Ek Villain

EK Villain
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mohit Suri
Written by	Story and Screenplay: Tushar Hiranandani Dialogues: Milap Milan Zaveri
Produced by	Ekta Kapoor Shobha Kapoor
Starring	Riteish Deshmukh Sidharth Malhotra Shraddha Kapoor
Cinematography	Vishnu Rao
Edited by	Devendra Murudeshwar
Music by	Songs: Ankit Tiwari Mithoon Soch - The Band Score: Raju Singh
Production company	Balaji Motion Pictures
Distributed by	AA Films
Release date	27 June 2014 (2014-06-27) (India)
Running time	129 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹39 crore
Box office	est. ₹169.62 crore

Ek Villain: There's One in Every Love Story (transl. One Villain: There's One in Every Love Story) is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Mohit Suri and produced by Shobha Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor under Balaji Motion Pictures. Based on a script written by Tushar Hiranandani and Milap Milan Zaveri, it stars Riteish Deshmukh, Sidharth Malhotra and Shraddha Kapoor in lead roles.

Ek Villain was released worldwide on 27 June 2014 and received positive reviews from critics, garnering praise for its theme, direction, screenwriting and action sequences with Deshmukh receiving particular praise in his first ever negative role. Made on a budget of ₹39 crore, the film was a major box-office success with earnings of over ₹100 crore domestically and a worldwide gross of ₹170 crore. The songs "Galliyan", "Zaroorat" and "Hamdard" became huge hits.

Malhotra and Deshmukh later reunited for the 2019 masala actioner Marjaavaan, in which Deshmukh's entry as the antagonist was accompanied by him singing the award winning song "Galliyan" from the Ek Villain soundtrack. A sequel titled Ek Villain Returns, starring John Abraham and Arjun Kapoor, along with Disha Patani and Tara Sutaria, was released in July 2022; Deshmukh reprises his role in the sequel both as part of archive footage and for a mid-credits appearance.

Plot

A young woman Aisha Verma, tries to leave a message for her husband, Guru Pratap Singh, when a masked man who has entered her house, kills her by defenestration. At her funeral, CBI officer Aditya Rathore points out that it is vital to track down the murderer or else Guru Divekar, Aisha's husband, will go on a killing spree.

Past: Guru was a ruthless hitman working for mob boss Caesar, who raised and trained him to murder the goons who killed his parents. When Guru is arrested for killing Debu, Debu's mother refuses to testify against him, and warns him that one day God will make him pay for his crimes, by making him lose his loved one. Guru soon falls in love with Aisha, an optimistic girl dying from a terminal illness, and they get married. Guru gives up his old life and gets a job while Aisha receives treatment in Mumbai and recovers. She discovers she is pregnant and decides to tell Guru in person when he returns from his interview, but is murdered before she can.

Present: Rakesh Mahadkar is an unsuccessful man who is constantly insulted and ridiculed by his wife Sulochana "Sulu" Mahadkar for his shortcomings. While he dearly loves his wife, he vents out his frustration by murdering other women who speak rudely to him, and Aisha turns out to be one of them. Guru hunts down Rakesh and brutally beats him up, then admits him to a hospital and pays for the expenses, intending to punish him by repeatedly bringing him to the brink of death, saving him, and doing it all over again. At the hospital, when Guru learns that Aisha was pregnant, he is devastated. While assaulting a nurse, Rakesh is again interrupted

by Guru. Rakesh realizes that Guru is Aisha's husband and is seeking vengeance. Upon the suggestion of his friend Brijesh, he taunts Guru over the phone and then kills Aisha's father.  

Rakesh expects Guru to kill him so that he can die as a hero in the eyes of Sulochana and everyone else while Guru will be tarnished. However, Caesar calls Guru and says that he has killed Sulochana to avenge Aisha for Guru, and left Rakesh's little son Manish for Guru to kill. An enraged Rakesh stabs Guru with a screw driver and takes up a boulder to kill him, but is hit by a car and dies from his injuries. Guru adopts Rakesh’s son Manish and completes the wishes on Aisha's bucket list.

Cast

• Riteish Deshmukh as Rakesh Mahadkar
• Sidharth Malhotra as Guru Divekar
• Shraddha Kapoor as Aisha Verma
• Kamaal Rashid Khan as Brijesh Yadav
• Aamna Sharif as Sulochana Mahadkar
• Remo Fernandes as Caesar
• Shaad Randhawa as ACP Aditya Rathore
• Asif Basra as Aadesh Verma
• Rishina Kandhari as Jia Shinde
• Prachi Desai (special appearance in song "Awari")
• Vidyadhar Karmakar as Chotu from mental asylum
• Rumana Molla as Nidhi Sharma

Production

Development

Ekta Kapoor signed Mohit Suri to direct a romantic thriller. Ek Villain was earlier reported to be a remake of the Korean film I Saw the Devil, though Suri, the director, refuted the claim. Suri stated that every character in the film would have grey shades.

Marketing and promotions

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) cleared the film with a U/A certificate after a total of eight cuts designed to tone down the action sequences and mute a particular word. Tanuj Garg, representative of Balaji Motion Pictures stated the cuts were less than a minute of screen time.

The movie's official teaser which was released on 4 April 2014 with the film Main Tera Hero, got 1 million views on YouTube within three days of release. The official trailer of 2 minutes 18 secs was launched later and was well received by critics, as well as garnered praise from around the industry, including Karan Johar, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif among others.

Sidharth Malhotra, Shraddha Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh, Mohit Suri and the film's music directors attended a musical event in Mumbai to promote the soundtrack of the film. Further, Malhotra and Kapoor promoted the movie at the IPL semi-finals as well as on reality shows like Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa. Promotion campaigns were also organized across the country in cities like Jaipur, Kolkata and Delhi. As a part of the promotional strategy, a television show based on Bollywood villains was hosted by Malhotra.

Soundtrack

Ek Villain
Soundtrack album by Mithoon, Ankit Tiwari, Soch (Band)
Released	28 May 2014 (2014-05-28)
Recorded	2013
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	31:20
Language	Hindi
Label	T-Series
Producer	Ekta Kapoor
Mithoon chronology
Samrat & Co (2014) Ek Villain (2014) Creature 3D (2014)
External audio Audio Jukebox on YouTube
Ankit Tiwari chronology
Samrat & Co (2014) Ek Villain (2014) Singham Returns (2014)

The songs are composed by Mithoon, Ankit Tiwari and the band Soch. The lyrics are written by Manoj Muntashir, Mithoon and members of Soch. The album consists of six songs with Tiwari composing "Galliyan", Mithoon composing "Zaroorat", "Humdard," and "Banjaara" while the remaining track "Awari" is composed by Soch.

The film score was composed by Raju Singh.

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Galliyan"	Manoj Muntashir	Ankit Tiwari	Ankit Tiwari	5:41
2.	"Banjaara"	Mithoon	Mithoon	Mithoon, Mohd. Irfan	5:36
3.	"Zaroorat"	Mithoon	Mithoon	Mithoon, Mustafa Zahid	6:09
4.	"Awari"	Adnan Dhool, Rabbi Ahmed	Adnan Dhool, Rabbi Ahmed	Adnan Dhool, Momina Mustehsan	5:20
5.	"Hamdard"	Mithoon	Mithoon	Arijit Singh	4:20
6.	"Galliyan" (Unplugged)	Manoj Muntashir	Ankit Tiwari	Shraddha Kapoor, Ankit Tiwari	4:14
Total length:					31:20

Reception

Mohar Basu of Koimoi gave the album 4/5 stars and wrote, "Mohit Suri's taste for melody cannot be doubted as the filmmaker uses an album that is a fine blend of ballads and rock, infusing the right octave of harmony is every single song. In a long time, there hasn't come an album which has such perfectly pitched songs, each of them a winner. Music Directors get all the credit for creating a wholesome album like this." Rediff also awarded the album 4 out of 5 stars and noted, "The music of Ek Villain meets the high expectations that one had from it. Mohit Suri maintains his record of coming up with memorable music for each of his films." Filmfare wrote, "All-in-all, The OST of Ek Villain is another winner for Mohit Suri who has a knack for bringing out the best in his music directors. Go for it if you like soulful romantic tracks with loads of fusion thrown in."

Release

Ek Villain was released theatrically on 27 June 2014, in 2539 screens in the domestic market.

Critical reception

Ek Villain received positive reviews from critics with praise for the performances of Deshmukh in particular.

Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama awarded the movie 4/5 stars and wrote that, "On the whole, Ek Villain is a stylish, spellbinding and terrifying edge-of-the-seat thriller. It's a step forward in this genre, without a doubt. A sure-shot winner!" Raedita Tandon from Filmfare gave the film 4/5 stars and stated that, "Though indulgent in parts, Ek Villain packs in a punch. Copy of a Korean film or not, it's 'good' paisa vasool entertainment. ." Meena Iyer of The Times of India gave the film 3 stars in a scale of 5, stating that "You cannot fault the scale of Ek Villain or berate its lead star cast. But you wish you could celebrate this thriller like you did Suri's last movie outing Aashiqui 2. This one lacks soul."

Aparna Mudi of Zee News gave the film a rating of 2.5/5 stars, concluding her review that "The unveiling of the visceral saga has a lot of strong characters and Mohit has done a good job in adapting a foreign film and complementing it with the drama that the Indian audience is used to. But he has gone a tad over in making a thriller. Maybe, filmmakers should step out of this trap more often and we wouldn`t be too far from making beacons of world cinema." Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN stated that "I'm going with two-and-a-half out of five for 'Ek Villain'. If you're still wondering, the real villain here is the lousy script".

Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave the film 2 stars, commenting that "Suri is an innate storyteller, and can keep things moving. All he needs is a strong, all-the-way credible, original plot." Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rated the film 2/5 and wrote that "As a whole, this film, besides its surface flair, does not have too much to fall back upon. Watch it only if that is good enough for you." Raja Sen of Rediff gave the film 1.5 stars out of 5, stating that "Given free tickets, sure, you could escape Humshakals in theatres this weekend with this mediocre effort, but I say do yourself a favour and seek out the Korean DVD. (Uncover it, even.) Now that's bloody special."

Box office

Ek Villain had what Box Office India called "very good" opening, with occupancies at around 55–60%. The film earned around ₹167 million (US$2.0 million) in its first day and around ₹507 million (US$6.1 million) in its first weekend, collecting around ₹165 million (US$2.0 million) and ₹174 million (US$2.1 million) in its second and third days respectively. The film collected around ₹81 million (US$970,000) in its fourth day and around ₹68 million (US$810,000) in its fifth day. The film collected ₹1.013 billion (US$12 million) in two weeks and around ₹1.056 billion (US$13 million) in three weeks. Box Office India reported that it will earn around ₹1.08 billion (US$13 million) in India alone. The film earned a distributor share of around ₹510 million (US$6.1 million) (Share).

Ek Villain collected ₹132 million (US$1.6 million) outside India in its first weekend.

Sequel

Main article: Ek Villain Returns

A standalone sequel, Ek Villain 2, which was later renamed as Ek Villain Returns, was officially announced on 30 January 2020. The film shows a face-off between two villains played by Arjun Kapoor & John Abraham while Disha Patani & Tara Sutaria play female leads, and was released on 29 July 2022. The song "Galliyan" was recreated for the film titled "Galliyan Returns" sung and composed by Tiwari and written by Muntashir.

Shaad Randhawa and Riteish Deshmukh reprise their roles as ACP Aditya Rathore and Rakesh Mahadkar from the first film, respectively; with Deshmukh appearing in archived footage and later physically as a cameo in the mid-credits scene, revealing that he survived his fate from the first film.

In popular culture

• Ritesh Deshmukh appeared as a cameo in the 2016 film Kyaa Kool Hain Hum 3 where he disguised as Rakesh reciting his punch dialogue "Shikayat Ka Mauka Nahi Dunga". The film also mentioned the song "Galliyan". The film is also produced by Ekta Kapoor and Shobha Kapoor.
• Ritesh appeared as a cameo in the 2016 film Mastizaade in the title track reprising his role Rakesh. The film was directed by Milap Zaveri who wrote dialogue for Ek Villain.
• Ritesh was seen humming the song "Galliyan" in the 2019 film Marjaavaan also directed by Milap Zaveri. The film also features Siddharth Malhotra in lead role and Ritesh played the role of main antagonist. This marked their second collaboration after Ek Villain.

Awards and nominations

Award	Category	Recipients and nominees	Result	Ref.
BIG Star Entertainment Awards	Most Entertaining Actor in a Thriller Film	Riteish Deshmukh	Won
	Most Entertaining Thriller Film	Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor
	Most Entertaining Singer (Male)	Ankit Tiwari – "Galliyan"
	Most Entertaining Actress in a Thriller Film	Shraddha Kapoor	Nominated
	Most Entertaining Actress in a Lead Role
	Most Entertaining Director	Mohit Suri
	Most Entertaining Film of the Year	Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor
	Most Entertaining Song	Ankit Tiwari – "Galliyan"
	Most Entertaining Music	Ankit Tiwari, Mithoon, Rabbi Ahmed, Adnan Dhool, DJ Shadow
7th Mirchi Music Awards	Song of The Year	"Galliyan"	Nominated
	Album of The Year	Mithoon, Ankit Tiwari, Rabbi Ahmad, Adnaan Dhool, Manoj Muntashir
	Male Vocalist of The Year	Ankit Tiwari – "Galliyan"
	Music Composer of The Year
	Lyricist of The Year	Manoj Muntashir – "Galliyan"
	Upcoming Female Vocalist of The Year	Shraddha Kapoor – "Galliyan" (Unplugged)
	Upcoming Music Composer of The Year	Rabbi Ahmad & Adnan Dhool (Soch) – "Awari"
	Upcoming Lyricist of The Year
	Listeners' Choice Album of the Year	Mithoon, Ankit Tiwari, Rabbi Ahmad, Adnaan Dhool, Manoj Muntashir	Won
60th Filmfare Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Riteish Deshmukh	Nominated
	Best Music Director	Mithoon, Ankit Tiwari, Soch
	Best Playback Singer (Male)	Ankit Tiwari – "Galliyan"	Won
Global Indian Music Academy Awards	Best Engineer – Film Album	Eric Pillai	Won
	Most Popular Singer of the Year	Ankit Tiwari – "Galliyan"
	Celebrity Singer of the Year	Shraddha Kapoor – "Galliyan"
	Most Popular Song of the Year	Ankit Tiwari – "Galliyan"
	Best Music Arranger and Programmer	Dhrubajyoti Phukan – "Awari"	Nominated
	Best Music Debut	Shraddha Kapoor – "Galliyan"
	Best Playback Singer (Male)	Ankit Tiwari – "Galliyan"
	Best Lyricist	Manoj Muntashir – "Galliyan"
	Best Music Director	Mithoon, Ankit Tiwari, Soch
16th IIFA Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Riteish Deshmukh	Won
	Best Lyricist	Manoj Muntashir – "Galliyan"
	Best Playback Singer (Male)	Ankit Tiwari – "Galliyan"
	Best Sound Recording	Eric Pillai
	Best Performance in a Negative Role	Riteish Deshmukh	Nominated
	Best Music Director	Mithoon, Ankit Tiwari, Soch
21st Screen Awards	Best Music Director		Won
	Best Lyricist	Mithoon – "Banjaara"	Nominated
	Best Playback Singer (Male)	Ankit Tiwari – "Galliyan"

External links

• Ek Villain at IMDb