Anand Narayan Mahadevan, drama, Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat, Harshvardhan Rane, India, Milap Zaveri, reviews, Sachin Khedekar, Sakshi Sharma, Sarah Killedar, Shaad Randhawa, Sonam Bajwa
October 26, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Milap Zaveri
Hindi with subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in India, the dramatic film “Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat” features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: An egotistical politician becomes obsessed with getting a movie star to marry him, even though she wants nothing to do with him.
Culture Audience: “Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and idiotic dramas about violent stalking.
“Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat” is a repulsive and repetitive drama about a narcissistic politician who abuses his power to obsessively harass a woman who doesn’t love him. There is nothing romantic about this misogynistic garbage movie, which makes an abuser into a martyr. There is also no meaningful purpose to this film, which dresses up violent stalking and other disgusting actions with glamorous costumes and elaborate song-and-dance numbers that are shallow and very tone-deaf.
Directed by Milap Zaveri (who co-wrote the movie’s horrendous screenplay with Mushtaq Shiekh), “Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat” means “The Obsession of a Lover” in Hindi. This 140-minute abomination of a movie consists of tedious scene and after tedious scene of a suitor from hell, as he goes to extreme lengths to possess a woman who becomes the target of his obsession. “Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat” is only interested in tawdry exploitation, not having an empowering message for abuse survivors. The movie’s acting performances, screenwriting and directing are all completely awful.
In “Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat” (which takes place in India) the atrocious abuser is Vikramaditya “Vikram” Bhonsle (played by Harshvardhan Rane), the heir to a political dynasty. Vikram’s widower father Ganpatro Bhonsle (played by Sachin Khedekar) is a chief minister (an elected position) and wants Vikram to follow in his footsteps, by declaring Vikram’s candidacy for the position that Ganpatro will eventually vacate when Ganpatro retires. Ganpatro, who is very corrupt, gets involved with and often instigates the criminal activity shown in the movie. Ganpatro has a flunky named Sawant (played by Shaad Randhawa) who does a lot of the dirty work.
Vikram is a never-married bachelor who uses his good looks and his power to get what he wants. It’s repeated several times in the movie that “no one says no” to Vikram. The movie tries to make viewers feel sorry for Vikram by revealing that Vikram grew up being shamed by Ganpatro because Ganpatro told Vikram that Vikram’s mother died in childbirth because of Vikram. The story that Vikram has been told is that when Virkam’s mother was giving birth to him, there were unexpected health complications.
Medical professionals told Ganpatro that only the mother or the child could be kept alive. Ganpatro had to choose between letting Vikram or Vikram’s mother to be the one kept alive. Ganpatro wanted his wife/Vikram’s mother to live. But instead, Vikram was the one who survived. “I chose myself,” Vikram says when he tells someone this horrible birth story. Even so, Vikram has been made to believe his entire life that he “killed” his mother just by being born.
Vikram has grown up to be both insecure (desperate for his father’s approval) and relentessly arrogant. His warped sense of entitlement spirals out of control into cruelty and violence when he becomes obsessed with famous movie actress Adaa Randhawa (played by Sonam Bajwa), who briefly dates him but then tries to distance herself from Vikram when she finds out how mentally unstable and dangerous he is. There were “red flags” early on in the relationship, but Adaa chose to ignore these warning signs because she was caught up in the lavish way that Vikram was courting her. Adaa is a kind and friendly person, but she’s not the brightest bulb in the drawer.
The not-so-cute “meet cute” moment for Vikram and Adaa is an example of how tacky and stupid this movie is. Vikram and Adaa meet by chance at an airport, where Adaa’s numerous fans and other admirers know that Adaa is at the airport. Adaa, who is much more famous than Vikram, is always considerate and appreciative of her fans. Vikram tells her, “I don’t like competition”—as in, he doesn’t like it when anyone takes attention away from him.
Vikram also tells Adaa that people who adore him call him Aditya. Vikram expects Adaa to immediatley adore him and call him Aditya. When she hesitates to do so, he insults Adaa the first time that they meet, by saying politicians and movie stars are similar because they both sell unattainable fantasies to the public. (What does that say about politician Vikram?)
The next time Adaa hears from Vikram, he asks her to host an entertainment event for soldiers in the Indian Army. Adaa rejects this invitation at first because she says she doesn’t want to be exploited for superficial photo ops. Vikram meets with Adaa in person and gets her to change her mind by saying that there will be no photos at this event.
Shortly after agreeing to host this event, Adaa agrees to date Vikram. They go out on a few dates, but she sees his dark side at the entertainment performance for the Army soldiers. The event takes place outdoors. Vikram sees a soldier seemingly getting into a flirtatious tussle with Adaa. Vikram angrily assaults the soldier and only stops when he is told that the soldier was trying to save Adaa from a nearby snake.
At this point, Vikram has decided that he’s “in love” with Adaa. But now that Adaa has seen Vikram’s nasty temper, she breaks up with him and tries to cut off contact with him. But Vikram won’t accept this rejection. He shows up uninvited and unannounced at the house where Adaa’s unnamed parents (played by Anand Narayan Mahadevan and Sakshi Sharma) and Adaa’s unnamed adolescent younger sister (played by Sarah Killedar) live and tells them that he and Adaa are getting married.
Adaa happens to be at the house at this time and is understandably angry at Vikram for telling this lie. Adaa orders Vikram to leave, but he continues to harass her and tries to persuade her to marry him. Adaa repeatedly tells Vikram that she doesn’t love him and tells him to leave her alone, but he ignores her pleas because he thinks she will change her mind.
It gets worse. Vikram orchestrates an online smear campaign that gets Adaa fired from a movie two weeks after she’s begun filming the movie. Vikram also orders low-level supporters in his political party to stalk and physically assault Adaa’s family members. Ganpatro and his loyal goon Sawant also get involved in criminally abusing Adaa and her family.
None of this thrilling to watch. And it gets even worse. Adaa sinks to Vikram’s deplorable level by making a public announcement that she’s having a contest where she wants men to go out and kill Vikram, and she will have sex with the man who succeeds in murdering Vikram. It’s at this point, there’s no redeeming this bottom-of-the-barrel cinematic toxic waste. “Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat” makes a putrid attempt to be a “battle of the sexes” statement film, but there are no winners in this utterly trashy movie.
Prathyangira Cinemas released “Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat” in select U.S. cinemas on October 21, 2025, the same day that the movie was released in India.