Ek Villain Returns

Story:

Ek Villain Returns is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Mohit Suri and produced by T-Series and Balaji Motion Pictures. The film, which is a sequel to his 2014 film Ek Villain, stars John Abraham, Arjun Kapoor, Disha Patani and Tara Sutaria.

PLOT

A masked intruder barges into an apartment complex, where he attacks and kills a singer named Aarvi Malhotra. The cops, headed by ex-CBI officer and DCP Aditya Rathore, deduce that the attack was orchestrated by Gautam Mehra, who is the son of businessman Divesh Mehra.

Past: Gautam is a rich spoilt brat, who is berated by Divesh for having created a commotion at his ex-girlfriend Siya’s wedding. The commotion video has been made into a rap song by singer Aarvi. Gautam is ousted from the business and his house. Pretending to be in love with her, Gautam helps her scare away her rival Q/Kiran. Aarvi falls for Gautam and reveals that her biological father Balkrishnan Shastri, a popular singer, had an extramarital affair with her mother, but never accepted either of them. Her main goal is to make her father accept her as his daughter by becoming a famous singer and later reject him. Gautam leaks Aarvi’s childhood photos, implying that he was out to get even with her for humiliating him. Shastri publicly rejects his daughter, where Aarvi gets heartbroken.

Three months later, Gautam gets attacked by Siya’s husband Aditya and Aarvi takes care of him, where he realizes his love for her. Gautam pleads with her to give him a second chance, but Aarvi leaves him with a heavy heart.

Present: Gautam gets arrested, but manages to escape from the cops. Ganesan surmises that Gautam hasn’t killed Aarvi. The cops interrogate Bhairav Purohit, whom Aarvi had called on the day she was murdered, but he denies committing the crime and there is no evidence either. Ganesan determines a pattern that the killer only targets young girls with one-sided lovers after discovering that 18 girls have been murdered with a similar modus operandi in the past 6 months. The ensuing circumstances motivate Ganesan to conclude that Gautam is not the serial killer, where it is later revealed that the serial killer is actually Bhairav; Gautam fights him but is unable to see his face, which allows Bhairav to escape.
Past: Bhairav is a cab driver who works part-time as a zookeeper along with his widower friend Keshav, who has a son Yash, but ignores him for random girls which he brings to the zoo. Bhairav meets Rasika Mapuskar, a retail salesgirl at a mall, falls deeply in love with her and harbors plans for marriage. One day, Rasika injures a group of rogues that were eve-teasing her, which reveals her dark side to Bhairav. Bhairav decides to propose to Rasika, but he witnesses her getting intimate with her married manager Atul and gets heartbroken. Rasika subsequently instigates him to kill girls who don’t reciprocate the feelings of their respective boyfriends. Bhairav is mentally tormented and starts murdering dozens of girls. On the day Aarvi leaves Gautam, she turns out to be traveling in Bhairav’s cab, where Bhairav misunderstands that she has dumped Gautam and attacks her.

Present: Gautam learns about Bhairav’s zoo address and leaves to confront him. Ganesan is killed by Bhairav, who reveals that Aarvi is alive. Aarvi tries to escape the zoo where she had been kept by Bhairav, but he catches her and locks her in an underground cage. Just as Gautam and Bhairav are about to fight, the police come and detain Bhairav. They interrogate Yash, who frames Keshav in an attempt to defend Bhairav. The police also investigate the crime scene, where a girl’s dead body is found inside the freezer, though it is not Aarvi. Outside the station, Gautam sees Bhairav and Rasika hugging.
Later that evening, Bhairav and Rasika return to the zoo and attend to Aarvi’s cage, where Aarvi regains consciousness and stabs Bhairav with a glass shard that she found there. Rasika bursts into laughter while Bhairav attacks Aarvi. Gautam arrives to save her and a fight ensues between the guys. Bhairav hits Gautam and demands Rasika’s reaction, but Gautam begins laughing and asks where “Rasika” is. It is revealed that Bhairav actually has schizophrenia and was hallucinating Rasika all along. Bhairav then reminisces that Rasika told him how Atul was planning to ditch his family for her. Bhairav inadvertently killed Rasika by breaking her back while begging her not to leave him. The body, which the cops found in the freezer, is revealed to be Rasika which Bhairav kept for himself. Realizing his mistake, Bhairav walks inside the cage of the tiger only to meet the same fate as his victims. Aarvi reunites with Gautam and is seen singing at her concert with the support of her fans and Gautam.

During a mid-credits scene, at a mental asylum, Rakesh Mahadkar, who has survived the accident and became paraplegic meets Bhairav, who has severe wounds on his body due to the tiger attack. Rakesh recites his promise from the prequel and Bhairav wakes up just before the screen cuts to black.