Ek Deewana Tha Review: Lovers Of Scary Dramas, Its Time To Rejoice
Show Title: Ek Deewana Tha
Channel: Sony TV
Timings: Monday to Friday 10 pm
If you have read my FEFI on Ishq Mein Marjawan, you will know how much I appreciated the thriller theme for a daily soap. I like anything that is different from the regular and Ishq Mein Marjawan impressed me with its cast and OST. I read somewhere that Ek Deewana Tha is also a romantic thriller and I was very excited to watch it. The show stars Namik Paul, Vikram Singh Chauhan and Donal Bisht as the leads. The show is a finite series (yay!! Thank God! I have been ranting endlessly for channels to come up with more finite series so audiences do not have to bear draggy daily soaps.) dealing with a supernatural theme. I saw the first episode and here is my first impression of it.
Ek Deewana Tha (2017)
Episode 1
On a dense green mountain, lies a temple of a Goddess where people are waiting for the temple priest to perform a havan (a traditional Hindu ritual). The temple priest says that he cannot perform the ritual till the one, who the Goddess is waiting for, does not arrive. (How does he know who she is waiting for? :/) We then see a man (we will know him as Vyom later in the episode) step out of a car and run barefoot towards the temple. He grabs two fire lamps on his way and continues to run even after his feet start bleeding. (Hehe…typical TV serial entry. I like the Mahishasurmardini song playing in the background.) He breaks the fire lamps right in front of the temple and collapses. In a very dramatic way, he pushes aside the burning coal with his bare hands and says that this time he will not give the Goddess a reason to not fulfil his wish. He says, “Mera pyaar meri shiddat hain par aaj Tu usse meri sanak bana chuki hain” (My love is my passion but today you have made it my obsession.)
Holding the burning coal in his hands and stepping over live embers he advances toward the Goddess and drops the coal in the havan kundi.
People who witness this look stunned. Hitting the temple bell, Vyom tells the Goddess that he is an atheist and does not believe in Her, but from the past two years, he has been doing everything that ‘she’ (I suppose the female lead) has taught him to do but the Goddess continues to ignore him. He says that ‘she’ once told him that he must never tell God how big his problems are but must instead tell his problems how big his God is and everything will be fine. (Woah. I like this line. Good one!) He complains that for the past two years nothing right has happened to ‘her’.
He starts to say something that ‘she’ once told him but he is cut mid-sentence by someone who calls out to him. He turns to look and in a flashback scene, we see a girl cheerfully step into the temple and Vyom happily clicks her pictures as she prays before the Goddess.
She lovingly explains that when asking for something, a person must join his hands and bow his head. He then goes on his knees and says that for someone who sees God in his partner it means that his love has succeeded. She teases him for becoming poetic and he admits that this is what happens to men in love.
Back to the present day, he pleads with the Goddess to save Sharanya. He says that she has been battling for her life for the past two years and doctors have now given up all hopes of her survival. He says that today could be the day she loses her battle with life. He says that he is here because of Sharanya and begs the Goddess to save Sharanya’s life.
Meanwhile, in a hospital, we hear a doctor tell the Bisht family that Sharanya cannot survive as she has suffered from multiple organ failure and that they have no choice but to pull her off the life support system. Sharanya’s mother protests saying that her daughter is breathing which means she is still alive. Sharanya’s father tearfully states that Sharanya may be breathing but she must be in a lot of pain and as a father he cannot see his child in so much agony.
He permits the doctor to go ahead and pull off the plugs to her life support system. Sharanya’s mother cries and begs him to not do so but he is adamant on relieving the pain his daughter is going through.
Sharanya’s father signs the papers despite vehement protests from his wife and son. We then see Vyom, hold burning coal in his hands and tell the Goddess that if today Sharanya leaves him forever, he will destroy everything.
As the doctor advances to stop the life support machine, he is startled by the sudden opening of the window owing to a strong wind. At that very moment, the fire on coal gets diffused and everyone including Vyom look surprised. A man comes up to Vyom and says something in his ears that makes him look shocked. Vyom then tosses the coal into the havan kundi. (Did anyone notice that it is the same scene that they showed us before when he first puts the coal in the havan kundi? I guess the director forgot that Vyom is supposed to be holding diffused ember in his hand when he gets the news.) He then wears his spectacles, glares at the Goddess and rushes out of the temple. (Whaaaaat? A few minutes ago you were begging in front of the Goddess and now you are showing her attitude, huh? Seriously? Dude, serial khatam nahi hua hai.)
When Vyom reaches Sharanya’s hospital ward he is stunned to see Sharanya sitting on her bed as her family excitedly talk to her. (Woah, the girl looks too healthy and glowing for a person who has just risen from a coma after two years. Yeh TV serial waale kabhi kabhi kuch bhi dikhate hain. Thoda toh practical dikhao. This scene is pure crap!)
The doctor tells Vyom that for a patient to revive and stand on her feet after being two years in coma is a miracle. (Yeah yeah, we know.) Sharanya’s mother says that this miracle happened because of Vyom’s hard penance for the past two years. As Vyom walks towards Sharanya, she clearly fails to recognize him as she looks befuddled. She then rises and walks towards Vyom. Vyom looks at her expectantly but she rolls her eyes and passes out.
Cut to, a man swimming in a pool as his phone buzzes. Vyom calls to give his father, Rajan Bedi the good news but his father guesses it before he can reveal anything. (Whaaaaaaaaaaaat? Did they cast Ammar as Vyom’s father? From which angle does he look like a father to such a grown-up boy? What is the director thinking? Make him a bhaiyya but certainly not a pitaji.)
He tells Vyom that he could guess the news from his voice and excitement. He tells Vyom to stay by Sharanya’s side and take good care of her and hangs up. Just then, he hears a glass shatter and turns to see his wife, Madhuri glower at him. She tells him that he shouldn’t forget that Sharanya must have regained her life but they have lost their son to her.
He asks her to quit complaining and strides off as she glares after him. She pours some alcohol over the shattered pieces of glass and sets it on fire. She remarks that Rajan can celebrate his son’s happiness while she burns the pyre to her dreams.
Vyom looks over Sharanya as she sleeps in her ward when he receives a parcel from a delivery boy who looks back at Vyom very creepily. The parcel is a bouquet of flowers with a note reading, ‘Jo ishq ko jaan leta hain, who ishq uski jaan leta hain’. (The one who learns about love, dies at its hands.) Enraged by the message, Vyom chases after the delivery boy who speeds out on his bike right in front of him.
Meanwhile, a strong wind blows open the doors and window to Sharanya’s ward and she suddenly sits up on her bed.
Vyom turns to see Sharanya walking over the roof of the hospital and runs towards her. We then see an illuminated figure form under a street light.
As Sharanya reaches the edge of the roof, Vyom quickly pulls her back and hugs her as the illuminated figure looks at them from below. He tells Sharanya that from now onwards she will always be with him for the rest of their lives.
The bulb in the lamp post above the illuminated figure blows out and there is a blackout. In a voice-over, we hear a man say that love brings a smile to one’s face but when love crosses its limits, it kills. (aaaaaaaaaaaahhh! That was scary.)
First Episode First Impression (FEFI)
After seeing the first episode, I have a feeling that when Sharanya was in a coma for two years, her spirit must have wandered around and she must have met another spirit who must have fallen in love with her and now refuses to leave her even after she has reclaimed her body. Wait a sec, I am mixing this story with the Korean drama, The Master’s Sun. Heheehe, such a KDrama addict I am, I mix KDrama plots with every other serial I watch. 🙂
Coming to the first episode, the show is undoubtedly different. The last scene sent a chill down my spine. I am not a fan of the horror genre and I usually avoid such shows and movies because my heart is not strong enough to bear the frequent jolts of a scary show. The first episode successfully plants a seed of intrigue in the minds of the viewers. It introduced the viewers to the main conflict in the plot and will slowly unravel more mysteries with every episode.
What looked nice?
The plot is what looked the best till now. It is a thriller and the direction was apt for a show like this. The cast also looks good, hope they create a decent chemistry since we have a love triangle here. The VFX is not subpar but surely can be worked upon because the show majorly deals in special effects.
What did not look nice?
The overly dramatic scenes were literally painful to watch. The scene with Vyom’s legs bleeding as he jostled through the crowd to get to the temple was a little too much. More so because he then carried on through the whole day without tending to the wound. Even his hands being unharmed as he held burning coal was too much to digest. I am an Indian viewer and I love drama. I still get goosebumps when I see Jaya Bachchan turn and run to the door when she senses Shahrukh and Hrithik hug in K3G. So, you see I seriously do LOVE drama. But senseless drama irks me, annoys me. Vyom’s filmy fight with the Goddess was fine but all the burning and bleeding business was not required. There should be a limit to farfetched scenes in serials because these shows do influence people and I do not want naïve audiences to believe this kind of stupid stuff.
I personally feel that the ‘Ek Haseena Thi’ tune is too old and overused? I mean the showmakers did not even bother to come up with a new signature scary tune for their serial. A new tune would help to create a different identity for the serial but the producers preferred remixing an old tune. How lazy!
I wish they could go a little easy with Vyom’s mother, Madhuri’s makeup. She looks scarier than the ghost.
Ek Deewana Tha brings something fresh to television and if it manages to cut off the excess drama, it might become more interesting than it already is. If scary, suspense drama is your cuppa tea, then treat yourself to this serial.
You can watch this online on SonyLiv.com
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