| Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Shakun Batra |
| Produced by |
Hiroo Yash Johar Karan Johar Ronnie Screwvala |
| Written by |
Ayesha Devitre Shakun Batra |
| Starring |
|
| Music by |
Songs: Amit Trivedi Background Score: Clinton Cerejo |
| Cinematography | David McDonald |
| Edited by | Asif Ali Shaikh |
Production company |
Dharma Productions |
| Distributed by | UTV Motion Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 110 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Budget | ?360 million (US$5.4 million) |
| Box office | ?721 million (US$11 million) |
Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu (English: One me, and one you) is a 2012 Indian romantic comedy film written and directed by Shakun Batra in his directorial debut. It was produced by Karan Johar and Hiroo Yash Johar under the banner of Dharma Productions, alongside Ronnie Screwvala of UTV Motion Pictures. The film features Imran Khan and Kareena Kapoor in lead roles, with Ratna Pathak Shah, Boman Irani and Ram Kapoor in supporting roles. The plot centers on an uptight architect named Rahul Kapoor, living in Las Vegas, Nevada, 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 style of film-making, Ayesha Devitre and Batra worked on the script, with principal photography taking place in Vegas, Los Angeles, Pataudi and Mumbai. The features music by Clinton Cerejo and Amit Trivedi, with the former composing the score and the latter composing the songs. The lyrics for songs were written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. Originally slated to release during the fall of 2011, Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu eventually released on 10 February 2012, to positive critical notice, with major praise directed to Kapoor and Khan's performance, and proved a moderate commercial success.
Contents
Plot
Rahul Kapoor (Imran Khan) has always been on the road to perfection, as per the wishes of his domineering father (Boman Irani) and socialite mother (Ratna Pathak Shah). After suddenly losing his job as an architect 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 (Kareena Kapoor). 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 during Christmas Eve and Riana invites Rahul to have a few drinks with her. A few drinks turn into a night of intoxicated revelry as they end up marrying each other. Horrified, they decide to get it annulled as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Riana, who is also unemployed and has not paid her rent, loses her house 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 approaches, Riana plans to visit her family in India and asks Rahul to accompany her. He disagrees initially, as his parents live in Mumbai, 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 moves in with 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 (including Mr. Bulani), after realising the meaninglessness of his pretense he indulged in all these years. As he rushes back to Riana to apologise for his behaviour, 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 keeping time out 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 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 as Riana Braganza, a hairstylist who tries to add zing to Rahul Kapoor's monotonous life following their marriage. In an interview with The Times of India, 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 as Rahul's mother, a fiercely dominating woman.
- Boman Irani as Rahul's father, a strict disciplinarian.
- Ram Kapoor as Mr. Bulani, a friend of Rahul's father, who tries to help Rahul overcome his low self-esteem.
- Dana Lewis as Mrs. Bulani, who makes sexual advances at Rahul.
- Soniya Mehra as Anusha, Rahul's ex-girlfriend.
- Rajesh Khattar as Mr. Shah.
- Nikhil Kapoor as Phil Braganza, Riana's father.
- Zenobia Shroff as Nicole Braganza, Riana's mother.
- Manasi Scott as Riana's sister.
- Mukul Chaddha as Riana's brother-in-law.
- Avantika Malik in a special appearance during the song Auntyji.
Production
Pre-production 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 (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."
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 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 and later continued in Los Angeles. After completing the film's first schedule, the crew shifted to shoot in Pataudi, in the Indian state of Haryana, followed by Mumbai. As photography began in Vegas, media sources began to report that it could be an adaptation of the American romantic comedy, What Happens in Vegas (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. 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 and Neetu Singh 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
| Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Amit Trivedi | ||||
| Released | 26 December 2011 | |||
| Recorded | 2011 | |||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | |||
| Length | 30:42 | |||
| Label | T-Series | |||
| Producer | Karan Johar | |||
| Amit Trivedi chronology | ||||
| ||||
The music rights of Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu were sold to T-Series for ?60 million (US$890,000). The soundtrack, which released on 26 December 2011, featured music composed by Amit Trivedi with lyrics penned by Amitabh Bhattacharya. 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.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
