Bollywood actors Sidharth Malhotra and ShraddhaKapoor on Sunday celebrated the seventh anniversary of their drama-thriller "Ek Villain", directed by Mohit Suri.

Backed by Ekta Kapoor-led Balaji Motion Pictures, the film was a hit upon its release in 2014.

"Ek Villain" chronicled the story of a criminal, Guru (Malhotra), whose terminally ill wife Ayesha (Kapoor) is murdered by Rakesh, a sadistic serial killer, played by Riteish Deshmukh in his first negative role.

Kapoor, 34, took to Instagram and gave a shout-out to her fan clubs for marking the film's anniversary with their fan edits."My most precious fan clubs, just going through all your edits and again you guys just keep overwhelming me," she posted on her Instagram Story."Ek Villain" was a departure for Malhotra, who appeared in the action-thriller space after romantic comedies like "HaseeTohPhasee" (2014) and the Karan Johar directorial "Student of the Year", which marked his debut in 2012.

The 36-year-old actor took to Instagram and shared behind-the-scenes footage from the film. The official account of Balaji Motion Pictures shared the film's poster on social media." Celebrating Ayesha's free-spirited soul, Guru's heartwarming nature and Rakesh's devious side that made this incredible story of a villain. Cheers to #7YearsOfEkVillain," read the caption. The film's soundtrack, composed by Mithoon, Ankit Tiwari and the band Soch, featured chartbusters like "Galliyan", "Banjaara", "Hamdard" and "Awari".Suri is currently working on the film's sequel, which stars Arjun Kapoor, John Abraham, Disha Patani and Tara Sutaria. Titled "Ek Villain Returns", the movie is scheduled to be released on February 11, 2022.