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Film Critic: Goher Iqbal Punn

Star Cast: Kareena Kapoor, Imran Khan, Boman Irani, Randhir Kapoor, Ram Kapoor, Ratna Pathak Shah

Director: Shakun Batra

Producer: Karan Johar, Ronnie Screwwala

Music Director: Amit Trivedi

Lyrics: Amitabh Bhattacharya

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Rating:

The well-in-talks movie 'Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu' is out in theaters now. Bollywood industry is laced with endless romantic movies and the churning out of these flicks keep on happening on the Indian cinematic abode. Audience love to watch the love sagas on screen. Majority of these kinds of films are being chewed on the same time and tested formulas. Many a time we witness the same age-old formulaic subjects on celluloid, which is why we get bored. And it happens in Bollywood that the moviegoers turn down the romantic flicks made on the routine themes.

Karan Johar, the producer of this film, confers the chances to the new directors to showcase their skills of execution at his junction. Johar this time around gives the mammoth chance to the first time director Shakun Batra, who supremely displays his histrionics on screen. Shakun, though using the big screen for the first time, brings the novelty to the subject of direction that appeals to the cinegoers. Batra tosses away the routine formula of heavy drama widely used in Bollywood movies and instead make the movie lively and vivacious that directly talks to the viewers. And that's the beauty of this outing!

Batra's Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu seems to be walking on the lines of Imtiaz Ali's Jab We Met but these are just a bit shadows, which develop into the minds of the viewers while watching the flick. In actual, the movie is neither a copy of any flick nor it borrows any idea from any project. The writers and the director make it an utter different and novel enterprise to dish out for the pleasures of the entertainment thirsty cinema buffs.

The movie though is a final product for the youngsters due to its lively and energetic plot but the older generation too can equally entertain with this offering of Shakun Batra. Often a good friendship turns into romance which then culminates into marriage but what happens when you get married by mistake? This is the storyline of Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu where two persons bump into each other and land into marriage by mistake that brings the turning point in both persons' lives.

The film is a present day romance depicted well on screen. The writers have really made the story super alluring and novel where a guy lives his life on the lines of his parents and then a girl hits his life and changes his utter perspective towards the lively things life offers.

Shakun is a brilliant story-teller and he proves it on celluloid. There is no sign of yawning in the auditorium as the viewers find themselves fixed on the screen from the initial reels to the climax of the movie. Very intelligently made film, it lets you sail through the pleasures all the way.

Rahul (Imran Khan) goes on the lines on his parents (Boman Irani and Ratna Pathak Shah) to spend the life. He is an architect in Las Vegas and loses his job. Getting afraid, he now hides the fact from his parents. He tries to find another job. Destiny makes him meet Riana (Kareena Kapoor). She is a hairstylist and vivacious and bubbly by nature. She is totally different from Rahul. The events happen between them take both of them to meet up on the eve of Christmas over drinks. Post the night of dissipation, both wake up and explore that they are married. Now Rahul is more afraid, as he has to hide two truths from his parents – job loss and marriage. Now they both plan to null and void the marriage and reach at the court and get the appointment in 10 days. Unlikely friendship takes place between the two over the coming ten days which are filled with laughs, interesting moments and arguments between the two.

The movie is set in the urban cities of Las Vegas and Mumbai and the eye-candy locales of the cities arrest the breath. Shakun does not waste the time and makes the introduction of the leading characters of the movie and then starts making his focus on the two main characters – Imran Khan and Kareena Kapoor. The direction of Shakun is simply awesome and intelligently done. The first half of the film is swathed with many important frames which inject pleasures into the souls of the audience. Post interval portion shows of the actual saga of the movie that is attention binding. The film shifts to India (Mumbai) where the twist emerges. The entire movie is well executed but the three sequences let you salute the director, as they are classily picturised – When Rahul (Imran Khan) confronts his parents, outbreak at dinner table and the climax of the movie.

The writers of the film – Ayesha Devitre and Shakun Batra deserve the brownie points for making such a different, unique and attention-grabbing script. Their story is really an out of the box idea. The cinematography of the movie is a work of class. The locales of Las Vegas and Mumbai have been captured with aplomb. Editing is crispy and deserves full marks. Music of the film by Amit Trivedi is superlative and spongy.

Imran Khan shows his class in this film. Enacting brilliantly in front of your senior actress (Kareena Kapoor) was not that easy for him but he did not show any sign of being Kareena's junior. Kareena Kapoor loots the scene with her usual luminous acting prowess. Her lively character injects soothing pleasures into the souls of the viewers. Kareena can now wait for the best actress award for this performance. Boman Irani is fabulous. Ratna Pathak Shah is great to watch. Sonia Mehra is interesting to view in cameo role. Ram Kapoor is wonderful. Rest of the cast impresses as well.

Final Verdict by the Critic:

Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu is a treat for the lovers. Laced with the novel and livewire script, brilliant direction and energetic performance, the movie is a true gift to make your Valentine's Day super rich and alluring.

⭐️Review:Times Of India

Director: Shakun Batra
Cast: Kareena Kapoor, Imran Khan

In a smart conversational excerpt from the film, the hero downplays himself as an ordinary guy who doesn't excel in any particular domain. But the heroine finds uniqueness in his commonplace conduct since he never overindulges into anything. She tags him with the paradox - 'perfectly average'. That precisely defines the film as well. It's perfect in whatever it offers. But what it offers is quite average in volume.

Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu is a rom-com about two diagonally opposite individuals. The boy leads a bland and boring life. The girl is blabbermouth and full of life. Their paths cross. And as expected, opposites attract. So what's new?

Rahul (Imran Khan) could never come out of the shadow of his parents who tried molding him in their customized templates. A random encounter with Riana (Kareena Kapoor) leads to a few drinks and they wake up next morning to realize they got married in their drunken stupor. Annulling their accidental wedlock would take a few days.

Meanwhile Riana loses her rented apartment and checks-in with Rahul. The uptight Rahul loosens up in Riana's company and starts 'living life'. Cupid strikes Rahul over a Kuch Kuch Hota Hai song. Further they fly to India where Riana expectedly introduces Rahul to her extended joint family - the only variation being they are Christian folks over the perpetual Punjabi prototypes. What follows includes misunderstandings, separations and reunions...

Let the accidental marriage idea not mislead you. Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu is nowhere in the zone of Hollywood flicks like What Happens in Vegas (2008) or The Proposal (2009). The accidental marriage theme is employed more as a gimmick and doesn't contribute anything to the story. In fact the makers take the convenient route and entirely do away with the actual marriage scene from the narrative. Also the lead pair chooses to stay together and is never compelled by any legal obligations.

The writing by Ayesha Devitre and Shakun Batra is a case of too much screenplay without much story. The overall tone of the film is refreshingly lighthearted and the chemistry between Kareena and Imran is conversational over corporeal. But somewhere the story seems too shallow after a point with no tangible plot-point conflicts and the screenplay tries to fill that void with birthday parties, New Year celebrations, school revisits and such similar elements that remain external to the central plot.

Nevertheless you find solace in the film's subdued sense of humour and subtle temperament. The subtlety is not per se but largely because the story is devoid of any theatrical twists. And the residual dramatic sequences are handled with utmost sensitivity by director Shakun Batra, like Imran's climactic outburst at the dinner table. The dialogues comprise more of carefree and casual conversations over dramatically designed punches and go smoothly with the natural flow of scenes. There's an intentional aberration in the end to set the film in a league of its own but could disappoint the ones viewing the film as a Valentine special.

Kareena Kapoor is beautiful in both her looks and acts. Despite playing the chirpy-outgoing girl, she never goes overboard and is absolutely adorable. Playing the high-strung guy with deadpan expressions comes naturally to Imran Khan. He comes up with a fairly decent act. Their chemistry is informal and affable. Ratna Pathak Shah as the elite fashion-fanatic mother is too good. Boman Irani as the business-minded father is restrained in his role. Sonia Mehra (after some disastrous films) comes across as desirable in her one-scene cameo. Ram Kapoor gets no scope. The actor playing Kareena's father is funny and a fresh deviation from the regular father figures of Bollywood.

Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu is the kind of film you don't mind watching. But then again, you don't miss anything imaginative if you skip this.

Verdict: Above average