Ek Villain

Ek Villain: There's One in Every Love Story (transl. A Villain) is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language romantic psychological action thriller film directed by Mohit Suri and jointly produced by Shobha Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor under Balaji Motion Pictures. Based on a script written by Tushar Hiranandani and Milap Milan Zaveri, and reported to be loosely inspired by the 2010 South Korean action-thriller film I Saw the Devil, it stars Riteish Deshmukh, Sidharth Malhotra and Shraddha Kapoor in lead roles. The narrative follows a reformed criminal who is once again set on a warpath when his wife dies at the hands of a serial killer, all the while grappling with his disturbing past and reminiscing his romantic journey with a dying girl.

Ek Villain was released worldwide on 27 June 2014 and received positive reviews from critics, garnering praise for its theme, direction, screenwriting and action sequences with Deshmukh receiving particular praise in his first ever negative role. Made on a budget of ₹39 crore, the film was a major box-office success with earnings of over ₹100 crore domestically and a worldwide gross of ₹170 crore, becoming Malhotra's highest-grossing release. The songs "Galliyan", "Zaroorat" and "Hamdard" became huge hits.

Malhotra and Deshmukh later reunited for the 2019 masala actioner Marjaavaan, in which Deshmukh's entry as the antagonist was accompanied by him singing the award-winning song "Galliyan" from the Ek Villain soundtrack. A sequel titled Ek Villain Returns, starring John Abraham and Arjun Kapoor, along with Disha Patani and Tara Sutaria, was released in July 2022; Deshmukh reprises his role in the sequel both as part of archive footage and for a mid-credits appearance.