The story of Ekk Deewana Tha: love, cinema, and the cost of dreaming
Ekk Deewana Tha opens on Sachin, an engineering graduate from a middle-class Mumbai family who's made an unconventional choice—he'd rather make films than build bridges. His real passion is cinema, and he's plotting his future as a director when he locks eyes with Jessie. It's the kind of love-at-first-sight moment that romantic films are built on, except this one comes with complications. Jessie comes from a strict Malayali Christian family whose values don't include casual dating, let alone a relationship with a struggling aspiring filmmaker. Worse still, she's made it clear: she doesn't want romance. She wants friendship, nothing more. The film's central tension isn't really a mystery—it's the collision between Sachin's all-consuming passion and Jessie's carefully drawn boundaries, between his dreams of cinema and the reality of her family's expectations.
What makes the premise sting is how specific it is. This isn't a generic "boy meets girl" story; it's about a man whose creative ambitions are tangled up with his romantic ones, who sees in Jessie not just a person but perhaps a muse, a character in the film he's imagining. The 160-minute runtime gives the film space to sit with that tension rather than rush past it—though that length is also the kind of thing you'll either appreciate or find exhausting depending on your patience for slow-burn romance.
Behind the making of Ekk Deewana Tha: Menon's second take on a story he knew
Ekk Deewana Tha is a remake, but here's the twist—director Gautham Vasudev Menon is remaking himself. The film is his Hindi-language adaptation of his own 2010 bilingual film Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (Tamil) and Ye Maaya Chesave (Telugu), both of which explored similar territory around impossible love and creative yearning. Rather than hand the story to another director, Menon chose to revisit it, reshaping it for Hindi audiences with a new cast and a slightly different cultural context.
The production brought together Fox Star Studios, Reliance Entertainment, Photon Kathaas, and R S Infotainment—a consortium of major Indian studios betting on a romantic drama in the early 2010s. The film stars Prateik Babbar as Sachin and Amy Jackson, a British-Tamil actress making waves in Indian cinema, as Jessie. Manu Rishi rounds out the lead roles. What's particularly notable is the film's music and score—Menon reused A.R. Rahman's compositions from the original, a decision that speaks to how integral Rahman's work was to the emotional architecture of the story. The cinematography by M. S. Prabhu and editing by Anthony maintained the visual language Menon had established, creating a continuity between the three versions.
The film landed a PG rating and earned one nomination during awards season, a modest recognition in a landscape where romantic dramas often struggle for critical validation. Its IMDb score of 6.1 out of 10 (based on 3,397 votes) reflects the kind of mixed response these films often get—some viewers find the length and pacing meditative; others find it indulgent. Box office data from 2012 shows the film had a respectable run, though it wasn't a runaway success, which is fairly typical for character-driven romance films that don't have franchise appeal or massive star power.
What makes Ekk Deewana Tha stand out: the performances and the unresolved tension
Honestly, what's most striking about Ekk Deewana Tha is how it refuses easy resolution. Prateik Babbar's Sachin isn't a charming romantic lead—he's obsessive, sometimes self-absorbed, caught between his passion for filmmaking and his passion for a woman who's told him clearly that she's not interested in what he's offering. That's not typical Bollywood romance territory. Jackson, meanwhile, brings a restraint to Jessie that makes her refusal to play along feel earned rather than coy. She's not waiting to be convinced; she's setting boundaries and mostly sticking to them, even as she cares for Sachin.
The film's real strength lies in how it treats cinema as a character itself. Sachin doesn't just want to be with Jessie—he wants to direct her, to capture her on film, to make her part of his artistic vision. That blurring of the personal and the creative is where the film gets genuinely interesting (and occasionally uncomfortable, depending on your read of the power dynamics). The 160-minute runtime, rather than feeling like padding, becomes part of the film's argument: that real love—or at least real longing—isn't something that resolves in 90 minutes. It lingers. It doesn't always end the way you want.
A.R. Rahman's score is woven throughout, and while it's a reuse from the earlier versions, it works here too—lush, sometimes melancholic, always present. The cinematography captures Mumbai with a kind of romantic gloss that matches Sachin's dreamy disposition, even when the story itself is pulling against that romanticism. What's striking is how the film seems aware of its own contradictions—it's called "A Perfect Romance... More or Less," and that tagline captures the whole thing. It's romance, sure. But it's also messy, uncertain, and often unresolved. That's rarer in mainstream Hindi cinema than you might think.
Where to stream Ekk Deewana Tha online
If you're looking to watch Ekk Deewana Tha, the film is currently available on major OTT services. Movie OTT tracks current streaming availability across multiple platforms, so you can check the "Where to Watch" widget at the top of this page to see which service has it in your region right now. Streaming rights shift frequently, but the film pops up regularly on the major platforms as part of their Hindi cinema catalogs. The 160-minute runtime means you'll want to carve out a solid chunk of time—this isn't a film you half-watch while scrolling. That's actually part of the appeal for patient viewers.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Is Ekk Deewana Tha based on a true story?
No, it's not based on a true story, but it is based on Gautham Menon's own earlier film Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa. Menon adapted his Tamil-Telugu original for Hindi audiences, reshaping the story with new actors and cultural contexts while keeping the core emotional arc intact.
Q: Who directed Ekk Deewana Tha?
Gautham Vasudev Menon directed the film. He also wrote it and directed the original 2010 versions in Tamil and Telugu, making this his own remake of his own work.
Q: What's the runtime, and is it worth sitting through?
Ekk Deewana Tha runs 160 minutes—nearly three hours. Whether that's worth your time depends on your tolerance for slow-burn romance and character study. If you like films that linger on emotional states rather than rushing through plot, yes. If you prefer tighter pacing, maybe not.
Q: Who stars in Ekk Deewana Tha?
Prateik Babbar plays Sachin, the engineering graduate turned aspiring filmmaker, while British-Tamil actress Amy Jackson plays Jessie, the woman he falls for. Manu Rishi rounds out the lead cast.
Q: Where can I watch Ekk Deewana Tha right now?
You can check the "Where to Watch" widget on this page for current streaming availability. Movie OTT keeps that information updated as platforms add and remove titles from their catalogs.
Final thoughts on Ekk Deewana Tha
Ekk Deewana Tha isn't a perfect film—its length tests patience, and its refusal to wrap things up neatly won't satisfy everyone. But that's also what makes it interesting. It's a film about creative ambition, class barriers, and the ways we project our desires onto other people, especially when we're young and convinced our passion is enough. Sachin isn't always likable, and Jessie isn't waiting to be saved. The film sits with that tension. If you're in the mood for a romantic drama that doesn't apologize for its complexity or its runtime, this one's worth the investment.