Ek Din Review: Love In Japan
Ek Din, an official remake of the Thai film One Day (2016), offers a gentle, almost old-fashioned love story between a wallflower and a woman who seems to belong effortlessly to the world. Dinesh (Junaid Khan) works in the IT department of a thriving tech start-up—an invisible cog, socially awkward and far more comfortable with data than with people. Meera (Sai Pallavi), by contrast, is one of the company’s brightest stars: warm, capable, and quietly charismatic. She is in love with her boss Nakul (Kunal Kapoor), a man whose emotional availability is as uncertain as his marital status.
When the company posts record profits, Nakul announces a five-day trip to Japan, an indulgence that, one suspects, is designed less for employee morale and more to please Meera, an unabashed admirer of all things Japanese. It is here that the film leans into its central conceit. Dinesh stumbles upon a lover’s bell said to grant wishes to those in love. In a moment of quiet desperation, he wishes for just one day with Meera. Miraculously, the wish is granted but with a cruel caveat: Meera is suffering from short-term memory loss and will not remember any of it.
It is a premise that is inherently tender, tinged with melancholy, and the film treats it with a certain restraint. There are no grand declarations, no sweeping melodrama, only the fragile unfolding of connection within a fleeting window of time. If anything, the narrative occasionally feels too gentle for its own good, hesitant to push its emotional beats to their fullest potential.
Junaid Khan, in what feels like a more fitting debut vehicle than his earlier outing, is perfectly cast. He embodies Dinesh’s awkwardness with an endearing sincerity, the kind that never tips into caricature. His silences often speak louder than his words, and his wide-eyed reactions to the surreal turn of events ground the film. There is an unpolished honesty to his performance that works in the film’s favour, even if it sometimes lacks the magnetism needed to fully anchor the romance.
Sai Pallavi, making her Hindi debut, is the film’s emotional centre. As Meera, a South Indian woman whose Tamil-accented Hindi feels organic rather than performed, she relies less on dialogue and more on expression. Her eyes do much of the heavy lifting, whether conveying heartbreak, rediscovery, or the tentative stirrings of love. There is an unaffected quality to her performance that elevates even the quieter moments, making them feel lived-in rather than staged. Kunal Kapoor, meanwhile, brings a dependable ease to Nakul, sketching a man who is charming on the surface but ultimately less than the ideal he projects.
Visually, the film is something of a love letter to Japan, particularly the Sapporo region. The snow-laden vistas, the famed Sapporo Snow Festival, and the serene beauty of Hokkaido are captured with an almost postcard-like affection. These visuals lend the film an atmospheric richness, even when the narrative itself feels slight.
And perhaps that is where Ek Din finds both its charm and its limitation. Much like its source material, it thrives on plausibility and emotional simplicity, culminating in a hopeful note, that genuine love, however improbable, can still find its way. Yet, for a romantic film, it remains curiously under-scored. The music, especially, feels like a missed opportunity. Considering Aamir Khan’s legacy of musically rich romances, one still instinctively hums tracks from Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, the soundtrack here lacks the lingering quality one expects.
All in all, Ek Din is a soft, well-meaning romantic drama, pleasant in the moment, occasionally affecting but just a shade short of truly memorable.
Also Read: Sai Pallavi Opens Up About Her Bollywood Debut With Ek Din : “I Feel Very Humbled”
