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Ek Aur Ek Gyarah (एक और एक ग्यारह)

Ek Aur Ek Gyarah (एक और एक ग्यारह; also released as Ek Aur Ek Gyarah: By Hook or by Crook) is a 2003 Hindi-language action comedy directed by David Dhawan and produced by Subhash Ghai, starring Sanjay Dutt and Govinda as two petty thieves who take refuge with an army officer while fleeing two wanted criminals.¹^•² It was released in India on 28 March 2003, with the Hindi title pairing Dutt and Govinda in another of Dhawan's comedies.³

Key fact	Detail
Release	28 March 2003, India; Hindi with Punjabi also used³^•²
Director / producer	David Dhawan; produced by Subhash Ghai for Mukta Arts Ltd.¹^•²
Lead cast	Sanjay Dutt (Sitara), Govinda (Tara), Amrita Arora (Priti), Jackie Shroff (Maj. Ram Singh)⁴
Villains	Gulshan Grover as Panther and Ashish Vidyarthi as Cobra⁴
Runtime	158 minutes per Box Office India; other listings give 2h 40m and 144 min³^•²^•⁵
India box office	Net gross ₹117.1 million (₹11.71 crore) on a stated budget of ₹95 million (₹9.5 crore); verdict "Below Average"⁶
US release	Opened 28 March 2003 in 18 theaters through Eros Entertainment, grossing $132,498⁷

Spoilers

Plot

The story follows two petty thieves, Tara (Govinda) and Sitara (Sanjay Dutt), who get on the bad side of two wanted criminals, Panther and Cobra (Gulshan Grover and Ashish Vidyarthi), and must run for their lives.⁶ They end up at the residence of Major Ram Singh (Jackie Shroff), a Border Security Force officer who is himself on the lookout for Panther and Cobra.⁴^•⁶

Ram Singh mistakes them for good people and shelters them, and the film's comedy turns on the thieves' betrayal of that hospitality. Panther and Cobra kidnap Tara and Sitara's mother (Himani Shivpuri), forcing the pair to obey the criminals' instructions, which include betraying Ram Singh and kidnapping his son.⁶ Apple TV's synopsis summarizes the setup the same way: on the run, the thieves end up at the home of a Major who takes them in but is eventually betrayed by them.²

Production and certification

The film was written by Yunus Sajawal, with dialogue credited to Aman Ahmad Jeffery and Bholu Khan among others.¹^•⁴ In January 2003, Bollywood Hungama reported that the music rights had been acquired by Super Cassettes Industries Ltd. (T-Series), and that the film had already been censored in 18 reels with minor cuts, receiving a U/A certificate.⁸ Apple TV lists the Indian rating as U, suitable for all ages.²

Box office

India. Box Office India records 225 screens, a first day of ₹11 million (₹1.10 crore), a first weekend of ₹31.9 million (₹3.19 crore), and a first week of ₹52.6 million (₹5.26 crore), for a total net gross of ₹117.1 million (₹11.71 crore) against a stated budget of ₹95 million (₹9.5 crore); the site's verdict is "Below Average", with about 5,710,000 footfalls.³^•⁶ Sacnilk's compilation gives slightly different figures, an India net of ₹115.7 million (₹11.57 crore) on a budget of ₹85 million (₹8.50 crore), and the same "Below Average" verdict.⁹

Overseas. In the United States, Eros Entertainment opened the film wide on 28 March 2003 under the English title 1 + 1 = 11, in 18 theaters. It grossed $92,342 on its opening weekend and $132,498 in total, with a 2.0-week average run per theater.⁷ Box Office India puts overseas gross at $480,000.⁶

Reception

Critical response was poor. Rotten Tomatoes records a Tomatometer of 60% from a single review and more than 250 audience ratings; Namrata Joshi of Outlook gave it 1/4, writing that the only thing she would remember in the film is Govinda's singing.¹⁰ Audience opinion has been more divided: some viewers rank it among the funniest Indian films they have seen, while others call it forgettable, a split visible in the user reviews collected on the same page.¹⁰

The 1981 film of the same name

The title also belongs to an earlier, unrelated Hindi film. Ek Aur Ek Gyarah (1981), directed by Ashok Roy, stars Shashi Kapoor and Vinod Khanna, with music by Laxmikant-Pyarelal, and runs about 2 hours 33 minutes; it is the version most often listed on streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime Video and Eros Now.¹¹^•¹² Streaming guides and databases frequently conflate the two, so the director and cast are the practical way to tell them apart: Ashok Roy with Shashi Kapoor indicates the 1981 film, David Dhawan with Sanjay Dutt and Govinda the 2003 film.¹¹

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026