Mohit Suri’s ‘Ek Villain Returns’ is not a continuation to his 2014 ‘Ek Villain’. One can call it a stand-alone sequel or just a ‘spiritual successor’ having the title ‘Ek Villain’. Though the soul of the story is partially in lines with the earlier, but it appears that the makers are eyeing to create a viable crime franchise with ‘Ek Villain’. Let’s find out what exactly Ek Villain Returns is all about.
Ek Villain Returns begins on a gory note with Aarvi (Tara Sutaria) having a house party when a killer crashes in through a window and takes her away while injuring / killing the rest. Someone captures the crime scene and the video shows Aarvi addressing the killer as Gautam (Arjun Kapoor). Gautam has his own issues and a past.
Basis this video, the cops conclude that Gautam is the culprit. However, ACP V K Ganesan (J D Chakravarthy) differs and has his own reasons to doubt. Ganesan rounds up several suspects, one amongst them is Bhairav Purohit (John Abraham), a cabbie and a part time zoo worker.
Bhairav’s is a mysterious character, deeply in love with Rasika Mapuskar (Disha Patani). Bhairav and Rasika have their own love story but with hints of suspicion.
In this non-linear narrative between the past and present comes a flash back showing Gautam Mehra (Arjun Kapoor) as the son of Mehra (Bharat Dabholkar), a rich business tycoon, having chopper, et al. Gautam is brash and creates a ruckus at the wedding of his ex-girlfriend. The video of him beating up guests and others gets viral. While, a struggling singer, Aarvi Malhotra (Tara Sutaria) uses bits from this video to create a parodical song, which gets viral giving her some fame.
Gautam tracks down and meets her at a Revel Music Festival. A supposedly famous singer Qiran (with a ‘Q’) (Elena Roxana Maria Fernandes) is set to perform on multiple days at the festival. Aarvi expresses her desire to perform at the festival instead of her. Wicked that he is, Gautam uses his wit to get Qiran replaced with Aarvi helping her to get some more fame. Obviously, she falls for Gautam!!
With the (serial) killer on the loose and the police suspecting Gautam, begins a game of one-upmanship and a string of killings. The later part of the post interval session unravels the mystery and keeps the audience glued until then to find out the real culprit.
Arjun Kapoor and John Abraham look decent for their parts and perform to look as desired. Their parts are neatly sketched to keep the audiences’ excitement through the film. Also, the narrative makes one jump sides in pinning down if the culprit is one of them or someone else altogether.
As for Tara Sutaria and Disha Patani, they have performed as expected by the director to bring out the nuances of their respective characters. Though Disha Patani’s character stays with you and helps creating intrigue in the narrative.
Senior actor J D Chakravarthy could have been used more and probably inducted some investigating scenes to enhance the excitement.
Bharat Dhabolkar is seen in a small cameo
The songs of the previous film were hit then and continue to stay so, however, here the songs do not add the tempo as was expected. The songs are composed by Ankit Tiwari, Tanishk Bagchi, and Kaushik-Guddu. The lyrics are written by Manoj Muntashir, Kunaal Vermaa, Tanishk Bagchi and Prince Dubey. The film score is composed by Raju Singh.
The song ‘Galliyan Returns’ is recreated from the original Galliyan of the 2014 film Ek Villain which was sung by Ankit Tiwari and written by Manoj Muntashir. The second single is titled ‘Dil’ followed by third single titled ‘Shaamat’ with Tara Sutaria making her singing debut and the fourth single titled ‘Naa Tere Bin’.
All in all, Ek Villain Returns could work well amongst the younger generation with four stars in a whodunit romantic murder mystery.
P.s.: Don’t miss the last shot, which might give you a hint, what next!!
Movie: Ek Villain Returns
Director: Mohit Suri
Cast: John Abraham, Arjun Kapoor, Disha Patani, Tara Sutaria, J D Chakravarthy
Run Time: 129 mins
