UTV Motion Pictures and Dharma Productions launched the theatrical trailer of Karan Johar’s Ek Main aur Ekk Tu in Mumbai, London and Dubai simultaneously yesterday, November 30th.
The leading actors, chocolate boy Imran Khan and the sizzling Kareena Kapoor, the producers, Karan Johar and Siddharth Roy Kapur (UTV) along with debutant director Shakun Batra were present at the event in Mumbai.
Our Bollywood reporter Sunny Malik attended the launch in London, which was also attended by a number of other journalists from all over the UK and was held at the prestigious Cineworld cinema at Haymarket, London.
Before the present reporters were shown the first look of this highly anticipated film, UTV Motion Pictures’ UK Business Manager introduced the film to the media and said: “UTV is proud to announce our latest romantic comedy with Dharma Productions Ek Main aur Ekk Tu starring Imran Khan and Kareena Kapoor. The film will be releasing in the UK in the Valentine’s Day week.”
He further went on to say more about the movie: “Karan Johar describes the film as a “slice of life love story”. This film brings Kareena and Imran together for the first time and is directed by Shakun Batra. The music director for the film is Amit Trivedi who is well known for his fusion music and for his compositions in Dev D, Wake Up Sid, Aisha and many more.”
The trailer itself received a very positive response from all the media personas and everyone especially liked the humour, the music and the chemistry between the two leading actors. The trailer has been given a 12A rating in the UK, while the Indian Censor Board has given it an A rating due to the usage of the word ‘sex’.
At the launch in Mumbai, Shakun Batra told the press: “The censor was not ok with the work sex and we decided that we will take it off. It won’t be the same on TV as you have seen.”
Karan Johar added: “The censor board and I have the same problem. We don’t have a sex life. I am totally on the same page with them (laughs).”
Speaking about the title which has been taken from a famous Bollywood song Johar said: “We actually only decided the title a few months ago. The film is about the two characters, their life, their chemistry, their conversations and them coming of age. I really have to thank Ramesh Taurani (Tips) who gave us the title. He owned the title and was debating between two titles for a film that he is making. He was very kind and gracious to hand the title over to us.”
The trailer shows Imran Khan and Kareena Kapoor meeting in Las Vegas, getting married after getting hammered and then annulling their marriage. Many have already pointed out that the first look shows quite a few similarities to Hollywood flick What Happens in Las Vegas.
“There is actually not a single page of similarity between the two movies. The fact that you can be married in Las Vegas is one of the aspects of the film that everybody knows and has actually been dealt with, in many films and not only just in What Happens in Las Vegas. The only point of similarity is that the two protagonists get married under a moment of weakness in Las Vegas. Otherwise, in February that will reveal itself, that there is absolutely no comparison between them. They are totally drastically different films and experiences. I would also never allow the remake of a film without acquiring the rights, as we have done earlier (We are Family).”
Shakun Batra also spoke on his experience of working on his first feature film: “The experience has been great. I made this film with one of my closest friends Imran and Kareena Kapoor, who I am a big fan of. Karan is the best producer one can ask for.”
Kareena Kapoor, who has been working with all the top Khan’s in Bollywood, spoke about the youngest of the lot at the launch in Mumbai: “In Ek Main aur Ekk Tu, Imran has brought a lot of freshness to the film and to my character. I really enjoyed working with him and he is actually a very sweet guy. Imran is not funny but is very sweet, his jokes are very bad (laughs).
At the launch in London everyone was wondering why there are two K’s in the second ‘Ek’ in the title. Karan explained at the launch in Mumbai that it is because of him. “The extra K has returned. We had left it but it’s come back now. K was feeling bad so we thought we will put another in (laughs). It’s for numerology, honestly speaking. The total number was totalling to eight earlier, which I have a problem with and the addition of the K helps me with that. It has nothing to do with Kareena or Imran,” said the 39-year-old filmmaker.
Imran knew Shakun as he was an AD and Ayesha, who has co-written the script of the film, was his hairstylist on Jaane Tu.. Ya Jaane Na. Both of them have co-written the dialogues of the film too and are close friends of the actor.
“They always wanted me and Kareena for the film. We did not have a producer back then. Just about the time when we finished I Hate Luv Stories, I approached Karan and he liked the story. It was a very big thing for me to work with Kareena and it was an amazing experience to see her enacting her scenes,” said Khan.
UTV Motion Pictures and Dharma Productions will release Ek Main aur Ekk Tu in the UK on the 10th February 2012.
