2.5* ‘Ek Haseena Thi Ek Deewana Tha’ – Upen Patel is the saving grace

Ek Haseena Thi Ek Deewani Tha is one of those films which make you wonder what went wrong? Producer / Director Suneel Darshan has made super hit films  (Ek Rastaa and Andaaz), so we expect much more. Sadly here the story does not match, there was no cohesion. The reincarnation drama with a twist has been done to death. The end deal with God also does not go down well.
If there is something which holds your attention, it is the music of Nadeem Saifee and surprise surprise – the acting of Upen Patel. This London bred model has gotten better with every outing. Upen emotes the pain of having to give  up his lady love, debut girl Natasha Fernandez to Shiv Darshan (Sunil Darshan’s son),very well.

Upen can definitely give the filmy young Turks a run for their money. One more thing which was impressive were  the beautiful locales of  England. Had the story been pacy, this element would have really worked well .
Lead actor Shiv Darshan needs to work on his screen presence. He was faltering in some scenes. But yes the boy has some kind of spark and given the right amount of grooming, can still  make it. There are several examples of actor’s who after slow starts have really fired.  It would be better if he works outside home as his debut home project had also tanked a few years back.

Natasha did not have much to do in her debut attempt. To be fair to Suneel Darshan, he could have really made the song sequences (Hue Bechain and Nain) hot to draw in the front benchers. The songs though glamourous but were classy. She too needs to work on her language and acting skills. The writer did not really explain the struggle in her when she dumped best friend & to be husband Upen for a total stranger.

Lesser said about the other cast the better, the lead villain was wooden at best.