Milap Zaveri’s Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat is problematic from the word go. It has chosen as its protagonist a man who passionately loves a woman who doesn’t love him back. The more he feels for her, the less she is inclined to reciprocate.
We get that. At one point she makes a startling, utterly preposterous announcement on a public podium which kills all our sympathy for her as a woman at the receiving end of unwanted attention from a young politician who has never learnt to take a no with grace.He is a spoilt brat. But he doesn’t know it.
Harshvardhan Rane, one of our most neglected young actors ,plays the politician Vikramaditya Bhonsle with such a profound understanding of the concept of unrequited love, he not only anchors the film he also makes us ignore the rather glaring moral anomalies of the theme. We actually feel the pangs of one-sided love as Vikramaditya falls in love with a popular actress Adaa, played by Sonam Bajwa who may not be Shabana Azmi but she is decidedly superior to her two namesakes from the film industry who preceded her.
Zaveri wisely centres the dramatic tension on the antagonistic pair: Vikramaditya, for all his political power, is reduced to a whimpering loverboy whenever Adaa is around. They look like a couple that could have been. There is something very fire and ice about the lead pair , a mound of lava lurking in lovee, enveloping the bleeding pleading and the resentment that threatens to erupt, but never quite gets there, thanks to the frequently wishy washy which is never able to convince us that stalking by any other name is condonable , as long as the one doing it is not a lecher.
Let me explain. Vikramaditya never lays a hand on Adaa, not even when falling on her after being injured, not even to slap her when her conduct gets downright disgusting and spiteful. Throughout Vikramaditya remains a decorous stalker, and if that sounds like an oxymoron, then so be it.
There are so many situations in real life where bookish laws do not apply. Yes, people do fall in love with those who do not love them back. As a homage to the all those who have lost their pride in love,as they never had it in the first place, Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat is a worthy enabler,stymied by the basic red flags that it unfurls in trying to rationalize the stalker hero’s feelings.
Rane in this film, tormented and tearful, makes his character a ‘moist-see’ experience. This ranks as one of the finest performances by a male actor this year.
As for the film, it isn’t half as bad as you think. It does topple over the brink at times. But melodrama is not the villain here. The hero is. He doesn’t know it.
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