Disha Patani Steals The Show In Ek Villain Returns

Ek Villain Returns

Starring  John Abraham, Arjun Kapoor, Disha Patani,  Tara Sutaria

Rating:  *** ½

Irrespective  of  the fact that director  Mohit Suri  fetishizes sadistic  killing,Ek Villain Returns is a gruesome  companion piece  to the  first Ek Villain film 8 years ago  where Riteish  Deshmukh brutally murdered Shradha Kapoor because she didn’t  look at him properly when he  looked at her.

The sequelopens with  a murderous attack in  a highrise building where  the  killer crashes through a glass window from the spaces  outside. Is he a bird  or  plan or Batman  or Batty Man? Arjun Kapoor with his new  goldilocks looks, and  spaced expressions we  often see in  drug addicts,  seems  to be the  villain. Then the scriptwriters correct us. No no, it is  John Abraham..Then  a little later they trip us again: ha ha fooled you.

Smiling  emojis  are  painted wherever the  killer  strikes. He  is  the Joker who has forgotten what  the  joke is. While  Arjun and  John battle it out as to  who the villain is, Disha Patani walks away with the  show. Disha Patani  is a  scheming manipulative twisted shrew. She  looks  drop-dead gorgeous—which explains the  body count in her  presence—and  makes  her  unhinged  character seem unsettling  in her abnormalcy. If  nothing else, this  wickedly  hurried  drama  should  help Disha  find  a place among the  topnotchers.

The  clash between Arjun and  John never quite takes off. I couldn’t figure out the relevance  of Arjun Kapoor’s  character  till the  end. The  screenplay would have been none the  worse without him.Tara Suratria plays a wannabe singer who says things like  ‘Chill ya , what the  frock’ to prove she is  a girl of  today. For some strange reason whenever she is on stage  we never hear what she is singing, her voice is  drowned by the backup music.

Shattering glass, bludgeoning hammers, crashing cars, screaming women and knife wielding men… this is  a loud aggressive film about one-sided love. John Abraham  plays the victim card with a perpetual grimace as  if he could smell something foul  in  the  room.

This unremittingly  violent  film  is edited with  unnecessary twists and  turns. What happened to good old linear narratives? Curiously in both the releases  this week Vikrant Rona and Ek Villain Returns   the hero is accompanied  by a character who  only exists in his  mind.Mental  illness as  a  thriller-formula seems like  a  pretty ugly way  to juice excitement. But who are we  to crib? We get the  entertainment we  deserve.