Ek Din REVIEW: Junaid Khan, Sai Pallavi’s Romantic Drama Is A Cold, Under-Flavoured Ramen On A Snowy Night

Film:
Ek Din

Director: Sunil Pandey

Writers: Sneha Desai, Spandan Desai

Cast: Sai Pallavi, Junaid Khan

Platform: In Theatres

Runtime: 125 Minutes (2 Hours, 5 Minutes)

Ek Din Review

Junaid Khan and Sai Pallavi-led Ek Din has released today and while its similar to its Thai inspiration, it does have it’s own flavour. Just like the 2016 film, Ek Din is centred on a one-sided office romance between Dinesh (Junaid Khan) – an IT professional, and Meera (Sai Pallavi) – a cheerful and warm marketing employee who is in a ‘secret’ relationship with her married boss.

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A die-hard fan of Japan and Japanese culture, Meera has always dreamt to go to the Land Of the Rising Sun someday and tick off the many things she has on her bucket list. In the name of an incentive trip, the boss takes the entire team to Hokkaido on a 5-day vacation, and books 2 extra days for them to spend quality time with each other. However, these plans go for a toss due to an unexpected guest, leading to heartbreak, an accident and Meera suffering from Transient global amnesia (TGA).

Here steps in our ‘hero’ Dinesh who now lives by the philosophy, “Kabhi Kabhi Ek Din Bhi Kaafi Hota Hai”. Just like One Day, they spend a day together and make memories, but is the end the same? Does Meera forgive Dinesh for deceiving her and claiming to be her boyfriend? Does she forgive her boss when she returns to India? What’s the station of their romance – do they have an happily ever after? I’m here to guide you on your journey to finding the answer.

While Aamir Khan went all out to promote this film – by even singing the title track at a music event, should you spend your hard earned money on it this weekend? Well, read out honest review before you book your tickets.

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What Works

The beautiful visuals and the amazing album are the only great things this film has. A 2-hour run time also works in its favour, but can’t help much.

What Doesn’t Work

Juniad Khan’s creepiness. The leads have zero chemistry. The screenplay could have been more crisp.

Technical Analysis

Direction

Sunil Pandey, we know this is your directorial debut, but you could have done better – we (I know there are many like me) who watch the film without high expectations but were still left unimpressed.

Story, Screenplay & Dialogues

Sneha Desai and Spandan Desai’s adaptation is okay, it’s nothing wow as it pretty much follows the same storyline. A genuine attempt was made to deliver emotional dialogues, however, they fail to land. Plus the repetition!

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Editing

Ballu Saluja deserves a round of applause for amking sure the film is 2 hours long, else it qwould feel way to stretched.

Cinematography

Manoj Lobo has done an amazing job when it comes to the film cinematography and capturing the beauty of Japan while covered in layers of snow and shadows.

Music

The music album composed by Ram Sampath is the soul of the film. Be it the title track or Khwaab Dekhoon or even Konichiwa, each song touches the touches the soul and helps convey emotions and feeling the screenplay fails to do. I wish the film did justice to the music, alas it’s not enough to make the film to connect with many.

Cast

Junaid Khan has starred in three projects till now and the only one he delivered an impactful performance in was Maharaj. Just like Loveyapa, Junaid fails again in making the audience feel a connection. He’s trying too (with several more oooo) hard and that’s visible on camera. Either he needs to be more selective about the kind of roles he says yes to or so for a revision acting course.

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Sai Pallavi in her Hindi debut is average. She’s… just there. Her emotions are there, you can feel her innocence, her heartbreak but still you fail to connect and fell her character. Her accent is ok given that she’s playing a Tamilian who moves to Delhi around 2 years or so ago. Hope we get a better Sai in Ramayana.

The other characters, those they add comic relief and some drama into the main character’s lives are still average and not entirely memorable.

Conclusion

An official adaptation of the 2016 Thai romance One Day, Sai Pallavi and Junaid Khan’s Ek Din fails to create the magic the Chantavit Dhanasevi, Nittha Jirayungyurn-starrer did a decade ago. While the music is great and touches the audiences’ souls, the creepiness of Junaid’s character is a big turn off. Watch it in theatres only if you are a huge Sai fan, else wait till it releases on OTT.

Watch the trailer of Ek Din here:

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Grinell Jacinto

With nearly 10 years of experience, Grinell Esther Jacinto is the Desk Head of Bollywood Bubble. Her interests lie in everything that is kaleshi and she loves to dig deeper into the lives of B-town actors. She has a problem though – she loves horror films but will have chills the minute the theatres lights dims. She’s previously worked with Koimoi, UrbanAsian and SpotboyE.