<strong>Watch the film for Riteish and Riteish alone</strong><br/> After the out-and-out romantic blockbuster 'Aashiqui 2', director Mohit Suri decided to change tracks and make an attempt to get into the mind of the anti-hero with 'Ek Villain.' Said to be inspired by the Korean mega-hit 'I Saw The Devil', this film, however, is a potboiler from the word go. The director may have wanted to paint shades of grey but what emerges is a clear polarity of black and white. So there's the villain-esque hero Guru (Sidharth Malhotra), the complete baddie Rakesh (Riteish Deshmukh) who ends up carrying the film on his shoulders and the pure-as-snow, capable of no wrong Ayesha (Shraddha Kapoor).

<strong>Heavily inspired by Korean film I Saw A Devil, you could watch Ek Villain for the actors and the drama. Not if you wanted to watch the thriller it was promised to be. </strong><br/> Bollywood has steadily segregated itself into three broad groups. First group is the one who creates original content and the second is the one who adapts older content from elsewhere and gives adequate credits. Like what we saw in Citylights when director Hansal Mehta made it clear through half a dozen mentions that his film is an adaptation. The makers of Ek Villain, irrespective of what their earlier credentials may be, have treaded into the third group - the ones who copy and do not attribute original source. Not quite respectable.

<strong>Mohit Suri misses the mark and executes a mess</strong><br/> Ek joke bolu? Guru (Sidharth Malhotra) is running alongside a moving train at Vasco Da Gama station with Aisha (Shraddha Kapoor) sitting inside, near the window. He wants her to hold his hand so that she can take him out of the darkness that he is in. The door is just behind him. But he continues holding the window bar and pleading. Guess why he did not jump into the train?

<strong>Watch it for Riteish Deshmukh!</strong><br/> irector Mohit Suri has made sure that with the trailers for `Ek Villain` the curiosity is raised to a palpable level. The thriller genre in Bollywood is so unexplored that a premise of the movie should come as a breather. It was good to see the theatre houseful and many others queuing up for a movie that promises neither mushy romance nor comedy. The style of the motion picture is out and out thrill based, and the script and the timeline makes for an admirable tension that has been maintained throughout the length of the movie. But there is a catch.

<strong>Despite its flaws and music, stars' performances keep you engaged</strong><br/> Serving its viewers with the dramas mostly filled with romanticism and utterly delicious music like Zeher, Awarapan, Aashiqui 2, Mohit Suri's next outing Ek Villain is rather appallingly intense and dramatically accomplished narration of murder and vengeance despite its innumerable flaws. The premise however, is taken from Korean movie 'I Saw The Devil' but nothing more you will find to associate with Ek Villain. While watching this flick you might discover similarities but not for long. Mohit Suri has his own design with necessary alterations. Having said that, this isn't a point one should bother about.

Ek Villain begins with a massive plot twist right at the beginning. And just minutes into the film you're left wondering, what will Mohit Suri do now, since he's started with such a high point... That's when his gripping reverse narrative comes into play. When you walk into the theatre to watch a thriller, you naturally expect the twists and turns in the tale to keep you at the edge of your seat. But that doesn't happen in Ek Villain (you figure most of it out pretty soon). And by interval point, the suspense is out for all to see. However, the parallel past and present tracks blend intricately together to keep you glued to the screen.

Guru (Sidharth) is a gangster who is happy to let his gun speak. Till the effervescent, virginal Aisha (Shraddha), a Good Samaritan, crosses his path. Opposite attract. His gun goes silent as the two of them chase the rainbow together. The texture of their relationship has that fairy-tale quality. And just when they start to build their castle, brick by brick, their life is stopped on the tracks by a psychotic serial killer Rakesh (Riteish).

<strong>Ek Villain is too silly to thrill</strong><br/> Let's start with what we know. We know, by now, that Mohit Suri can direct. He knows how to block a scene, he knows how to use actors competently, he knows the importance of a strong moment, and the songs in his movies (more often than not) actually aid the narrative instead of weakening it. We know that Siddharth Malhotra is an impressive looking lad, manlier than most of Bollywood's current brigade, and that when left free of dialogue -- as he was in Hasee Toh Phasee earlier this year -- he can muster up both likability and a smoulder.

<strong>Moderately fulfilling, the film's real villain is a lousy script</strong><br/> Five minutes into Mohit Suri's 'Ek Villain', and a major character is killed off. Great way to get your attention. The rest of the film is divided between flashbacks of a charming love story, and a somewhat unconvincing revenge mission.

There is one in every love story, the film's tagline proclaims. Not true at all. Ek Villain has one too many, both among the dramatis personae on the screen and the men behind the scenes. The biggest of the villains in Mohit Suri's Ek Villain is the screenplay itself. It is as muddled as a serial killer's twisted mind and just as destructive. A vapid love story dovetailed into a confused psychological thriller, Ek Villain revolves around three characters that are severely damaged in varying ways.

<strong>Ek Villain is a decent watch</strong><br/> Filmmaker Mohit Suri's latest film Ek Villain is inspired by the South Korean revenge film I Saw the Devil. Although, it is quite evident that the action is toned down for the Indian audience. It's a story of a serial killer who picks the wrong man's fiancee to murder.

<strong>Sidharth Malhotra is watchable even if he has a hard time doing menace</strong><br/> There's one in every love story, says the tagline of Ek Villain, and the film strains every sinew to justify it. The three main characters - Guru the loveless orphan grown into a gun-toting goon, Aisha the pretty girl busy ticking off items from a to-do list, and Rakesh the smarting-under-daily-humiliations-working-stiff - ricochet off each other, resulting in a film doused in schmaltzy romance and creepy violence.

Look, before we get into Ek Villain, let's be clear about this: no one expects Bollywood to be a not-so-weird place. If you're a watcher of Bollywood, then you have at some point found yourself trying to not inflict violence upon yourself because the logic of the film has taken painfully surreal turns. Like when background dancers pop out like they're mosquitoes, ready to swarm around the dancing hero or heroine. Or when Shah Rukh Khan airs his armpits in the Swiss Alps and that, for some reason, turns a perfectly sane woman to jelly.

<strong>Riteish Deshmukh steals the show in Ek Villain</strong><br/> Is this the love story of a villain? A good guy turning villain, or a villain turning into a good guy? Too much of confusion? Not with Mohit Suri's Ek Villain, it seems. Unlike most of the below average stuff Bollywood unleashes on us every Friday, Ek Villain stands out for its ingenuity: the story is intriguing, the suspense dark and haunting. And, it does not leave you even more confused!

Sidharth's brooding painful anger, Riteish's baffling brilliance and mostly Mohit Suri's direction that tackles the story with care, ensuring its every bit fantastic.

A hero. A heroine. And a villain. That's the standard template Bollywood has been using for decades now. Very infrequently do you come across a film that creates undeniable curiosity for the antagonist. Mohit Suri's EK VILLAIN is one of those rare films.