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Ek Hasina Thi (film)

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Ek Hasina Thi
Poster
Directed bySriram Raghavan
Written bySriram Raghavan
Pooja Ladha Surti
Produced byRam Gopal Varma
R. R. Venkat
StarringUrmila Matondkar
Saif Ali Khan
Aditya Srivastava
Seema Biswas
CinematographyC. K. Muraleedharan
Edited bySanjib Datta
Music byAmar Mohile
Production
companies
Distributed by20th Century Fox[1]
Release date
  • 16 January 2004 (2004-01-16)
Running time
139 minutes[2]
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget₹4 Crores[3]
Box office₹10 Crores[3]

Ek Hasina Thi (English: There Was A Beautiful Woman) is a 2004 Indian Hindi-language neo-noir action thriller film directed by Sriram Raghavan and produced by Ram Gopal Varma. It stars Urmila Matondkar and Saif Ali Khan, and the screenplay was written by Sriram Raghavan and Pooja Ladha Surti.

The film borrows elements from the Sidney Sheldon novel If Tomorrow Comes.[4] Critic Ronjita Kulkarni said it's "loosely based" on Double Jeopardy, while "the film also adapts a scene from The Bone Collector."[5] The film premiered at the New York Asian Film Festival.[6] Although a commercial failure upon its release,[3] the film is considered one of the best works of Matondkar, Khan and Raghavan.[7]

Plot

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Sarika is a single woman who lives alone in Mumbai and works at a travel agency. She meets Karan and initially resists his romantic advances, but the two eventually sleep together and begin a relationship. One day, Karan asks Sarika to host one of his friends for 2 hours as he is new to the city, she agrees. Karan's friend arrives at Sarika's home, when he receives a phone call he asks if he can leave his suitcase there to be picked up later before his flight, Sarika agree and he leaves. That evening, Sarika sees on the news that the man is a wanted criminal. Sarika is shocked and calls Karan, who tells her to get rid of the suitcase. Sarika steps out with the suitcase and is intercepted by police officers who arrest her. Karan asks her to speak to his lawyer, Kamlesh Mathur, and not to mention his name anywhere in this investigation as that could damage his reputation in his business. After losing the initial hearing and being denied bail, the attorney advises her to confess to the crime, convincing her that since she has no criminal record and no prior convictions, the judge will release her.

Sarika complies after being convinced that the judge will give her a light sentence after the attorney tells her this is the Judge's idea since he is working alongside Karan. However, the judge sentences her to seven years in prison without parole. Sarika then realises that Karan and his attorney have cheated her. Karan is a criminal who framed her to keep police away from him. Soon after this realisation, Sarika's father dies. In prison, Sarika's hatred for Karan grows. Pramila, an inmate who has contacts outside prison, decides to help Sarika.

Sarika begins a journey of self-transformation, which she starts by conquering her fear of rats. She beats up an abusive inmate, Gomati, who had bullied her. Sarika then escapes from prison, along with a few other inmates after starting a fire in the kitchen. Karan is notified of her escape by Kamlesh Mathur but does not think much of it. ACP Malti Vaidya sets out to find Sarika. Sarika finds Mathur and kills him after learning Karan's whereabouts, working for a gangster in Delhi.

Sarika finds Karan in Delhi with his new girlfriend. She takes a room right opposite Karan's so that she can observe him. She trails him day and night, without arousing suspicion. ACP Malti Vaidya finds Sarika when Sarika calls her mother from a prepaid phone in Delhi. Karan, in the meantime, is in trouble with a local gangster, Sanjeev, to whom he owes money. He is kidnapped from a nightclub by Sanjeev's henchmen, who threaten him.Karan is taken to Bilal, Sanjeev's partner who alerts him Sanjeev is ready to meet him, Sarika secretly observes the incident and as soon as Karan leaves the room, Sanjeev is found dead, and suspicion falls on Karan.

Karan and his girlfriend are attacked in the hotel, leaving his girlfriend and a few henchmen dead. Karan escapes as ACP Malti reaches his hotel suite in pursuit of Sarika. Karan is bewildered at Sanjeev's death and the attack and wonders if a rival gang murdered Sanjeev.

Meanwhile, Sarika pretends to meet Karan accidentally. She pretends to have sympathy for him, and Karan believes her. Karan confronts a man whom he suspects to be a traitor, but the man can say anything; Karan kills him.

Sarika is amused at Karan's confusion. She steals money from Karan's boss, for which Karan is suspected. Realizing she has framed him after ACP Malti's questioning, Karan confronts and assaults Sarika, who tells him she has burned the money. Karan takes Sarika to his boss and makes her confess at gunpoint. But she feigns ignorance and claims that Karan forced her to confess. A fight begins between Karan and his boss's henchman as the ACP enters with the police.

In a shootout, the ACP kills Karan's boss, and the ACP herself is shot. Karan briefly escapes before Sarika catches him, holds him at gunpoint, and makes him drive to a secluded spot. After knocking Karan unconscious, Sarika chains him in a cavern infested with rats. As Karan regains consciousness, Sarika tells him how she used to be scared of rats, and she chose this spot because she wanted him to go through the pain and suffering that she went through while she was in prison. Sarika leaves Karan in the cavern.

Karan screams, but no one hears him. A pack of rats slowly start crawling all over him and eventually kill him. Sarika surrenders to the ACP, turning in the bag of money that she stole from Karan's boss to the ACP.

Cast

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Production

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Saif Ali Khan was initially unsure about accepting the role of Karan as he was unaccustomed to portraying such a ruthless character, though the filmmakers convinced him to accept the role. For his first role as a villain, he received a lot of appreciation for his performance.[8][9]

Soundtrack

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The film's soundtrack and background score were composed by Amar Mohile. Two songs play mainly in the narrative. The first song 'Neend Na Aaye' that plays at the beginning of the film has been sung by Pandit Jasraj.[10] The title song 'Ek Hasina Thi' plays in the second half of the movie.[11]

Reception

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Taran Adarsh of IndiaFM gave the film a 3 out of 5, writing, "On the whole, EK HASINA THI, in the spirit of RGV's other movies, has some fresh things to say about love, passion, deceit and destiny".[12] K. Kavitha of Deccan Herald wrote that "His [Ram Gopal Varma's] ‘K Sera Sera Productions’ conjures up yet another superbly crafted movie; yet another promising director — Sriram Raghavan and yet another virtuoso performance by his muse, Urmila".[13]

Urmila Matondkar received high praise for her role as a merciless avenger. Ek Hasina Thi is considered one of the finest performances in her career.[14][15][16]

References

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  1. ^ "20th Century Fox to leave India". Hindustan Times. 29 January 2005. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  2. ^ "Ek Hasina Thi". British Board of Film Classification.
  3. ^ a b c "Ek Hasina Thi – Movie – Box Office India". boxofficeindia.com. Archived from the original on 22 August 2023. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  4. ^ Rangan, Baradwaj (22 January 2004). "Review: Ek Hasina Thi / Bhoot". Baradwaj Rangan. Archived from the original on 18 May 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  5. ^ Ronjita Kulkarni (15 January 2004), "Who's better: Urmila or Saif?" Archived 20 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Rediff. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  6. ^ David (16 June 2006). "The Films of Ram Gopal Varma – An Overview". Cinema Strikes Back. Archived from the original on 25 July 2009. Retrieved 22 February 2009.
  7. ^ Singh, Jai Arjun (28 July 2019). "'Ek Hasina Thi' (2004): Truth, disguised as lies". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 13 December 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  8. ^ "Top 10 Saif Ali Khan performances". filmfare.com. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  9. ^ "Ahead of Andhadhun, here's looking at Sriram Raghavan's debut film Ek Hasina Thi". The Indian Express. 4 October 2018. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  10. ^ @phanishankar (1 May 2019). "yeah, in the titles also it is mentioned as background score -Amar Mohile and there is Pandit Jasraj's 'Neend Na Aaye' song in the background during the titles" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  11. ^ "Ek Hasina Thi : Lyrics and video of Songs from the Movie Ek Hasina Thi (2004)". Archived from the original on 13 December 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  12. ^ Adarsh, Taran (14 January 2004). "Ek Hasina Thi Movie Review". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 13 December 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  13. ^ K., Kavitha (18 January 2004). "Ek Hasina Thi - Hindi". Deccan Herald. Archived from the original on 5 July 2017.
  14. ^ Patel, Dipali (4 February 2017). "As She Turns A Year Older, Here Are 10 Standout Performances By Urmila Matondkar". ScoopWhoop. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  15. ^ Thombare, Suparna. "From Masoom to Ek Hasina Thi: 5 best performances of Urmila Matondkar". Cinestaan. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  16. ^ "RANKED: 6 Best Performances of Urmila Matondkar in Bollywood". Desimartini. 4 February 2018. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
[edit]
  • Ek Hasina Thi at IMDb
  • ‹The template AllMovie title is being considered for deletion.› Ek Hasina Thi at AllMovie
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