***Ek Villain Returns*** is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Mohit Suri and jointly produced by Balaji Motion Pictures and T-Series. The movie is a spiritual sequel to Suri's 2014 film *Ek Villain* although its storyline is completely different. *Ek Villain Returns* stars John Abraham, Arjun Kapoor, Disha Patani and Tara Sutaria and Raaj Vishwakarma in lead roles. The film released on July 8, 2022.

Plot
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The story starts from Ek Villain, 8 years ago, Rakesh Mahadkar, a man, who is a serial killer, murderer of 19 girls has lost his wife for killing another woman. His son Manish was adopted by Guru. but after 8 years another serial killer has taken birth in Mumbai.

A masked intruder barges into an apartment complex, where he attacks and kills a singer named Aarvi Malhotra. The cops deduce that the attack was orchested by Gautham Mehra, who is the son of a businessman named Devesh Mehra. 

**Flashback**: Gautham is a spoilt brat, who is berated by his father for having created a commotion at Gautham's ex-girlfriend's wedding, where the commotion video is made into a rap song by Aarvi. Due to this, Gautham plans vengeance against Aarvi by pretending to be in love with her and also helps her by scaring her rival Kiran. Aarvi falls for Gautham where she reveals about her father Balkrishnan Shastri, a popular singer, who had an extramartial affair with her mother, but didn't accept either as he already had a family. She tells Gautam that her main goal is to make her father accept her as his daughter by becoming a famous singer. However, Aarvi's childhood photos are leaked by Gautam, where Shastri publicly rejects her as his daughter. Aarvi learns about Gautam's act and ploy, which leaves her heartbroken. Three months after his breakup with Aarvi, Gautam regains his lifestyle, but goes through a phase of self-destruction and redemption, eventually realizing his love for Aarvi when he gets attacked and injured by his ex-girlfriend's husband. Aarvi takes care of Gautam, where he pleads for a chance that he will change himself, but Aarvi leaves with a heavy heart. 

**Present**: Gautham escapes from the cops headed by ex-CBI officer and DCP Aditya Rathore. ACP V. K. Ganesan surmises that Gautam hasn't killed Aarvi. Later, the cops interrogate a suspect named Bhairav Purohit as Aarvi's phone number was found in Bhairav's phone, but he denies the crime. They release Bhairav due to unsatisfactory evidence. Ganesan finds a pattern explaining that the serial killer, known in the media as the *Smiley Killer*, only targets young girls who had one-sided lovers, and also learns that the killer has murdered 18 girls in the past 6 months. The killer sends a man named Ashu, whose ex-girlfriend Pooja was one of the victims, to a news channel and asks him to blame Gautham as the serial killer. Gautham follows Ashu to a train station, but Ashu is killed by the same killer, who is revealed to be Bhairav. A fight ensues between Bhairav and Gautham, where the latter is unable to see his face. Bhairav leaves the train and escapes in his cab. Ganesan checks the CCTV but is unable to find anything. 

**Flashback**: Bhairav is a cab-driver who also works part-time as a zookeeper along with his friend Keshav, where he meets Rasika Mapuskar, a salesgirl at a clothes shop in a mall, and falls for her deeply, harbouring plans for marriage. One day, Rasika injures a group of rogues with Bhairav's cab, who were eve-teasing her, thus revealing about her dark side to Bhairav. During a vacation in Lonavala, Bhairav decides to propose to Rasika, but sees her getting intimate with her married manager Atul, which leaves Bhairav heartbroken. Rasika later meets Bhairav and instigates him to kill those girls, who have one-sided lover boyfriends. Pooja ultimately becomes his first victim in his attempt to prove his loyalty to Rasika. After this incident, Bhairav is mentally tormented and begins to kill many girls, along with Rasika. After three months, When Aarvi was travelling in Bhairav's cab, the latter misunderstands that Aarvi has duped Gautham, where he, along with Rasika, attacks the complex at night, as Bhairav kills Aarvi.

**Present**: Gautham learns about Bhairav's zoo address and leaves to confront him. Ganesan is killed by Bhairav, where he heads to the zoo. Gautham learns from Bhairav that Aarvi is alive and that the latter had locked in the zoo. Bhairav frames Keshav as the *Smiley Killer*, having taken his detached son Yash into confidence after Yash (who holds a grudge against for being disloyal to Yash after Keshav's wife died) testifies against Keshav. Bhairav walks free while Aditya tries to console an unconvinced Gautam, telling him that the case has been solved with Keshav as the killer. Bhairav and Rasika later return to the zoo, where they kill all the guards posted at the zoo, and tries to kill Aarvi, but Gautham arrives and engages in a deadly combat with Bhairav. It is later revealed that Rasika is dead and that Bhairav is hallucinating Rasika. 

After the vacation at Lonavala, Bhairav became numb after Rasika confesses that she plans to marry Atul, who is ready to ditch his family for her. Barely having avoided an accident, he begs Rasika to accept his feelings, where he unintentionally kills her. After coming back to his senses, Bhairav keeps her body in the freezer at the zoo, where he starts hallucinating Rasika and begins to kill every girl for her sake. Gautham reveals to Bhairav that he saw through his hallucination when Bhairav started talking to Rasika outside the zoo, and tells him that Bhairav's love for Rasika turned into hatred, whereas Gautham's love for Aarvi would always remain the way it was, even if she doesn't accept him. Realizing his mistake, Bhairav opens the tiger's cage and is later attacked by the tiger. Gautham leaves with Aarvi, who reunites with him. Later, Aarvi sings at the concert with the support of Gautam and her fans. 

In the post-credit scene, Rakesh Mahadkar, who survived the accident, has since became a paraplegic, where he meets Bhairav, who is actually alive, having lost his one eye due to the tiger attack, where he recites his promise from the prequel.

Cast
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* John Abraham as Bhairav Purohit
* Arjun Kapoor as Gautam Mehra
* Disha Patani as Rasika Mapuskar
* Tara Sutaria as Aarvi Malhotra
* J. D. Chakravarthy as ACP V. K. Ganesan
* Karishma Sharma as Siya, Gautam's ex-girlfriend
* Kaizaad Kotwal as Siya's Father
* Elena Roxana Maria Fernandes as Kiran
* Shaad Randhawa as ex-CBI officer DCP Aditya Rathore
* Bharat Dabholkar as Devesh Mehra, Gautam's father
* Ivan Rodrigues as Thapar
* Digvijay Rohildas as Keshav Rane, Bhairav's friend
* Neha Shitole as Chetna
* Satish Nakyodi as Satish
* Riteish Deshmukh in archived footage appearance and a mid-credits cameo appearance as Rakesh Mahadkar
* Badshah as himself in a cameo appearance in the song "Shaamat"

Production
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### Casting

Aditya Roy Kapur was originally signed for the role enacted by Arjun Kapoor, but later backed out due to creative differences with director Mohit Suri.

### Filming

Principal photography began on 1 March 2021. The film was wrapped up on 28 October 2021.

Other websites
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* *Ek Villain Returns* on IMDb