"It's a line that comes from a favourite song of Prateik…'Ek haseena thi ek deewana tha'. The first three words of the song had already been used as the title of an Urmila Matondkar thriller. The makers of the Prateik starrer decided to use the second part of the 'Karz' song for him," said a source.
The love story, which was earlier titled "Prem Katha", is a Hindi remake of Tamil filmmaker Gautham Menon's hit "Vainnaithaandi Varuvaa"; model-actress Amy Jackson plays the female lead.
Prateik, who has dropped his surname Babbar, was apparently keen that the film's title should be pertinent to his character. "The original Tamil film was titled 'Vainnaithaandi Varuvaa' which means, 'Will You Cross The Skies & Come?'. Director Menon was thinking of a similar abstract title for the film. In fact, it was to be called 'Prem Katha' in Hindi. But then it was decided that the film should have a zany title to go with Prateik's character," said the source.
Another factor that played a hand in the film's re-christening was the Salman Khan. After Salman's "Ek Tha Tiger", it was felt that a title with the hero being extolled in the past tense created a sense of nostalgia and excitement.
Vijay Singh the CEO of Fox STAR Studios, which is producing "Ek Deewana Tha", confirms the title. Incidentally, a Ranbir Kapoor starrer is named after a song in a film starring his uncle Randhir Kapoor - Ayaan Mukherjee's film with hims is named "Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani"