EK VILLAIN RETURNS
Crime drama hits a new low with awful screenplay
THE 2014 Bollywood release Ek Villain being a success had everything to do with the stunning soundtrack and very little to do with the decidedly average film.
That’s why this recently released follow-up, which has been billed as a spiritual sequel, was wholly unnecessary. The complicated story revolves around four individuals who find themselves in a deadly web of deceit, double cross, and murder.
Everything imaginable is wrong with this decidedly misogynistic serial killer thriller and it’s difficult to know where to begin. The biggest culprit of this crime drama is an awful screenplay, which messily puts together ideas from other films and attempts to be clever with little success.
Director Mohit Suri once again shows off his below average storytelling ability with bad editing, a fractured storyline and silly sub-plots that make little sense. It’s a wonder the cast and financiers went along with his vision. He does such a bad job that it becomes increasingly intolerable, so you imagine he gave up trying to make sense of it.
His messaging when it comes to the female characters is questionable. He does a disservice to the cast and makes them all look like amateur over actors. Arjun Kapoor continues his seemingly endless run of disasters, with another performance that shows he has no business being near a big film. Wooden actor John Abraham demonstrates his limited range, and the leading ladies are so forgettable that they almost blend into one another.
The silly cameo from Riteish Deshmukh makes very little sense.
Unlike, Ek Villain, this film has forgettable music, which means the painful sounding songs are unable to break the monotony. When the end of year round-up is done, this self-indulgent poor excuse for a movie will be in the mix for worst Bollywood release of 2022. It really is that bad.