Ek Din Review: Pulsating And Optimistic But Lacks Emotion
On a thundery night, Meera wakes with TGA [Temporary Global Amnesia], when her memory is wiped out for 24 hours. Dinesh uses that one day to live his dream with Meera and then he has to face the truth
Rating: 2.5/5
Directed by Sunil Pandey, the film is an official Hindi remake of Thai film One Day (2016).
Starring: Junaid Khan and Sai Pallavi
Production: Aamir Khan Productions
The story:
Dinesh (Junaid), a shy IT guy, has a crush on Meera (Sai Pallavi), who’s dating the boss. On a trip to Japan, Meera finds out her boss is married and his wife is pregnant too.
On a thundery night, Meera wakes with TGA [Temporary Global Amnesia], when her memory is wiped out for 24 hours. Dinesh uses that one day to live his dream with Meera and then he has to face the truth.
What works:
Visuals: Locales in the eastern country are lively and attractive.
Music: Ek Din and Khwab Dekhoon are melodious. Ram Sampath’s score fits for the emotions, though not chartbusters.
Pacing: The film's runtime is fine, not making the audience feel that it is unnecessarily dragged.
Junaid Khan: Missteps and low-confidence rightly suit the character. Performed better than in his last movie.
What doesn’t seem fine:
Copy-paste remake: Scene-to-scene lifted from the Thai original, including jokes. Only climax has been altered to suit to the Indian sensibilities.
Lacks soul: The makers opted for an ending that would be impressive than tragic, playing it safe. However, it makes the audience feel as if something is missing. The emotional gut-punch of City Lights, Casablanca, Moondram Pirai isn’t there.
Logic gaps: Junaid looks too charming to be unheroic/unnoticed. Why quit his job for a girl with amnesia? No plan, just vibes. Office girls talking like teenagers feels off.
Sai Pallavi’s Hindi: Tamil-accented delivery hurts romantic scenes. Makers of Ramayana need to worry if this continues.
Safe debut: Sunil Pandey plays it too safe but choosing a remake for debut doesn't give much vision. AKP moving from originals to remakes isn’t a great sign.
The bigger problem:
The original 'One Day' worked because of its tragic ending. The Hindi version might not appeal to mass audiences. Makers should wait and watch to know the pulse of the audience if they would vibrate positively to the one-day dream.
Bottom line: Ek Din is a pleasant, light romance with good songs but lacks a strong storyline.
