Run, Bhola, Run

Fraud Saiyyan (2019) opens with a full-fledged Benny Hill chase, as Bhola (Arshad Warsi) scrambles to escape the wrath of an angry wedding party.  He's just making his escape when the narration kicks in and we skip back in time to see just what he did to get into this mess.

Bhola is married to Sunita (Deepali Pansare), who dotes on him, gives him money, and asks for only one thing in return - she needs him to pick up her uncle Murari (Saurab Shukla) from the train station.  Before he can make contact, though, he's attacked by a gang of gun wielding goons, and dashes onto the train.  Murari recognizes Bhola from a picture Sunita sent him, but Bhola doesn't recognize Murari, so he doesn't mind taking a call from his other wife - well, one of his other wives.  Turns out Bhola has a lot of wives, and he's about to make the moves on a new candidate, the lovely Payal (Sara Loren) when her husband intervenes.

Bhola gets off the train at the next station, where he's attacked by the same gang of gun wielding goons.  (Apparently they are fast runners.)  Bhola dives into a car that happens to be driven by Murari, and turns on the charm, hoping for a ride to Benares.  Murari obliges, hoping for a chance to catch him in the act of bigamy (dodecagamy, as it turns out.)  And it fails - even when confronted with another wife, Sunita is too besotted to turn on her husband.

However, Bhola still doesn't know who Murari is, so Murari tries again, this time asking to become Bhola's student in the art of the con.  Bhola reluctantly agrees, mostly because Murari has a car.  And so they set out on a road trip of crime, with Murari subtly sabotaging Bhola along the way.

And then, suddenly, they run into Payal again.  Wealthy, recently widowed Payal.  Payal, who could be the answer to all of Bhola's problems, as long as he doesn't do anything stupid like falling in love.

Now, I like Arshad Warsi; he's the best second banana in Bollywood, and as a lead he has a sort of befuddled scruffy everyman charm.  This time, though, it's not enough.  Bhola is such a colossal, self-centered jackass that not even Warsi could make him likable.  On the other hand, I'm not sure if I was supposed to like Murari as much as I did; he was the obstacle in our unwitting hero's path, but again, our hero was such a jackass that he needed more obstacles to keep him from doiung bad things.  Either way, Saurabh Shukla is one of the finest "that guy"s in India, and it was nice to see him in such a meaty part.

 Fraud Saiyaan has a good cast and features some moments of genuine humor mixed in with the fart jokes, but charm can only take you so far.