Page 10 - desi pages July 2022

cover story
EK VILLAIN RETURNS
Action-thrillers have an audience that is
constantly expanding. Going by the success of
Pushpa and the KGF franchises, action-thrillers
seem to capture the audience and box office.
One of the most successful Bollywood films of
2014 was “Ek Villain’. “Ek Villain” formed yet
another successful collaboration between actor
Shraddha Kapoor and director Mohit Suri.
Kapoor has earlier starred in Suri’s “Aashiqui
2”. “Ek Villain” went on to establish the
“Bhaagi” actor, a heartthrob among the masses
and established her as a star. The movie had
Hitesh Deshmukh play a negative role for the
first time. “Ek Tha Villain” also featured some
great music. The songs ‘Galliyan”, “Zaroorat,”
and “Hamdard” became super hits. Overall,
“Ek Tha Villain” was declared a spell-binding
terrifying thriller.
Eight years later, “Ek Tha Villain” (ETV) gets a
spiritual sequel in “Ek Villain Returns” (EVR).
The film stars John Abraham, Arjun Kapoor,
Tara Sutaria, Disha Patani, and JD Chakravarti.
Mohit Suri wields the megaphone again for the
film. Although EVR is touted as a spiritual sequel
to ETV, the storyline is supposed to be different.
Aditya Kapoor, who started his career with the
blockbuster “Aashiqui 2,” was supposed to be
part of the film but opted to walk out of the
movie due to creative differences between him
DesiPages
and Suri. Arjun Kapoor stepped into this film
later on. In his new movie, Suri mentions that
both the lead actors have negative shades. He
plans to make this a “villain” franchise, just like
we have super cop and superhero franchises.
Speaking about the film, John Abraham says
that the whole experience of shooting with Suri
was fantastic, and he would love to repeat
the experience in another movie. Mohit Suri
started his career as the assistant director of
Abraham’s debut film, “Jism”. Suri mentions
in an interview that working with John was a
“surreal” experience. He says that ever since
it has been his dream to direct John, and it
has finally come true. In talking about their
chemistry, Suri asserts that working with the
“Pokhran” star on and off the screen has been
fun. The “Batla House” star is looking for a
hit after his latest box-office dud “Satyamev
Jayathe.”
Arjun Kapoor is an actor who has developed
his style. He has come in as a replacement
for Aditya Roy Kapoor. Interestingly, Kapoor
starred in Abraham’s production, “Sardar Ka
Grandson.” Arjun Kapoor was last seen along
with Saif Ali Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez, and
Yami Gautam in the film “Bhoot Police,” where
he played the role of a tantric. Son of producer
Boney Kapoor and his first wife Mona Kapoor,
Arjun debuted in the blockbuster “Ishqzaade”
along with Parineeti Chopra. The “Two States”
actor believes that John owns the action space
and is looking forward to sharing screen space
with him. Arjun Kapoor worked with Mohit
Suri in the film “Half Girlfriend” along with
Shraddha Kapoor. Kapoor firmly believes that
this star cast under the baton of Mohit Suri will
be able to exhibit a commercially successful
and yet gripping tale. Arjun and John are
slated to star together again in the film “Jagan
Shakti.” This is a remake of the Malayalam
super hit film, “Ayappanum Koshiyum.”
Tara Sutaria is barely four films old but has
been in the entertainment industry for some
time. She has been associated with the Disney
Channel India as a video jockey. She has also
been recording music and advertisements in
India and abroad and has done some original
DFW | July 2022 VOL 41 | 10