I’m going with a generous two out of five for ‘Ekk Deewana Tha’. Even A R Ramhan’s score offers only sporadic relief. The only real discovery you make through this film is Prateik Babbar’s immense likeability. Now if only the kid could act!

‘Ekk Deewana Tha’ brings back that hoary tradition of love-at-first-sight in a film that exasperates you more than making you sigh : I’m happy to note that it can still be done, this business of losing your heart to a beautiful stranger at one glance, but not in this stuttering, near-obvious way.

Song starts, music video plays, hero broods, heroine pouts, both dance. And then we go back to the baffling questions again: Will the couple get together? Won’t they? He stalks; she disappears, then reappears, she likes him, but maybe not, gets married, or perhaps doesn’t…. Oh, just get a room, and get it over with.

He sees her for the first time on the street, walking slowly towards him like poetry in motion. She is dressed in a black sari and matching blouse; her pitch-dark hair caressing her body. And in that singular moment, Sachin (Prateik), a mechanical engineer who wants to make movies, is transformed into a butterfly of uncontrollable desire. He is smitten and finds himself walking on air.

Released only a few days after Valentine’s Day, clearly to cash in on extended revelries, Ekk Tha Deewana may draw in the crowd. But it’ll still remain only a tiresome journey of a couple in love.

A simple and sweet story treated badly. Skip. Simple.

On the whole, Ekk Deewana Tha is a poor show devoid of entertainment value. It will fail at the ticket windows. Given its poor start, the film will go down in history as a non-starter.

On the whole, EKK DEEWANA THA has a few sparkling moments, that’s about it. However, it lacks the fizz for the spectator to go deewana!

Sachin is a mechanical engineer who is jobless. He loves the world of cinema and is lured by the action behind the lens. Jessie is a genius in math. She is a working girl, who hates movies. She lives on the floor above Sachin and when they first meet, Sachin has his heart in his mouth. He relentlessly pursues her. There’s opposition from her family; she being a Catholic and he a Hindu is not something her father is too thrilled about. Add to it that he is jobless and a tenant in her father’s home (this fact is not established in a manner that it should be). The story then is how he goes about winning their hearts and hers.

EDT is not one of the greatest romances ever told. Nor is it an entire disaster. No matter which end you choose to watch the movie with, I am sure for all those in love, there will be things you might connect to –the silliness of first love, the wooing or the pain of one sided love. Go watch if you are an ardent fan of romance.

All in all, ‘Ekk Deewana Tha’ is a movie that seems to have been lost in translation. However, Prateik deserves praise for his efforts. Also, the cinematography scores well, and some marvellously shot scenes in Kerala are a visual treat. Manu Rishi, who plays the role of Prateik’s older buddy, is charming. The few laughs that the actor delivers are truly enjoyable.