POPCORN REVIEWSS

Written by Milap Milan Zaveri and Mushtaq Sheikh, Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat marks the debut of a famous film critic who is the most unbiased ever….errr….scratch that. The actual story is that of two walking red flags who are colour-blind….errr…scratch that. And before I go onto every version of the draft of a ‘non-existent’ script – the makers want us to believe that his two protagonists are the most kind-hearted people in the world. Vikramaditya Bhonsle (Harshvardhan Rane) is a politician’s son who has lived all his life in a state of luxury, so much so that he is on the cusp of fighting an election that would then make him the Chief Minister of Mumbai. He doesn’t shy away from insulting a capitalist while sharing a warm moment with a street urchin because he wants him to go to school. That makes Vikram a generous man who also flirts with the idea of acting, something that holds true when a character exclaims on what a good actor he is. So does that mean politicians are great actors? – Yes, except if they were to work in a film titled ‘Deewaniyat’…

On the other hand, you are introduced to Adaa (Sonam Bajwa), an actor by profession who would soon be working on a film directed by Riteish Abraham and produced by John Deshmukh (I ain’t making this up, there is actually an easter egg in the film). You know she is ‘Sanskari’, not because she is offered a Dharma film by a ‘similar’ name, but because she is really kind to her laundryman who is enamoured by her presence. She obliges on a selfie with him, and sends him off a happy man, all this while I wondered on why did the laundryman not return with her ‘cleaned’ designer clothes. That remained a searing mystery in a film that aspires to be a toxic paglu love story!

You see a glimpse of a potential in the plot, particularly in the first hour when the drama chooses to focus on the budding relationship between Adaa and Vikram, which plays out like a one-sided love story. In a scene, you see Vikram stare in bliss looking at Adaa in the midst of some army personnels – one of the few scenes that addresses the spirit and title of the drama here. But the writers inexplicably don’t utilize this opportunity while completely squandering it in the very next scene, when Vikram gets into a heated argument with an army personnel, simply because he ‘touched’ her while saving her from a snake? And the way that scene plays out, my facepalming (and headache) did not stop!

The drama has a Kabir Singh vibe to it, particularly when viewed through the ‘Deewaniyat’ of Vikram, who starts imposing his opinion on Adaa and her family, despite the latter saying a loud and clear ‘NO’ to his marriage proposals. And yet this is where I missed the conviction of someone like a Sandeep Reddy Vanga, who added a lot of raw intensity to the proceedings, unlike Milap who approached the subject with messy…err…massy undertones. The point of reference being the interval block that is a goldmine for memes and trolls, simply because an absurd plotpoint still makes its way to a script written in 2025. It is so problematic that my forehead was witness to multiple facepalms in the same breath, while my body faced a unique crisis – on being confused on whether to be triggered or to laugh at the sheer stupidity of the writing!

The second hour is progressively bad and how while transforming the ‘toxic paglu’ Vikramaditya to a victim who starts to get softer and emotional by the minute, particularly with his interactions with Adaa. The idea was never to realise the decision of Adaa, but instead keep blackmailing her with lines that rhymed and rhymed and rhymed. Come to think of it, this was a perfect case of a nursery rhyme for a man-child, but then I digress again. And when I say this was a film from the MCHU, the Diwali crossover could have been true too. In a scene, you see Adaa dropping a bottle of Vikram’s blood as a means of frustration, something that the ‘Vampires of Vijayanagar’….err….’Thamma’ from the next screen could have feasted on.

On second thoughts, this film made me lose blood too – even as the events went on and on and on, leading up to a masterclass of an ending that nobody could have predicted. Perhaps that bottle of blood could have saved this ‘toxic paglu’ Vikram, perhaps he was right all the time…., perhaps the other ‘toxic paglu’ Adaa needed to just agree on his marriage proposal for the greater good of mankind while depriving the latter in watching this masterpiece of a bad film…., perhaps the real toxic paglus are reviewers like me who try and fault every film at the risk of being unfriended/unfollowed by people who would take offence to their criticism….or perhaps, the readers who know how bad the film is but still are giggling while reading this review. As a truce, I recommend a small dose of the ‘wasted’ blood to every toxic paglu out there….we need to keep this trend alive after all, right? Right??? Oh and keep that samosa party ready for the unhinged acting debut of one of the most unbiased reviewers ever (and my absolute favourite)! That way, the film can be called – ‘Ek Samose Ki Samosiyat’, even as my joke tank runs dry now….