JOIN OUR WHATSAPP CHANNEL
Fraud Saiyaan Review: Arshad Warsi, Saurabh Shukla aren't fraud actors so why an unbearable attempt at comedy?
Fraud Saiyaan Review: Maybe, the film which was in the making for the last 10 years shouldn't have released after all!
Movie: Fraud Saiyaan
Director: Sourabh Shrivastava
Cast: Arshad Warsi, Saurabh Shukla, Sara Loren
Rating: 1/5
Picture this: The hero romances several women, makes fart jokes, dances to sleazy numbers and ogles at women unabashedly, is voyeuristic and doesn't give two hoots about law or emotions. A subtle reminder of 80s and 90s cinema, right? Fraud Saiyaan is all THESE things and more.
"I don't say I love you to women, I say, 'I want to marry you'," says Bhola, played by Arshad Warsi in what is meant to be an emotional scene with Saurabh Shukla aka Murari. Murari is a private detective on the road who accidentally collides with him on a train whilst on their respective mission. What follows next are a series of fart jokes, poor one-liners and forced comedy. Arshad and Saurabh are seemingly trying too hard to pull off a movie which looks like it was written while sleepwalking. The direction by Sourabh Shrivastava is very average with no high points whatsoever, while the screenplay only makes the movie all the more unbearable to watch.
Maybe if it was the 90s, the outdated humour involving unabashed objectification of women and cringe-worthy dialogues might have found an audience. But, not today! It comes as a shocker that the movie has been presented by Prakash Jha who has given movies like Raajneeti (2010), Aarakshan (2011) Chakravyuh (2012), and Satyagraha (2013). As a 'fraud' Arshad plays the role of a man who gets an adrenaline rush by marrying women for easy money. He explains somewhere in the movie what prompted him to take up his "profession" and that is the only good joke in the movie. Bhola has as many as 12 wives, one of whom forced him into a marriage on gunpoint. I almost felt sad watching Saurabh Shukla in a movie which hardly uses his potential. It is a sheer waste and a disservice to his talent. 
Set in Uttar Pradesh, the women characters in the movie are shown to be dumb. For instance, when two of his wives find out about him cheating, instead of confronting him and putting him behind the bars, they save him. Yes, this is exactly where you want to pull your hair. The director probably wanted to highlight the adversity of this crime (cheating women with marriage for money and getting married on gunpoint) which is very common in the northern parts of India. In order to give it a light undertone, the flick has turned out to be a horror for cinema goers- who perhaps thought of 2017 and 2018 as a silver lining for good commercial cinema.
For God sake, this is 2019. Now, let's not even get to the song titled Ladies Paan. 'Do we still make such songs?' is all I could think whilst the sleazy dance steps and suggestive lyrics blared in the theatre. Moving to Chamma Chamma reprised version which stars Elli Avram is another terrible thing, and honestly, we really would like to know what Urmila Mathondkar thinks about this poor recreation.
(Oops, spoilers ahead, if it matters) Post interval, the story moves more towards Bhola falling in love with another woman, who turns out to be just like him. Well, by the end of this terribly boring movie, Bhola laughs asking he doesn't know why his parents named him Bhola, which makes me sigh more in relief that the torture has ended than laugh. Arshad and Saurabh deserve better, we feel.
Maybe, the film which was in the making for the last 10 years shouldn't have released after all!
If you are looking to watch the movie this weekend, I would suggest you to watch Netflix instead.
ALSO READ: Fraud Saiyaan Mid Movie Review: Arshad Warsi, Saurabh Shukla make us cringe with the outdated humour
Latest Articles
