''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'' () is a 2012 Indian
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
-language
romantic comedy
Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...
film co-written and directed by
Shakun Batra
Shakun Batra (born 1 January 1983) is an Indian film director and screenwriter. His first film was the romantic comedy ''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'' (2012). He followed this with '' Kapoor & Sons'' (2016) and Gehraiyaan (2022).
Career
Batra enter ...
in his directorial debut
and produced by
Karan Johar
Karan Johar (born Rahul Kumar Johar; 25 May 1972), often informally referred to as KJo in the Hindi Film Industry, is an Indian filmmaker and television personality, who primarily works in Hindi cinema. He has launched the careers of several s ...
and Hiroo Yash Johar under the banner of
Dharma Productions
Dharma Productions Pvt. Ltd., commonly known and doing business as Dharma Productions, is an Indian film production and distribution company established by Yash Johar in 1979. It was taken over in 2004, after his death, by his son, Karan Johar ...
, alongside
Ronnie Screwvala
Rohinton Soli "Ronnie" Screwvala (born 8 September 1956) is an Indian entrepreneur.
He has been named on Esquire's List of the 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century and ranked 78 among the 100 most influential people in the world on t ...
of
UTV Motion Pictures
UTV Motion Pictures (also known as Disney-UTV) was the feature film unit of UTV Software Communications founded by Ronnie Screwvala and Zarina Screwvala in 1996 as UTV Motion Pictures Plc., the film distribution division of UTV Software Communica ...
. The film stars
Imran Khan
Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...
and
Kareena Kapoor
Kareena Kapoor Khan (; ''née'' Kapoor; born 21 September 1980) is an Indian actress who appears in Bollywood, Hindi films. She is the daughter of actors Randhir Kapoor and Babita, and the younger sister of actress Karisma Kapoor. Noted for pl ...
, with
Ratna Pathak Shah
Ratna Pathak Shah (born 18 March 1957) is an Indian actress and director known for her work in Hindi theatre, television, and films. Her extensive work in theatre includes a series of plays in both English and Hindi. She rose to prominence when ...
,
Boman Irani
Boman Irani (born 2 December 1959) is an Indian actor, photographer and voice artist who works predominantly in Hindi cinema he has also worked in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. He has acted in more than a 100 films in his career.
Ear ...
and
Ram Kapoor
Ram Kapoor (; born 1 September 1973) is an Indian actor who works in films and television serials. He gained popularity portraying Jai Walia in the television series ''Kasamh Se'' and the character of Ram Kapoor in '' Bade Achhe Lagte Hain''. H ...
in supporting roles. The plot centers on an uptight architect named Rahul Kapoor, living in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
,
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
, who loses his job and, following a night of debauchery, accidentally marries a free-spirited hairstylist named Riana Braganza. After mutually deciding to annul the marriage, Rahul begins a one-sided attraction for Riana, which threatens to ruin their new friendship.
Development began in 2010, when Johar signed Batra and Khan for a film to be made under his banner. Inspired by the
Woody Allen
Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...
style of film-making, Ayesha Devitre and Batra worked on the script, with principal photography taking place in Vegas,
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
Pataudi
Pataudi is a town and one of the 4 sub-divisions of Gurugram district, in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Haryana, within the boundaries of the National Capital Region of India. Ahirs/Yadav dominate the area. It is located f ...
and
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
. The film features music by
Clinton Cerejo
Clinton Cerejo is an Indian singer, music composer and musician. Life
Clinton Cerejo was born into an academically inclined family with no known musical background. His father was an engineer at L&T and mother is a French professor. His elde ...
and
Amit Trivedi
Amit Trivedi (born 8 April 1979) is an Indian music director, singer and a lyricist who works primarily in Hindi films. After working as a theatre and jingle composer and composing for non-film albums, he debuted as a film composer in the 2008 ...
, with the former composing the score and the latter composing the songs. The lyrics for songs were written by
Amitabh Bhattacharya
Amitabh Bhattacharya (born 16 November 1976) is an Indian lyricist and playback singer who works in Bollywood films. He shot to fame with the film ''Dev.D'' with the song "Emotional Atyachar" turning an instant hit. He sang this song under the ...
. Originally slated to release during the fall of 2011, ''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'' eventually released on 10 February 2012, to positive critical reception, with major praise directed to Kapoor and Khan's performance, and proved a moderate commercial success.
Plot
Rahul Kapoor, an architect, has always been on the road to perfection, as per the wishes of his domineering father, Sushil Kapoor and socialite mother, Seema Kapoor. After suddenly losing his job in Vegas, he hides the truth from his parents and looks for another job. Unable to cope with unemployment, he goes to a psychologist and runs into another patient, Riana Braganza. A series of events lead Riana to believe that he is sent by her ex-boyfriend to stalk her, and she ends up taking his file by mistake.
Riana, who later realises her mistake, calls him and apologises for her behaviour. They meet up on
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...
and Riana invites Rahul to have a few drinks with her. A few drinks turn into a night of intoxicated revelry and they end up marrying each other. Horrified the following morning, they decide to get it
annulled
Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost ...
as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Riana, who is also unemployed and has not paid her rent, loses her accommodation and an initially hesitant Rahul lets her stay with him till her problem gets resolved. During these few days, they get to know each other better. Rahul is revealed to be interested in photography while Riana recounts her ambition to be a ballet dancer, which was destroyed after she broke her ankle in childhood. Their friendship develops as Riana gives Rahul a long break he always wanted. As they grow closer, Rahul develops feelings for Riana, who fails to reciprocate them.
As
New Year's Eve
In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...
approaches, Riana plans to visit her family in India and asks Rahul to accompany her. He disagrees initially, as his parents live in
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
, but later succumbs to her argument. Upon arrival, she introduces him to her family, making his feelings towards her grow. The next day, Riana takes him to visit her school. Amidst reflecting over her past relationships, he unsuccessfully tries to kiss her. Realising that she does not feel the way he does, he angrily leaves the school, only to almost run into a car revealed to be his mother's. He lies and tells his mother that he is in India for a research trip, and that Riana is a colleague. They have lunch with Rahul's parents, where he spins a web of intricate lies to avoid telling his father the truth. He leaves Riana's house and returns to his parents, trying to tell them the truth, but once again is overpowered by his father.
Two days later, during a family dinner, Rahul angrily divulges the complete truth to his in-denial parents and their business partners, after realising the meaninglessness of his pretense he indulged in all these years. He rushes back to Riana to apologise for his behaviour while Riana apologises she never intended to lead him on. After a night of reflection and deep conversation, they decide to maintain their friendship.
The duo return to Las Vegas and finalise their annulment. Rahul gets a new job, while making time for photography. He remains hopeful that one day he will convince Riana to go back to that chapel with him. Both remain good friends, with an ending note from Rahul claiming that he is finally happy with his life, as the credits roll.
Cast
*
Imran Khan
Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...
as Rahul Kapoor, an uptight architect living in Las Vegas. Following the loss of his job, he ends up marrying Riana Braganza due to alcohol-resulting drunkenness. Khan describes his role by saying, "Rahul has had a very restricted life. His parents have always told him what to do, how to behave, what to study, what career to pursue and so on and so forth. Even his hobbies have been decided by his parents. He has never had a spontaneous moment in his life where he has done something for himself. He is actually a very sad, lonely and tragic guy but he doesn't realize it."
*
Kareena Kapoor
Kareena Kapoor Khan (; ''née'' Kapoor; born 21 September 1980) is an Indian actress who appears in Bollywood, Hindi films. She is the daughter of actors Randhir Kapoor and Babita, and the younger sister of actress Karisma Kapoor. Noted for pl ...
as Riana Braganza (Ri), a hairstylist who tries to add zing to Rahul Kapoor's monotonous life following their marriage. In an interview with ''
The Times of India
''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...
'', Kapoor describes her character and explains, "Riana knows what she is doing. Even though she does not have a house or a job, she is a positive person... very similar to the way I am."
*
Ratna Pathak Shah
Ratna Pathak Shah (born 18 March 1957) is an Indian actress and director known for her work in Hindi theatre, television, and films. Her extensive work in theatre includes a series of plays in both English and Hindi. She rose to prominence when ...
as Seema Kapoor, Rahul's mother, a fiercely dominating woman.
*
Boman Irani
Boman Irani (born 2 December 1959) is an Indian actor, photographer and voice artist who works predominantly in Hindi cinema he has also worked in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. He has acted in more than a 100 films in his career.
Ear ...
as Sushil Kapoor, Rahul's father, a strict disciplinarian.
*
Ram Kapoor
Ram Kapoor (; born 1 September 1973) is an Indian actor who works in films and television serials. He gained popularity portraying Jai Walia in the television series ''Kasamh Se'' and the character of Ram Kapoor in '' Bade Achhe Lagte Hain''. H ...
as D. K. Bulani, a friend of Rahul's father, who tries to help Rahul overcome his low self-esteem.
* Dana Lewis as Dayna Bulani, D.K's wife who makes sexual advances at Rahul.
*
Soniya Mehra
Soniya Mehra is an Indian actress and daughter of actor Vinod Mehra. She is best known for playing Tanya Kapoor in ''Ragini MMS 2''.
Personal life
Mehra is the daughter of actor Vinod Mehra from his third and last wife Kiran. She was less than ...
as Anusha Jethmalani, Rahul's ex-girlfriend.
*
Rajesh Khattar
Rajesh Khattar (born 24 September 1966) is an Indian actor, voice artist and screenwriter from Bollywood. He was married to Neelima Azeem and is the father of actor Ishaan Khattar and step father of Shahid Kapoor.
Personal life
Khattar was bo ...
as Mr. Shah.
* Nikhil Kapoor as Phil Braganza, Riana's father.
*
Zenobia Shroff
Zenobia Shroff (born May 27, 1965) is an Indian-born American actress. Shroff has been an actress, writer, teaching artist and sketch comedian for over 30 years and she is known for her role in the 2017 film ''The Big Sick'', and as Muneeba Khan i ...
as Nicole Braganza, Riana's mother.
*
Manasi Scott
Manasi Scott is an Indian singer, songwriter, and an actress. Manasi is best known for her live performances and for composing "Khatti Meethi" for Sanjay Gupta's '' Acid Factory''. In 2018, she played the female protagonist in ALTBalaji's web s ...
as Steff Braganza Sharma (Steffy), Karan's wife, Riana's sister.
*
Mukul Chadda Mukul is an Indian/South-Asian given name, which means " blossoming".
Mukul may refer to:
Given name
*Mukul Sharma, Sydney based hotelier, hospitality professional
* Mukul Chadda, Indian actor
* Mukul Chowdhury, Bangladeshi lyricist and musical a ...
as Karan Sharma, Steph's husband, Riana's brother-in-law.
* Avantika Malik in a special appearance during the song ''Auntyji''.
Production
Pre-production
Pre-production is the process of planning some of the elements involved in a film, television show, play, or other performance, as distinct from production and post-production. Pre-production ends when the planning ends and the content starts ...
work on ''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'' began in 2010 when Karan Johar announced his plans of making a new project with debutant Shakun Batra. Following the success of their previous collaboration ''
I Hate Luv Storys
''I Hate Luv Storys'' is a 2010 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Punit Malhotra and produced under Karan Johar's Dharma Productions and Ronnie Screwvala's UTV Motion Pictures. It stars Imran Khan and Sonam Kapo ...
'' (2010), Khan was contracted by Johar to play the male lead. In an attempt to sign in an actress who had never worked with Khan before, Kapoor was confirmed to play the female lead several days later. She had to cut her hair short and sport red streaks for her role. On casting Khan and Kapoor, Johar commented, "They could get their real life personality onto the film. Imran is meant to be this very perfectionist young man. So while he is a very stuffy kind of a character, he is also very focused and doesn't let himself go. On the other hand Kareena plays this woman who is like a modern version of Geet from ''
Jab We Met
''Jab We Met'' () is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Imtiaz Ali and produced by Dhilin Mehta under his banner Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision. The film stars Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor in their fou ...
''."
Batra mentioned, "It's a slice of life film, driven by characters. The plot is not primary, emotions of the characters are at the forefront. It is set on two weeks of the life of two characters, played by Imran and Kareena."
On the other hand, Johar said it was inspired by the
Woody Allen
Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...
style of film-making. He added that there would be "lot more conversation happening here" and there would be "these walk-talk sequences where it is just you and the camera in motion."
Principal photography commenced in November 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada after Khan had completed working on ''
Mere Brother Ki Dulhan
''Mere Brother Ki Dulhan'' () is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar in his directorial debut and produced by Aditya Chopra for Yash Raj Films. It stars Imran Khan, Katrina Kaif, Ali Zafar, ...
'' and later continued in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. After completing the film's first schedule, the crew shifted to shoot in
Pataudi
Pataudi is a town and one of the 4 sub-divisions of Gurugram district, in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Haryana, within the boundaries of the National Capital Region of India. Ahirs/Yadav dominate the area. It is located f ...
, in the
Indian state
India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions.
History
Pre-indepen ...
of
Haryana
Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...
, followed by
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
. As photography began in Vegas, media sources began to report that it could be an adaptation of the American
romantic comedy
Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...
, ''
What Happens in Vegas
''What Happens in Vegas'' is a 2008 American romantic comedy film directed by Tom Vaughan and written by Dana Fox. It stars Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher as a couple who get married and win a casino jackpot prize during a drunken night in Las ...
'' (2008). Johar, however, went on to deny these reports, claiming that, if he wanted to remake the film, he would have bought the rights to it. Originally referred to as ''Short Term Shaadi'', the title and first look was launched by Johar in August 2011 via
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
. According to him, "''Short Term Shaadi'' was just a working title that attached itself to this film through the making. Neither the director nor I were happy with it from the start."
The name ''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'' was derived from a song from the
Rishi Kapoor
Rishi Raj Kapoor (4 September 1952 — 30 April 2020) was an Indian actor, film director and producer who worked in Hindi films
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry base ...
and
Neetu Singh
Neetu Kapoor (born Harneet Kaur), is an Indian actress who is known for appearing in Hindi films throughout the late 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. In 2012, Singh was inducted into the Walk of the Stars, an entertainment hall of fame at Bandra ...
starrer ''
Khel Khel Mein'' (1975).
On deciding to set the stot in Vegas, Batra said that "the character of the place is very well defined and we need to show it as Las Vegas. It can't be shown as any other city. Since most films are not set there, it gets difficult. In case of ''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'', our film is set in Las Vegas and Mumbai." As filming took place during the winter in Vegas, the production team shot for double shifts to be cost effective.
Soundtrack
The music rights of ''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'' were sold to
T-Series for . The soundtrack, which released on 26 December 2011, featured music composed by
Amit Trivedi
Amit Trivedi (born 8 April 1979) is an Indian music director, singer and a lyricist who works primarily in Hindi films. After working as a theatre and jingle composer and composing for non-film albums, he debuted as a film composer in the 2008 ...
with lyrics by
Amitabh Bhattacharya
Amitabh Bhattacharya (born 16 November 1976) is an Indian lyricist and playback singer who works in Bollywood films. He shot to fame with the film ''Dev.D'' with the song "Emotional Atyachar" turning an instant hit. He sang this song under the ...
. Batra mentioned that Trivedi was his first choice for music director and added that while the track "Gubbare" was the first to be recorded, the title track took the longest to compose.
Reception
The soundtrack met with a positive response, with Avijit Ghosh of ''The Times of India'' mentioning, "Composer Amit Trivedi and lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya are among the finest musical team in Bollywood. In ''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'', they are again at their best. The seductive ''Auntyji'' and the racy title track have a delightful breeziness. And the more evocative tracks such as ''Gubbare Gubbare'' and ''Aahatein'' stay with you for long".
While praising the compositions, Joginder Tuteja of ''Bollywood Hungama'' commented that the album belonged to a "niche audience". He added that the songs ''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'' and ''Kar Chalna Shuru Tu'' would make the most impression. Mitesh Saraf of ''Planet Bollywood'', while summarising his review wrote, "The album has some cool songs to chill out to and they should sound even better on screen."
Release
The film released worldwide on 10 February 2012, coinciding with
Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, throu ...
celebrations. Upon release, ''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'' received positive reviews and was a moderate box office success.
The
trailers
Trailer may refer to: a
Transportation
* Trailer (vehicle), an unpowered vehicle pulled by a powered vehicle
** Bicycle trailer, a wheeled frame for hitching to a bicycle to tow cargo or passengers
** Full-trailer
** Semi-trailer
**Horse trailer ...
of ''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'' faced trouble with the censor board before release. Initially, the word "sex" was objected to by the board and asked to be removed. Later, a scene depicting Kapoor pinching Khan's buttocks was considered inappropriate for television promos and had to be removed.
Critical reception
Rachel Saltz of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' noted, "The happy surprise of ''Ek Main aur Ekk Tu'' is that it's not crude, sniggering or vindictive. Instead it's rather sweet and sometimes even a little unexpected." Avijit Ghosh of ''
The Times of India
''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...
'' gave 4 out of 5 stars and said that, "''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'' is the sweetest heartbreak that Bollywood has conjured in a long, long time."
Taran Adarsh
Taran Adarsh (born 13 June 1965) is an Indian film critic and trade analyst. He is best known for giving trade figures and box office updates on social media.
Career
Taran Adarsh started his journalism career at the age of 15 with ''Trade Gui ...
of
Bollywood Hungama
Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is a Bollywood entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000.
The website provides ...
also gave 4 out of 5 stars saying, "This take on love is refined, smart, lively and thoroughly pleasing thanks to its characters, conversations and the inherent humor." Piyali Dasgupta of
NDTV
New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. The company is considered to be a legacy brand that pioneered independent news broadcasting in India, and is credited for launching t ...
, in her 4-star review, explained, "I'll play on the film's USP for this review and keep it short and crisp. No extra lines. But, just like you need to read this, you need to go and watch the film." ''
DNA India
''Zee Media Corporation Limited'' (abbreviated as ZMCL; formerly Zee News Limited) is the news broadcasting company of the Essel Group which is controlled by Subhash Chandra. The company is engaged mainly in the business of broadcasting of news ...
'' recommended it and gave 4 stars out of 5 concluding, "All in all, ''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'' is a delightful film that keeps getting better along the way, and ends fabulously. Clocking under two hours, the film is a breezy watch that will leave you with a smile."
''
MiD DAY
''Mid-Day'' (stylised as mid-day) is a morning daily Indian compact newspaper owned by Jagran Prakashan Limited. Editions in various languages were published in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Pune. In 2011, the Delhi and Bangalore editions were ...
'' gave 3.5 stars out of 5, commenting, "The climax is brave, unpredictable and real. Go watch! ''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'' is a small packet of joy." ''
India Today
''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new onl ...
'', too, gave 3.5 stars out of 5 saying, "''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'' is a gentle little film, where even the regulation song with Americans dancing to Bollywood music in the middle of Vegas don't look so bad." A review carried by ''
Birmingham Mail
The ''Birmingham Mail'' (branded the ''Black Country Mail'' in the Black Country) is a tabloid newspaper based in Birmingham, England but distributed around Birmingham, the Black Country, and Solihull and parts of Warwickshire, Worcestershire ...
'' mentioned,
''
Daily Bhaskar
''Dainik Bhaskar ''is India's largest Hindi-language daily newspaper owned by the Dainik Bhaskar Group. According to Audit Bureau of Circulations, it is ranked 3rd in the world by circulation and is the largest newspaper in India by circula ...
'' gave 3 out of 5 stars and concluded saying, "Overall, ''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'' is a typical popcorn entertainment with super-amazing climax which puts it in a different league altogether." Sukanya Verma for
Rediff
Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City.
, it had more than 300 e ...
too gave the film 3 stars out of 5, and commented, "''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'' is neither on the epic side like Dharma Productions' great, grand ancestors nor weighed down by an overload of pop culture references of those that define the genre."
Komal Nahta
Komal Nahta (born 30 April 1964) is an Indian film trade analyst. Nahta is the publisher of "Film Information" and also a television show host. He is an anchor of the trade show ETC Bollywood Business on the Bollywood TV channels ETC and Zee Cinem ...
for
Koimoi
Koimoi is a Bollywood entertainment website providing Bollywood news, box-office reports and film reviews. In January 2021, its Alexa ranking in India was 2530.
Origin
On 23 November 2009, Contest2win.com and Komal Nahta's Faith Entertainment j ...
, too, gave 3 out of 5 stars, saying ''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'' is an entertaining and enjoyable fare for the city audience.
Rajeev Masand
Rajeev Masand is an Indian film critic and journalist. He has worked for Noida based English language news channel CNN-Indian Broadcasting Network (CNN-IBN). He usually reviews Bollywood films and major Hollywood films released in India in hi ...
of
CNN-IBN
CNN-News18 (originally CNN-IBN) is an Indian English-language news television channel founded by Raghav Bahl based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is currently co-owned by Network18 Group and Warner Bros. Discovery. CNN provides internationa ...
gave it 3 out of 5 stars and said "''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'' is a narrative that unfolds mainly through dialogue, and the lighter moments come at you as the odd couple gets to know each other. The humor hits the mark many times and falls flat occasionally, but the movie doesn't grate because the characters aren't trying too hard to be cute."
''
The Economic Times
''The Economic Times'' is an Indian English-language business-focused daily newspaper. It is owned by The Times Group. ''The Economic Times'' began publication in 1961. As of 2012, it is the world's second-most widely read English-language bus ...
'' gave 2.5 stars out of 5, and said "It's perfect in whatever it offers. But what it offers is quite average in volume." Shubhra Gupta of ''
The Indian Express
''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...
'' gave 2.5 stars out of 5 and said "The film passes by pleasantly enough past all its expected roadsigns, providing a smile and an occasional chuckle but making you wish for more newness."
On the contrary, Kunal Guha of
Yahoo!
Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Man ...
gave 2 stars out of 5, saying "this film doesn't subscribe to every cliché associated with this auspicious day for getting Main and Tu to become Hum."
Box office
''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'' opened well in multiplexes in
North India
North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...
, while other areas had an average opening at multiplexes. On its first day, it earned about nett, with major collections coming from
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
,
Delhi NCR
The National Capital Region (NCR) is a planning region centred upon the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi in India. It encompasses Delhi and several districts surrounding it from the states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The N ...
,
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
and
Mysore
Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...
. It collected nett on Saturday, while on Sunday, hence totaling its first weekend collection around .
On Monday, the film netted around , with a 50% drop in collections as compared to first day. On Tuesday, ''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'' had a jump and earned around nett, owing to
Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, throu ...
. At the end of its first week, ''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'' earned a total of .
It added and during its second and third week respectively, taking its total to around nett.
''Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'' had a decent opening at the international box office. In the UK, in its opening weekend, the film collected £ in 53 screens. It fared even better in the United States, collecting $1.7 million from 111 screens in its opening weekend.
References
External links
*
*
{{Dharma Productions
2010s Hindi-language films
2012 directorial debut films
2012 films
2012 romantic comedy films
Films shot in Haryana
Films shot in Mumbai
Foreign films set in the United States
Indian romantic comedy films
UTV Motion Pictures films