• It’s a shame then that despite the uniformly impressive performances, and Suri’s nifty directing skills, the film is only moderately fulfilling. If you’re still wondering, the real villain here is the lousy script.

  • Shubhra Gupta
    Shubhra Gupta
    Indian Express

    4

    Sidharth Malhotra is watchable, he just seems so nice and wholesome all the time. It is Riteish Deshmukh who sweeps the stakes.

    Suri is an innate story-teller, and can keep things moving. All he needs is a strong, all-the-way credible, original plot.

  • Raja Sen
    Raja Sen
    Rediff

    3

    If I were to review it in one word, I’d say Ek Villain is… Unnecessary. 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.

  • Sweta Kaushal
    Sweta Kaushal
    Hindustan Times

    6

    Watch Ek Villain for an amazing performance by Riteish Deshmukh, the music (which is already a hit) and a well-knit plot. This is certainly not a film you would want to miss.

  • Kusumita Das
    Kusumita Das
    Deccan Chronicle

    4

    The plot is fast-paced but highly indulgent. The hero seeks revenge. The villain doesn’t mind being killed. A cop who doesn’t know which villain he must side with. The question marks become hard to ignore after a point.

    Watch the film for Riteish and Riteish alone just to see how effortlessly he slips out of his farcical ‘Humshakals’ pinafore into the heinous hood of ‘Ek Villain’.

  • The biggest of the villains in Mohit Suri’s Ek Villain is the screenplay itself. 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.

  • Meena Iyer
    Meena Iyer
    Times Of India

    6

    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.

  • Sarita Tanwar
    Sarita Tanwar
    DNA India

    6

    If you’re looking for a edgy thriller with some romance and great songs, Ek Villian is for you.

  • Rohit Khilnani
    Rohit Khilnani
    India Today

    6

    Even after a lot of flaws Ek Villain is a decent watch but it could have been much better!

  • …an indulgent affair that breaks down the boundaries of regular thriller. Mohit Suri has raised the bar with this film that is captivatingly shot and crisply edited. At 2 hours, 7 minutes, the film benefits from the inspired lucidity in writing and dialogues. But mostly, it is the unpredictable skin Sidharth and Riteish don in this film that pulls the carpet from under your feet. Their phenomenal performances remain the movie’s most enticing bit and the reason why I am going to watch this once again. Going with a 4/5, this is one heady film with the desired punch.

  • Taran Adarsh
    Taran Adarsh
    Bollywood Hungama

    8

    EK VILLAIN is a stylish, spellbinding and terrifying edge-of-the-seat thriller. It’s a step forward in this genre, without doubt. A sure-shot winner!

  • Sachin Chatte
    Sachin Chatte
    The Navhind Times

    4

    Siddharth Malhotra and Shraddha Kapoor are competent on the acting front but it is Riteish Deshmukh who pulls up a surprise. We know that he has a knack for comedy but he pulls off this role as well with admiration.

    Like most plagiarized films, Ek Villain also misses bull’s eye.

  • Though indulgent in parts, Ek Villain packs in a punch. Copy of a Korean film or not, it’s ‘good’ paisa vasool entertainment. Make it your weekend watch.

  • To Suri’s credit must go the easy-on-the-eye treatment of the film which is what keeps it ticking (albeit painfully) apart from Sidharth and Shraddha.

    Ek Villian had the potential to be a Dushman, the 1998 thriller starring Kajol, Sanjay Dutt and Ashutosh Rana.

  • Shalu Dhyani
    Shalu Dhyani
    Bollyspice

    4

    There is only so much good actors can do when the screenplay is all over the place. Riteish Deshmukh’s performance deserved a better film. Hope he gets it soon. It would be appalling to see him go back to films like Grand Masti and Humshakals after this.

  • ‘Ek Villain’ is touted as an intense film. It kind of lives up to it. But in its 140 minute duration, it ends up with so much relentless intensity that after a point you start looking for an escape from this heat. This is a classic example of a film that takes itself so seriously that it ends up looking manipulative and largely lacking in genuine emotions and soul. – See more at: http://www.mid-day.com/articles/movie-review-ek-villain/15408191#sthash.OCS6O1vO.dpuf

  • Subhash K Jha
    Subhash K Jha
    SKJBollywoodNews

    3

    In trying for a merger of mayhem and emotions the film finally falls apart like the shattered pieces of a broken heart.

    We expect so much and get so little. That’s life.

  • Overall, Ek Villain is Mohit Suri’s mind-blowing film till date.

  • The romance in the movie is lacklustre, with Shraddha and Siddarth sharing no real connect and ending up completely wooden.

    If you thought ‘Humshakals’ was overloaded with bad jokes, then you are wrong. Mohit gives Sajid Khan a good fight with ‘Ek Villain’. The humour here is unintentional, of course!

  • Shockingly, it’s not so bad. Suri takes the core of I Saw The Devil and turns it into a melodramatic, manipulative, pyaar-mohabbat-dardi-humdardi drama.

  • …Ek Villain is potentially one of the funniest films of the year.

  • Komal Nahta
    Komal Nahta
    Komal Nahta's Blog

    -

    On the whole, Ek Villain is a super-hit, a blockbuster. It will score in the multiplexes and the single-screen cinemas, in ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ class centres, and will be loved by the masses and the classes alike. It has tremendous repeat value – yes, tremendous repeat value despite being a suspense thriller.

  • Ek Villain could have been a far superior product. What it becomes is a lackluster thriller. You could watch it for the actors and the drama. Not if you wanted to watch the thriller Ek Villain was promised to be.

  • Daily Bhaskar
    Daily Bhaskar
    Daily Bhaskar

    5

    Ek Villain is a confused film with confused characters. Despite many loopholes, it is still a watchable film. Watch it for Mohit Suri’s style of direction, and songs.

  • By the end of it, you’re not sure if this is a soft passionate number on how love conquers all. Or a hard-core psychotic pic about a serial killer with a screwdriver, like one of those crazy Korean blood-fests, one of which, Kim Jee-woon’s I Saw The Devil (2010), has inspired the filmmakers here.

    The film tries to be both. You don’t want to know how they’ve linked these two genres together. It doesn’t matter. The serial killer needs psychological help. You will too, if you get too drawn into the story.

  • Aparna Mudi
    Aparna Mudi
    Zee News

    5

    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 complimenting 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.

  • Saumya Sharma
    Saumya Sharma
    BookMyShow

    6

    It is THAT Bollywood film you were waiting to watch all Summer. After a long hiatus, here comes a film, that may not be suitable for all age groups, but still qualifies to be an edge-of-the-seat entertainer. Maybe you could forget the same old feelin’, and embrace the film with all your heart. Try hard if you have to.

  • Bollywood Life
    Bollywood Life
    Bollywood Life

    7

    If you enjoy watching romantic films, Ek Villain is definitely your kinda film. Even if you don’t, then do watch for the star’s performances.

  • Ek Villain is an ugly ode to misogyny. On the other hand, it is an opportunity wasted for a spectacularly violent film free of middle-class dross.

  • Ek Villain, or a manual on different ways of killing women, is a gory film that‘s hesitant to acknowledge its dark layers. On the surface, it’s mostly an optimistic movie with a preachy ‘Darkness can be destroyed only by light’ message.

    Watch if it a film that’s essentially unoriginal, with plasticky emotions, and unnecessary gore fills up your soul. The only redeeming aspect is Riteish Deshmukh’s performance, but that would mean enduring the rest of the film as well!

  • The film is also very loud, in general, with almost one or the other character shouting under the guise of being full of life or full of anger. It doesn’t help that the characters are voicing out their thought instead of showing them with action. We know a lot of the villain’s characters from their own description of themselves to others, as a monologue.

  • It’s a pity Suri can’t find an original enough story to put his craft to good use to. There’s no shame in wanting to remake a film, but plagiarism reflects poorly on a team that has otherwise spared no effort to make a competent film.

  • Rahul Desai
    Rahul Desai
    Mumbai Mirror

    4

    There is no doubting that Suri’s vision is clear in its own space-evident from the usual heady cocktail of lilting tunes and brooding antagonists – but his storytelling leaves much to be desired. Ek Villain is a prime example, and even as a standalone effort (as it will be, for most viewers), it is perhaps his weakest.

  • Anuj Kumar
    Anuj Kumar
    The Hindu

    -

    This contrived battle of psychopaths is going to test your patience.

  • JPN
    JPN
    Jagran

    -

    Mohit Suri has continued the spark of ‘Aashiqui 2’ in the romantic thriller ‘Ek Villain’.
    In her role of a vivacious girl, Shraddha has once again kept her girl-next-door image of ‘Aashiqui 2’.
    Sidharth, who had a lover-boy image in his earlier films ‘Student of the Year’ and ‘Hasee Toh Phasee’, is commendable in his new avatar of a grungy, dark and intense man.

  • …the good news is that Kapoor and Malhotra are divine looking. So watching them is a visual treat. But if you are expecting to be blown away by a cliffhanger of a story, then you are knocking on the wrong door.