains the exact same expression while laughing, crying, dancing, hugging or kissing. He has a LONG way to go as an actor. He was good in Dhobi Ghat, but he’s just completely wooden here. Amy Jackson looks pretty and does well in a couple of scenes. The other actors are way too over-the-top and loud.
  • While Rahman’s music is good, excess of it drags the film endlessly. And compared to Hosanna, the other tracks pale in comparison.
  • *spoiler alert* The twists and turns – the cat and mouse game between the two lovers – just doesn’t work. Several questions  - why does Jessie back out of the wedding at the very last moment? If she could wait for 4 years, why couldn’t she wait for him for 20 days when he’s busy shooting? And a city like Mangalore (Karnataka), which has excellent mobile connectivity, is shown as one of the remotest places in India.

Due to the flawed storyline and weak performances, your heart doesn’t pine for the lovers on-screen, something that is essential for a love story to work. At the box-office, Ek Deewana Tha is unlikely to make any impact. The opening has been poor and going by the audience reaction, the film should be out of theaters by the end of the week.

Rating: ★½☆☆☆ Disappointing.

P.S: It’s hard to be so harsh on someone like Prateik Babbar, who was outstanding in Dhobi Ghat. He’s young and will definitely improve with each film.

How do you like the review? Comments and suggestions are well. Also, do post your Ek Deewana Tha reviews after you watch the film. We’d love to know what you think.

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35 Comments

  • Gautam menon should concentrate only on tamil and telugu industry…Im sure Ek Dheewana Tha is no where near to Vinnaithandi varuvaaya., and ur previous movie “Minnale” was also good in tamil but didnt work in hindi..No doubt u are the well talented director, bt dont think bollywood s big..Today bolly is pathetic…B grade films are become a blockbuster..There is no creativity in it…They just copied films from reigional and hollywood movies..currently we the south indian industry has done better than bollywood in film making…we have limited market bt so far v did good..

  • Prateik Babbar looks like Rikshaw Driver and he’s expressionless,too ugly.He should stop acting and find another jobs which can suit him like spot boy,back up dancer,waiter,etc.

  • i saw today tamil version it is a good movie but i agree with you if she wait for 4 years why not wait for 20 days more
    After breaking his marriage she explain her love to him then suddenly love from one side is gone

  • Don’t blame Prateik.He is much better than his contemporaries.I also find EDT a wrong move from the director’s part.VTV is a cult movie down in the south. The movie fell short of promotions.But the movie is not this bad to be severally panned by the critics.Bollywood’s standards have gone down to nought over the years.Pity that movies without substance are being liked by them. All they need is sex,item numbers,superficial fights,cacophonic songs.GVM learn from this and stop remaking your classics.ALL DOWN SOUTH LOVE YOUR WORK AND YOU RANK NEXT TO MANI RATNAM.

  • review is good but not totally true.this is a movie that honestly potrays the innocence and dilemma of love.it is a beautifully scripted visually alluring piece of cinema.amy jackson is so far the best bollywood import.this movie irrespective of its fate at the box office would go on to become a talking point ala pyar ka punchnama.

  • Choosing a looser like pratik was big mistake . Telugu version had son of a great actor who did better than tamil . ‘Ye maya chesave’ was treat to watch .

  • Most romantic mvy that has ever occurred to me..every scene is like an amazing piece of poetry. PPL might say anything, bt once you enter the theater, The movie shall grip you…

  • i completely disagree with ur point on 20 days….. that 20 days she really needed him… she was going through a bad phase that time…. those 4 years she had nothin 2 wry abt… just his thoughts were der… i think the movie is a feel good movie… better than useless junk love stories like ek main aur ek tu n i hate love stories…. a must see fr those who r in love..

  • Fall in love u guys….gals are fickle minded..m talkin bout fallin in love truely….experience the pain..happienes..nd the joy..ul won critcize like this..nevertheless..evry1 has diifernt opinion…so juz watch the movie and hve fun..after all films are to entertain…so njoy it…!!

  • Awsome movie…. after 3 idiots this was 1 movie which made me to write a comment …. As my personal experience says, the ground truth of most of the love-relations (specially applicable for GALZ), has been portrayed in dis movie in a very simple and original way…. And I m in love wid AMy… this gal is amazingly beautiful….

  • Grt Film !! no melodrama showsha like other romantic films packed with natural perfomance of prateik and AMy A heart touching Love Story Must Watch 3 STARS !

  • hi guys comparing to all hindi romantic films this ek deewana tha is good one and let pepople see and decide the film and dopnt talk so seriously on the film cause film is soo good and i am hoping that many ppl will surely like k.

  • EDT is d best romantic movie in a longtime…it may wnt suit d north..bt i think true love s always a bit dramatic..the much hyped hollywood too had many dramatic love stories..the actors ver nt d best…n betr try 2 watch it with a small group n a cool head..it dnt have much supernatural ra-ones and khilladies…n u wnt have 2 clap or whistle..i had a love n was jst d same….

  • + ve things.
    Good location especially Alappy, Kerala. I agreed about that “Kerala Gods Own Country”

    – ve things
    Casting is very bad. Amy jackson is a wrost actress. She doesnt know Indian languages.
    I dnt know why director select Amy as lead charactor.

  • Well i dont care what critics say about movie.i know one thing that the movie is awesome.it story is very close to many real life love stories even mine.cast is perfect for the film.i know that no movie is perfect but i never feel bored at any point of the movie.

  • i liked the movie…..n it doesnt deserve such rude comnts at all…..both amy n prateik r real…not fake like kareena, imran, sonam n all.. amy is beautiful n talented gal n so as prateik……good direction with the southern tadka in it.. a must watch movie for all the ppl who r in love with some1

  • +ve

    – Amy was criticized before its release…but after watching the movie, HATS OFF to her hard work and effort…she had atleast tried to bring some indian-emotional expressions when compared to a purely indian( s/o smita patil )who haven’t given any pleasing body language and acting

    – picturization of ‘dost hai’.. felt better than tamil

    -ve

    – pratik ws expressionless and motionless…probably gvm had asked him to underplay the character just like he asked simbu for the tamil…but, while simbu was hyper-active in all of his other films, underplaying his character in tamil suited the best….but didn work for pratik..

    – digitally tanned foreign actress was not needed for a hindi-speaking malayalee girl…trisha and samantha(who fell in love with pratik’s character in the climax) had done a great job as jessie..

    – it ws a love story…tamil version had all the very best locations for song picturization…donno why gvm chose to shoot the songs in india..that too choreographed in an immature way…even after having a big shot producer with him…that was disappointing to watch from theatre, esp after seeing the tamil counterparts

    – pratik is a very bad dancer (may b i ended up in comparing with simbu)

    – poorest editing when saw in theatre…they had cut some of the important scenes and added glimpses of them in the upcoming songs….was that a purposeful act from the team or that it was edited by theatre ppl…i donno…i had seen the scenes as trailers but were not there in the movie…that added to the confusion of the movie..

    – last but not the least..it SHOULD have maintained the tamil CLIMAX.. only that climax could justify a confused jessie…who always tend to be on safer side and stay with parents side….

    I realized that actually the script had no strong story..it is just the chemistry between lovers…if that doesn work, movie is gone….

    PS: those who enjoyed/went nuts after watching EDT, shud definitely try VTV for better understanding and better acceptance of the story….

  • Good romantic movie with melodious songs. I liked the beautiful sceneries of Kerala. I felt like I was dwelling in the backwaters of Kerala. The Saturday evening was well spent at Wave Cinemas with popcorn and the movie. It was a relaxing experience.

  • well everything is good except the casting… wonder.. still i really do wonder why Gvm chose Amy and Pratiek for the lead roles.. was so happy and enthusiastic earlier that a Tamil flick is gonna get remade in to bwood after it had been remade in telugu… but after i watched it, all ma dreams broke down.. pratiek’s eyes look kinda uncomfortable in front of the camera and he doesnt know how to get over with that.. VTV was a great legend.. its was more of a LIFE rather than that its a movie.. whoever watched it, used to say the film somewhere has a correlation and coincidence with their own lives.. even mine :) but this movie seems to deteriorate the hopes ppl have with vtv .. bollywood is such a gr8 industry where there is impossible is nothing.. but wonder why “hosanna” couldnt hv been shot in the same Rome n Vatican where vtv hosanna was shot.. Gvm had cited in an interview that he did the choreography for the songs of VTV himself but in EDT it didnt seem as he did…
    * Goa instead of Rome (Hosanna)
    * India instead of Malta (omanappenne/phoolon jaisi)
    * Taj instead of Newyork (Anbil avan/ sunlo zara)
    etc. make the songs lose their originality and the feel ..
    I still feel Gvm should have made the same Trisha and Simbu for the Hindi version as well and had he done this, it would have been a big bang success ..
    Trisha has the maturity, her face shows exactly the fact that she’s a year elder than Str.. the voice of Chinmayi suited her exactly and she looked stunning in saree; in fact she set the screens ablaze with her enthralling simple makeup by Nalini Sriram..

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