When a film calls itself Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, it wants you to have no doubts, not even for a second, that this is what you are in for : one boy, one girl, and a rom com. In this instance, uptight boy and giddy girl meet cute in Vegas. You know that in the first half they will be in situations where his uptightness and her giddiness will get full play. In the second, they will try reaching an accommodation, leaving the last few minutes for a suitable ending.

Director Shakun Batra shows rare deftness for a first-time filmmaker in Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu (EMAET). It is full of honest, warm moments that – to their credit – work without the manipulation most directors resort to in films belonging to this genre. Instead, Batra relies on sharp dialogue, and some well-etched out characters. I’d go a step further and say that the film is the best you would have seen recently in the two genres it melds together – a romantic comedy and a coming-of-age-drama, something Wake Up Sid just about fell short of.

One doesn’t expect much from a first time director venturing into big bad world of Bollywood with a typical romantic comedy. The plot appears to be lifted from a Hollywood flick, it targets the youth and it releases close to Valentine’s Day. How different can the rom-com be, one wonders. But director Shakun Batra springs a surprise with this movie.

On the whole, Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu is an entertaining and enjoyable fare for the city audience. Its business in multiplexes will be decent. Given its total investment of around Rs. 35-36 crore and given that it can easily recover around 60-65% of that from satellite, audio and home video, recovery of the balance 35-40% from India and Overaseas theatrical business is something which will be accomplished in the first week itself. It will, therefore, prove to be a comfortable earner.

The lead characters of a romantic movie are its pillars and EMAET stands on two really strong ones. Imran Khan and Kareena Kapoor are in the best of form and they really make the film work. Kareena is radiant and vivacious. Her character has traces of Geet from Jab We Met but she goes a step ahead and delivers a fun but matured performance. It may sound like a cliché, but she’s just getting better with each film. Imran Khan is a revelation. The role is tailor-made for him and he is at his earnest best. It’s hard not to like him.

For all the talk of their age difference, Imran and Kareena do make a good couple. The script helps too with her being shown two years older. However, the film does tend to get monotonous with the focus being on just the two. Batra tries to rope in a few more characters as the plot moves to India with Riana’s parents and her extended family. Here, Batra falters as he portrays her family more like Parsis than Catholics. The scene at St Xavier’s School where Riana takes Rahul on a tour too is a mistake because we all know that only boys study here. Talking about her best friend Amu, too, trivializes the scene a bit. We all know who she is referring to.

In summary, given that Amit Trivedi is composing and Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu clearly belonging to the romantic comedy genre, one can easily expect an Aisha from this soundtrack. If you are, then you will be quite disappointed. While Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu is entirely listenable, it is below the standard of work we have witnessed Trivedi deliver in Aisha, Dev D and No One Killed Jessica. That being said, the musical verdict for his last gig, Chillar Party, should have been an indication of a downward spiral in any event. Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu is vast improvement from Chillar Party but nowhere near the genius witnessed in Trivedi’s aforementioned former works. Strictly speaking, ‘Aunty Ji’ and the title track (inclusive of remix) will most likely be the popular ones while ‘Aahatein’’ (inclusive of remix) is a close runner-up. ‘Gubbare’ and ‘Kar Chalna Shuru’ suffer from sounding like derivatives of each other even though they are decently written. Moreover, the unremarkable renditions all work against their favour.

For those who swear by sentimental movies and are die-hard fans of rom-coms, who fervently wish Valentine’s Day is prolonged eternally, EK MAIN AUR EKK TU is akin to an answer to this yearning. Rom-coms relaxing in the splendor of harmonious compositions, a creative and innovative take on present-day romance, pulsating images and timed during the Valentine week… aah, you can’t ask for more!

The narrator, who’s also the hero, suggests there are three kinds of kids in the world: “chamche”, who suck up to their parents; the rebellious sorts, who take them head-on; and the smart ones, who do what they like, and their parents never know. This stiff-neck, stone-faced, tight-assed lead character belongs to the mysterious fourth category: henpecked by mom (Ratna Pathak Shah), bull-dozed by pop (Boman Irani), this fellow grew up under-sexed, under-confident, under his parent’s thumb. That his parents are so unnecessarily phony and psychotic, I guess, takes away from some of the realism. But it’s all in the interest of comedy.

Sukanya Verma feels that Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu is neither on the epic side like Dharma Productions’ great, grand ancestors nor weighed down by an overload of pop culture references of those that define the genre.

In a smart conversational excerpt from the film, the hero downplays himself as an ordinary guy who doesn’t excel in any particular domain. But the heroine finds uniqueness in his commonplace conduct since he never overindulges into anything. She tags him with the paradox – ‘perfectly average’. That precisely defines the film as well. It’s perfect in whatever it offers. But what it offers is quite average in volume.

Pappu can’t dance saala but he sure can make a film (Shakun Batra’s the latest director to be launched by Karan Johar is Pappu from Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na’s cult song. I’ll go with three and a half stars for this film plus a half for the superb editing, so four out of five.