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.