The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu.

The Good:

Acting: Ratna Pathak stands out as she gets in your skin for her character role as a rich, self centered, control freak and upper class socialite. Somehow such a character has become second hand to her, especially if you have seen her in teleseries Sarabhai vs. Sarabhai. Besides she is playing mother role to Imran for the 2nd time.

Noticed a fantastic and very natural acting by the character role of Kareena's father. It is sad that I can not dig up his name anywhere. He was simply awesome in the short role he played.

Imran was OK as a clueless and unmotivated character who is heavily influenced by his parents, but overacted in few scenes which were very obvious such as yelling out of the elevator or at sea shore in Mumbai. One particular scene in which he receives the gift from Kareena stands out though. It was his best shot of the movie. He tried to get into the lead protagonist but somehow was not fully convincing. His much senior actor and Mamu, Amir, excels in this department. I noticed the same in Kareena's acting as well, but she was more fluent as usual in her role as a chirpy, bubbly, extrovert and struggling hair stylist, and was more convincing. She looked a bit overweight than normal, but it is an irrelevant observation. She also looked just a bit more mature [older] against Imran as a pair, again an irrelevant observation, but just mentioning if such details interest you.

Rest of the actors had their part but nothing extraordinary that popped out.

Music: Amit Trivdei's music is a breath of fresh air in this flick. There aren't that many musical numbers in the movie, but the songs are situational, well composed and work very well. You will fall in love with the jazzy background score in the first half, produced by Clinton Cerejo which goes with the Vegas locale and screenplay. The lyrics and music on the song ' Aunty ji' is simply superb, fresh and different than your typical run of the mill song. He has fused blues with rock and roll, desi Goan style with tons of sax. Easily the best song of the flick.

Editing: The movie length is mere under 2 hours, a rare thing in Hindi cinema. It is a cool and smooth ride which does not drag on and frees you to do whatever you love post the movie. You will also love the fact that editing by Asif Ali Shaikh optimized your time by showcasing the locale visuals in situational songs as per screenplay, that too keeping it short and only where needed.  I think the desi standard 'interval' was not required in this movie. The interval introduced 15 minutes of unneccsary lag and broke the rhythm of the movie. Somehow we should figure out a way to screen movies under 2 hours in one seating. It will be well worth it. However, theaterwalas will not be appreciate of the same if it eats into their operating margins of popcorns or sodas etc. 

The Bad

Story, Screenplay and Direction: Nothing unique in the storyline. The core of the theme is a lift from Hangover wrapped in a desi romantic melodrama for the younger generation. Opposites attrack is not a new concept. You can easily see that the storyline (Shakun Batra, Ayesha deVitre), screenplay and direction from Shakun Batra is trying to put the pieces together around the accidental marriage and opposite personalities of the lead actors. The funny lines don't really surprise you and are predictable, for example the scene with the Japaneese interviewers or reunion with the x-girlfriend. In one or two scenes in the 2nd half, characters of Kareena's father and grand mother do seem to get the better end of the audience and surprise them. The story is trying to make it a smart and funny flick, but is really missing the mark or solid punch lines as a whole.  However, I will give the producers and directors full credit for making such movies. It is a step in the right direction. The ending of the story is nicely done. It showed that new generation does not want to be emotionally robbed and can get over undue family pressure or social taboos. Personally, I liked the storyline better than the recent remake of Agneepath, also a Dharma Production movie. This will remind of you of Wake Up Sid mantra a bit on production ground, co-incidently from the very same production house. Your personal mileage may vary, of course.  

The Ugly [be warned]

It is not a clean script for family viewing  with younger ones. Even though no profanity [remember Delhi Belly?] has been used, it has too many sexual overtures or situations to qualify as a family flick. It is not. Actually, far from it. You will notice sexual taboos getting introduced or broken in the movie as well. Just be warned.

Summary

It is a very good attempt to bring a romance comedy to the desi screens, right before Valentine's day. You are likely to feel the flick has the needed ingredients to make it your money's worth, especially keeping the length and musical scores in mind, even though there are not that many songs, but the ones present are totally smooth and awesome.  Go for it. You will not feel bored.