Junaid Khan’s Ek Din opens to mixed reviews opposite Sai Pallavi

Junaid Khan stepped into theatres on May 2, 2026 with Ek Din, a romantic drama directed by Sunil Pandey, opposite Sai Pallavi in her Hindi debut. Early reviews are landing on the softer side of average, with critics pegging the film at around 2.5 out of 5.

The film arrives as a quieter offering against a Bollywood slate dominated by action and political dramas. It is being read as a deliberate counter-programming move from producer Aamir Khan and the team behind it.

What the Junaid Khan film is actually about

Junaid plays Dinesh Kumar Srivastava, called Dino, an IT service engineer at a Noida software firm. He is the wallflower variety of leading man, more comfortable daydreaming about a colleague named Meera, played by Sai Pallavi, than speaking to her. Meera is involved with the company head Nakul, played by Kunal Kapoor, a married man who keeps promising her his divorce is close.

The plot turns at a company retreat in Japan. After a fight with Nakul, Meera meets with an accident and develops Transient Global Amnesia, a short term condition that wipes out the last two years of her memory for roughly a day. Dino spends that day with her, posing as her boyfriend, knowing she will eventually forget every minute of it.

The film is an authorised Hindi remake of the 2016 Thai feature One Day. Sneha Desai and Spandan Mishra share the writing credit. Aamir Khan, who once headlined the memory-loss drama Ghajini, comes on board here as producer, a piece of casting trivia that has travelled fast on social media since the trailer dropped.

Where the performances land and where the film stumbles

Sai Pallavi has walked away with the strongest notices. Reviewers have called her magnetic, charming and almost impossible to look away from, with her performance often treated as the single biggest reason to buy a ticket. Her turn as the Japanophile Meera is being seen as a confident calling card ahead of her appearance as Sita in the upcoming Ramayana.

Junaid Khan’s reception has been more cautious. Critics describe his Dino as stiff, under-energised and trapped in a character arc that barely moves, with one review comparing it to a flat line on an ECG machine. He is only two films into his career after Maharaj, so the verdict is being framed as growing pains rather than a verdict on his future.

The screenplay itself is where most of the complaints sit. The Japan setting at times reads like a tourism reel, with cultural trivia dropped in even when the scene does not call for it. Once the central premise is established, the film is said to drag, lean on convenient turns and search visibly for an ending.

Audience response and what the numbers may look like

Early audience reaction in metro multiplexes has been split along familiar lines. Viewers who walked in for a softer, character-led love story have come out reasonably satisfied, often singling out Sai Pallavi and the Japan visuals. Others have echoed the critics, calling the second half slow and the emotional payoff thinner than the premise promised.

Box office tracking on opening day is modest rather than disastrous. The film is positioned as a slow burn release that will rely on word of mouth and weekend family footfalls rather than a loud first-day surge.

Whether Ek Din finds its audience over the next few days will depend on how that word of mouth settles. The premise is unusual enough to draw curiosity, but the execution is where opinions are likely to keep diverging.

For now, Junaid Khan has a film that is being praised for its intent more than its craft, and a co-star in Sai Pallavi who has clearly announced her arrival in Hindi cinema. Ek Din is not the breakout some had hoped for him, but it is also not the kind of debut-adjacent stumble that closes doors. The conversation around the film is alive, and that itself counts for something this weekend.

FYI (keeping you in the loop)-

Is Ek Din a remake?

Yes, Ek Din is the official Hindi remake of the 2016 Thai romantic film One Day. The story has been adapted for an Indian setting while keeping the central memory loss premise intact.

Who is producing Junaid Khan’s Ek Din?

Aamir Khan is attached to the project as producer through his production banner. Junaid Khan is Aamir’s son, and Ek Din is his second theatrical release after Maharaj.

Is Ek Din Sai Pallavi’s first Hindi film?

Yes, Ek Din marks Sai Pallavi’s debut in a Hindi language theatrical release. She is best known for her work in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam cinema and is set to appear next as Sita in Ramayana.