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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.