By Naveen
Once upon a time a new director graced the Tamil film industry.
He soon gained name and fame with some very successful films.
The simpletons from Tamil Nadu started taking him seriously as a director and that’s when this fellow realized these fools will lap up anything he throws their way.
First he pissed on them, then he farted in their faces and after seeing that they took it all willingly he moved North to try the same at the national level.
This fellow has now turned his ass towards the audience, spread his butt cheeks with his hands and let go a delousing dump on movie screens worldwide.
The jackass is none other than Gautham Vasudev Menon.
Ekk Deewana Tha is Written, Produced and Directed by Gautham Menon.
It is the remake of his Tamil movie Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya.
Prateik Babbar and Amy Jackson play the lead roles in this utterly boring movie which will most likely do no good to their nascent careers.
For the 3:15 pm Matinee show the number of people who saw the movie was 1 – yours truly. An old man walked in just as the movie started but before I could take the first sip of the soda he walked out and on his way out he stopped and stared at me for a couple of seconds.
When the movie was about to end the cleaning lady came with her broom. She waited for a bit to see if I would walk out and then gave up. Such was the response to GVM’s Ekk Deewana Tha.
Story & Screenplay
From the fossils, Gautham Menon’s has unearthed this story and unleashed it on the unsuspecting Valentine’s weekend audience.
The story and characters are as old as dinosaurs.
The shoddy treatment and sluggish screenplay makes this already pathetic movie rank among the worst mainstream films ever released in Bollywood. It gives close competition to Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag.
The story is about a jobless Sachin (Prateik) from a Maharashtrian Brahmin family falling in love at first sight with Jessie (Amy Jackson), a Malayali Christian.
If the love at first sight scene is one of the most poorly enacted clichéd scene of Indian Cinema, the rest of the movie (2 hrs 20 minutes) is about Sachin trying to court Jessie, a library of poor dialogues, bad acting, and horrible direction.
To keep the movie interesting Gautham has thrown in a totally unexpected and never before seen twist, turns and plot-lines such as:
Ø The parents, especially Jessie’s are against the love
Ø Jessie’s parents want to marry her away to a NRI
Ø Jessie has a brother who is a thug
Ø Sachin has a Man-Friday Anay, whenever he needs ideas or moral support
Ø Jessie’s dad does not know who Amitabh Bachchan is, Jessie does not know who Mohanlal is and their family hates movies. While Sachin becomes a Assistant Director to Ramesh Sippy (the maker of Sholay!)
This never before seen drivel also moves at snail’s pace making you feel you have overstayed in this world just too long.
At the end of it I felt as if I had a prostrate examination at the hands of Gautham Menon.
To top all this all the important scenes are executed in the most senile way.
If the love at first sight scene was horrid, Sachin’s “I love you” scene comes as premature ejaculation.
The move goes like this…
Jessie is going someplace – Sachin “accidentally” meets her – they talk – then they fight then she goes away – then ARR howls a song in the background – then Sachin takes his friend’s advice
Jessie says I don’t like you, there is nothing between us – then they meet over coffee and do lovers talk – then she says I hate you and walks away – ARR starts singing again – Sachin takes his friend’s advice.
Once in a while they land up in Kerala looking for Jessie and then it’s time for the Aromale song.
Like this, the whole movie goes on and on and on like a Zombie.
Towards the end Sachin makes a movie on his own love story, then watches the movie with Jessie then goes to theaters to see audience response.. What the fu#k!
Acting
Poor Prateik Babbar and Amy Jackson fall prey at the incapable hands of Gautham Menon as they suffer one bad scene after other.
While I would like to be sympathetic to their plight I cannot also turn a blind eye to their inadequate acting capabilities either.
Both of them come across as reluctant actors who have a problem with emoting, expressing, delivering dialogues and well… everything that comprises the word acting.
If Prateik is hopelessly fake in the love-at-first-sight scene, Amy is clueless about facial expressions.
If Prateik is completely wooden in most scenes, Amy has no idea how to deliver her lines.
Like this, they match each other step by step.
And what is with Amy Jackson’s skin tone? Why does it look as if someone wiped their dirty hands over her face??
Have they tried to blacken her because she is playing a South Indian? 🙁
And why do the black patches on her face appear at different places in each scene?
Crazy shit!
Dialogs
The creature who wrote the dialogues for Ekk Deewana Tha should be made to watch RGV ki Aag back to back 10 times.
I have never heard such banality in the dialogs in a very very long time.
The quality ranges from incredibly stupid to horribly mundane.
For example: –
Ø Dil kya keh raha hai? Jessie Jessie??
Ø The first exchange between Amy and Prateik after the love at first sight – Mujhe bhi math acha lagta hai lekin math ko mujhe pasand nahi
Ø “I lo” bol diya “ve you” reh gaya
Ø Sachin: Jessie I want to make love to you all the time; Jessie: Kya bol rahe ho Sachin? Aise mat bolo!
Ø When Jessie says her parents will not accept their love Sachin responds with “Haath jodo, ro-o, khana mat khao kuch din”
Ø In the confrontation scene with Jessie’s brother Jerry – Sachin: Yeh koi acton film nahi hai. Naahi koi love story
Ø Iska jawab mere baap ke baap ke baap ke paas bhi nahi hai
Ø Jessie: Yeh sab meri wajah se ho raha hai; Sachin: Yeh sab pyar ke wajah se ho raha hai;
Naveen: Yeh sab us kutte Gautham Menon ke wajah se ho raha hai
Music
ARR is usually very reliable but in this movie he comes across as very ignorant about the timing of BGM and songs.
Some songs are totally out of place and irrelevant to the scene like a hip-hop song when Sachin is sad.
The album for the most part is a repeat from Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya. The audio album is quite good but it somehow seems very jarring in the movie as does the BGM.
Aromale was the pick of the songs for me.
Recommendation
If you walk into this movie clean shaven you will come out with a beard and gray hair.
At 2 hrs 30 mins. it seems like 2 years before you walk out of the theater.
Amy Jackson does give a warning very early in the movie she says “Apna time mat kharaab karo. Koi faida nahi hoga.” I should have taken her advice.
For Valentine’s day this is a perfect breakup movie. Your girl will leave you 10 minutes into this film.
If you have any respect for your time and good sense then stay away from this mind-numbing crap.
By the way, the lunatic Menon has given this movie two endings – a mass version and a “Directors cut.”
I don’t know which ending I saw but either way I was fu#ked.
Related Stories:
Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa Review
Ekk Deewana Tha – Gautham Menon’s Folly added by SearchIndia.com on
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I haven’t seen any version of this movie. 🙂
@Naveen – Is the Tamil version marginally better than this in any aspect such as acting or screenplay or anything as such or is it the same rubbish ?? Eager to know because the Tamil version is critically acclaimed in Tamil Nadu 😉
@SI – You’ll definitely watch this Hindi version today itself right ?? 😉
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Yes, the sheer excitement is giving us insomnia here (3:57AM).
Oh no! I didn’t have the guts to watch the Tamil version starring Chimpu. My wife saw parts of Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya and strongly recommended me to stay away. Sometimes I listen to my wife 😉
Thanks for reviewing Naveen 🙂 you have developed a good style of writing
Funny about that broom incident 😉
I can assure you that the original Tamil version is equally imbecilic.
Everything was pure crap, from Gautham’s lame ass dialogues to the actors wax like facial expressions.
By the way,was stupefied by the fact that the characters have no idea who Amitabh Bachchan and Mohan Lal is???
Gautham, please Shut The Front Door and realize that you are a true nincompoop!!!!
Stop, making movies for f***k sake!
I’m showing my middle finger!
“For the 3:15 pm Matinee show the number of people who saw the movie was 1 – yours truly. An old man walked in just as the movie started but before I could take the first sip of the soda he walked out and on his way out he stopped and stared at me for a couple of seconds.”
No offense, but I just can’t seem to stop laughing after reading this. 😛
Oh man, the things that you do for SI. Ha ha. It must have been wierd watching a movie alone in a theater.
I guess I know why the old man stared at you. He must have thought “yaaru petha pullayo.. yaarume illadha theater la annamatha soda kudichutu ukaarndhurukaane” 😛
Laugh all you want. I did the same when I saw myself from that man’s perspective. 🙂
He must have thought “Ivane vide vetti paya yarum irukka maatan. Iru moonji theriyudha nu parpom” 🙂
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Was he Indian or non-Indian?
Sometimes Americans (non-Indians) rush into the hall after the movie starts and a few minutes later walk out because it’s the wrong hall. Imagine their shock to see Priyanka Chopra or Akshay Kumar or whoever making monkeys of themselves in an alien language and with the setting in Los Angeles, Las Vegas or NYC!
We’ve seen it happen in Regal & AMC where they screen both Indian and Hollywood films.
This was an indian. I know because he was behind me in the line for tickets. He may have got tickets for Ek Main aur Ek Tum and landed up here instead.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Nice choice – Scylla and Charybdis!
“Dil kya keh raha hai? Jessie Jessie??”
I guess the Tamil dialogues have just been translated into Hindi.
Tamil dialogue goes something like “(Pointing to Simbhu’s chest) Inga enna solludhu.. Jessie Jessi nu solludha?”
“Sachin: Jessie I want to make love to you all the time”
Lol, when you see a hot chick like Amy Jackson, such dialogues are inevitable. Who knows, this might have been straight from Prateik’s heart..!!
Btw, I don’t know if any of you have noticed but in most of Gautam Menon’s love stories, the guy is a Mechanical Engineering student(Minnale, VTV, Vaaranam Aayiram) and the girl a christian(Jessie in VTV, Reena Joseph in Minnale).
There were rumours that both VTV and Vaaranam Aayiram(the love angle of the son) were based on incidents from Gautam Menon’s own life.
If these rumours are to be believed, then VTV is more of Gautam’s own life story, that of an assistant director falling in love with a Malayali christian girl.
Menon worked as an assistant director of the movie Minsaara Kanavu before he directed Minnale.
Btw, the reason VTV was a hit here was that most lovers(and those who had broken up) could relate to many scenes in the movie. In fact, while watching VTV, I myself was reminded of the times I had spent with my ex before we parted ways. Some of the scenes were almost close to what had happened in my life. The movie released only a few days after we parted ways and I had to say it was pretty hard on me.
Well, now as a single happy man(it’s been 2 years and I’ve learnt to move on and be wise like the rest of the guys out there), I can say that if I were to watch the movie now, I’d most likely consider it trash, except for the fine songs..!!
1. yes yes yes the bugger has translated dialogues.
2. You see, in the empty mind of mr menon mallu christians are supposed to dark skinned. So, instead of getting a Mallu actress to play Jessie he got a Birt who doesn’t know Hindi or Malayalam and smeared patches of black on her face. Whatever hotness Amy Jackson had was all gone.
3. Mechanical Engg and usually a Brahmin.
4. So, you had a love failure? I guess all things happen for a reason and when it happens for a reason then it has to be good. 😉
By the way, if this is how a lot of love stories are then I am glad I never went through one. Not worth the pain / pleasure it in my opinion.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: I guess all things happen for a reason….
Hmmm, we graduated summa cum laude from the school that taught us most events in life have no meaning and things just happen. In other words, the absence of rationality.
“You see, in the empty mind of mr menon mallu christians are supposed to dark skinned. So, instead of getting a Mallu actress to play Jessie he got a Birt who doesn’t know Hindi or Malayalam and smeared patches of black on her face. Whatever hotness Amy Jackson had was all gone.”
Most of the mallu girls I’ve seen were fair and beautiful. Btw, smearing patches of black on a fair and pretty girl is a horrible idea. Did he do that to bring a desi look to Amy?
“So, you had a love failure? I guess all things happen for a reason and when it happens for a reason then it has to be good. 😉
By the way, if this is how a lot of love stories are then I am glad I never went through one. Not worth the pain / pleasure it in my opinion”
Yeah, buddy. Although it was pretty hard on me initially, I learnt to move on and could see and experience those things that only a bachelor could (now, don’t u have any wild ideas..).
Definitely not worth the pain/pleasure like you said, because you tend to miss many things in life by entirely devoting your time to one person.
The responses have been as interesting as the review !
Anyway, couldn’t help laughing at the hypocrisy in the promotional media for this film.
I haven’t watched this film in any language, but the reviews have been uniformly negative.
However, if you had watched AVSTV in the tri-state area recently, that is not the impression you would have gotten.
Looks like avstv.com still has promo’s running including interviews with the actors. If you think dialog lines in the movie were lame, check out what the actors are saying on the promo’s.
It makes Mitt Romney’s ‘Why I love Michigan’ reply sound like a oratory masterpiece.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
We doubt any promotion can help this sucker Ekk Deewana Thaa.
Looks like DOA.
Haven’t watched AVS TV or any of the other Indian channels (the weekend 2-hour stuff) in over a decade. Just checked…don’t see it in Comcast DE. Lucky us.
BTW, of all the phony political bastards in the world, Mitt Romney has got to be the worst.
“Trees are the right height in Michigan….”
That’s what happens when a politician is auto-fellating and speaking at the same time.
For that oratory masterpiece alone Mitt Romney should lose all the republican primaries and caucuses.
Of the 4 remaining candidates the one who seems most sincere and consistent is Ron Paul but some of his ideas are so extreme that he will not be taken seriously.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Oh No, Ron Paul is certainly not sincere.
The Ron Paul Newsletters the dickhead used to publish was a racist piece of shit.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Elections/President/2011/1229/Racist-newsletter-timeline-What-Ron-Paul-has-said
Fortunately, Ron Paul has as much chance of becoming President as Abhishek Bachchan has of succeeding in Bollywood!
http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/lewis/lewis03.htm
thought its important to share this link..
BTW are you reviewing ‘Grave of the Fireflies’…
and have you read ‘The diary of a young girl- Anne Frank’
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. We’ve scanned through the manifesto in your above link. Good one.
But since when has the clarion call of wisdom halted the march of schmucks or scumbags!
Will read it completely.
2. Graveyard of Fireflies, we promise to do it soon. It’s been pending a long time. Our apologies.
Just watched on Netflix Instant a nice Bollywood comedy Khosla ka Ghosla and a superb Brazilian/Portuguese crime film Elite Squad: The Enemy Within. Will likely review both.
3. Diary of Anne Frank? Yes, we had the book too in India.
Visited her place in Amsterdam and left a note in the big book they keep outside.
Her tragic death, just months before the Bergen-Belsen camp was liberated, is another instance of why we often think life has absolutely no meaning.
Comments like these makes you more enigmatic and makes me more curious as to who the hell are you guys??
One thing is for sure, you have been a great influence on me to bring me out of stupidity and my tolerance for others stupid rationalization and reasoning’s. Reminds me of a fledgling Christopher Hitchens. 😀
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Hitchens is a literary giant who stands tall for the extraordinary vitality of his writing and the enormous breadth of his reading.
Most Indian writers including yours truly are pygmies in comparison.
Anyway, speaking of Hitchens we finally got his Arguably Essays from the library.
BTW, the collection of essays includes a rather
amusingarousing piece on blowjobs!Really. The recently departed writer wrote on a variety of subjects, from Abraham Lincoln to Benazir Bhutto to Blowjobs to Vietnam!
For the curious, the title of Hitchens’ blowjobs essay is As American as Apple Pie (P.403-410).
We may do a short post on the subject later.
Awesome. Looking forward to reading it.
Side note, have you come across these guys, Richard Dawkins (Evolutionary Biologist), Sam Harris (Neuroscientist) and Daniel Dennett (Cognitive Scientist)?
These 3 including Christopher Hitchens they form the Four Horsemen of New Atheism.
Have read books by Dawkins and Harris. Still yet to foray into Daniel Dennett’s books.
Here is a short clip by Sam Harris
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwG9pDNSAXA
SearchIndia.com Responds:
We’re familiar with Dawkins but not the others. We may have read something and forgotten too.
Nice video, particularly the mocking bit at the end
Glad to see you enjoyed Khosla ka Ghosla.
That was suggested by my gf to suggest you 😉
Hehe just kidding, was cousin’s suggestion.
So will you review it SI ??
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Yes, today.
Watched The Others(2001) today. It isn’t scary although it can startle you at times.
It’s about a mother, living with her two children Anne and Nicholas(adorable ones), who becomes convinced that their house is haunted. It has a good load of suspense and I really liked the way the movie ended(many similar movies are fine until the ending, where the makers mess up).
If you’re planning to watch, do not ever refer wiki or any other site. Has an 84% rating on RT.
Forgot to mention this. Wonderful acting by the entire cast. Thoroughly enjoyed the movie.
Does Netflix have these movies – Mahanadi (1994), Kanakandaen (2005), Parthiban Kanavu (of year 2003 I suppose) & Anjali (1990) and Raam (2004 i suppose) ??
If some of them are available, can you try and watch those good Tamil films and give me your views please ??
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Parthiban Kanavu, Anjali and Raam are available.
If you are keen on “Mahanadhi” then it is available free in a Channel called Bollyverse on Roku under Tamil -> Action. Not sure who they classified this as action as the movie is a poignant drama. It is a depressing movie.
I installed Roku a couple of days ago and found this free avenue 🙂 The first movie I ended up watching was the delightful social comedy from 80’s Manal Kayaru starring S. Ve Shekher and Visu. Silly at times but it is one of my favorite movies from that era.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Manal Kayiru gained some attention back in the old days….we may have seen it too.
We have Bollyverse too on Roku but don’t think we’ve taken the next step…i.e. copy the code on the browser, register etc etc. Too many choices these days.
Will check out Bollyverse tonight since it’s free. 😉
Yes, even I liked Manal Kayiru.
Have a liking for S.V.Shekar and Visu they had a class of their own.
If you manage to get Mahanadhi, do see and review it please.
If you like Visu movies then watch Penmani aval Kanmani, Tirumathi aval Vegumathi, Samsaram adhu Minsaram, Visu avan K*** 😉
Have seen Tirumathi aval vegumathi and samsaram adhu minsaram. May have seen 1st one can’t recollect but nobody in this world can even dream of watching the 4th movie you have mentioned 😛
Do you remember seeing Chidambara Rahasiyam, an old popular suspense thriller ?? 😉
No, but I vaguely recall seeing it in the BollyVerse channel. I will check it out sometime.
I saw 1 hr of that movie, Thaanga Mudiyala! Intolerable cruelty!! 🙁
@hari jr
I haven’t heard about the movie, but I remember watching a TV serial with the same name, dealing with Nadi jodhidam and the mysteries surrounding it.
Does the movie too revolve around the chidhambara ragasiyam Hindu belief?
No.
Its a murder mystery tale. Delhi Ganesh is the Black Cat and Visu with the help of Black Cat’s son unsolves the mystery.
And even I remember the serial 🙂
Bollyverse does not require code registration. It worked without any additional step.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You are right…BollyVerse does not require you to link the account. We got BollyVerse confused with another Roku channel called Bollywood that requires you to link, register/subscribe etc.
BollyvVerse seems to have a lot of Tamil movies. We’re gonna stream Johnny (Rajinikanth, Sridevi, Deepa) from there tonight, a movie that’s been on our list for eons.
Sacrilege!!!
I gave you the information to watch Kamal’s Mahanadhi and you are using it to watch a Rajini movie?!? 😀
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Some folks in the past (pre-Naveen days) have asked for the Johnny review. Just couldn’t find the DVD.
Finally found the movie today on BollyVerse.
One of the ‘interesting’ songs from Johnny:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7hG9O7JSXE
Senorita isn’t one of my favorites but this is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEYIwQxyFuw&feature=related
Heavenly.
Also love the Johnny bgm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go6ZDn-CfoA
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Our favorite – Aasaya Kaathula Thoodi Vitta.
pre-Naveen days
I am unable to recollect the SI-Naveen fight.. (Didn’t your love affair start with fight – at least that’s what I understood from Naveen’s first post of his second coming.. don’t recollect Naveen’s first coming).
Can you please point me to the fight….
As an SI aficionado, I would like to check that out.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Get a life and allow us to drink the cheapest Champagne money can buy in peace – Andre Extra Dry California Champagne
Just $4.99 at your neighborhood Gujju Liquor Store.
We want to be high before the Oscars ceremony starts. 😉
thanks Navin….
I am pretty sure that Bollyverse had all that sign-up junk initially… they probably opened it up after no one signed up.
Now I am watching Dharma Yuddham.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: I am pretty sure that Bollyverse had all that sign-up junk initially.
One of the great challenges of the 21st century from the NYT to BollyVerse to Murdoch is to figure out how to get people to sign up & pay for online content.
We have a SI law here: Online Content is valuable as long as it’s free.
Well, we guess it’s time for us to start watching Johnny, for free. 😉
BTW, BollyVerse seems to have more Tamil content than Mela. Must remember to count.
How did SI activate mela on Roku? I kept clicking the Activate Roku menu and nothing happened.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Mela requires linking/registration on PC before the content will play on TV via Roku.
You will need to enter credit card info on Mela.com as part of the Registration process on PC. 🙁
Start here: https://www.mela.com/roku/
Saw 45 minutes of Maharasan *ing Kamal haasan.
Another torture that I prematurely aborted.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Johnny was not bad.
Great Music.
Will post review in five minutes.
Update: Posted Johnny review.
Of those, ParthibanKanavu is just a romantic comedy but Anjali and Raam are good movies.
Anjali is a movie which features Raghuvaran, Revathi and many kids
Raam is a thriller which stars Jeeva, Gajala, Rahman and others
It is said that Raam has a South Korean version remake too which was set to release in 2010 but don’t have any idea about it.
It also has a very good and a famous Yesudaas song.
Can you please watch these 2 movies and give your take. ??
For a change, consider my Tamil movie recommendation as you have considered my other 2 hindi movies. 😉
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Parkalam (we’ll see).
Anjali has fine music by Ilayaraja. Don’t remember much about the movie, as it’s been about a decade since I watched it, except that it revolves around a mentally handicapped child and how her family copes with the situation.