B. Unnikrishnan's "Mr Fraud" has received mixed reviews from critics.
"Mr Fraud" is a heist film with Mohanlal doing the lead role. The film's other cast members include Dev Gill, Pallavi Purohit, Mia George and Manjari Phadnis.
Expectations were high for the film as Mohanlal and the film's director Unnikrishnan have teamed up for the third time post the success of their last two releases "Madambi" (2008) and "Grandmaster" (2012). However, "Mr Fraud" has received mixed reviews from critics, and it remains to be seen if the film will impress the audience.
The film's story is about a fraudster whose task is to rob the treasure belonging to an old royal family. The action thriller has Mohanlal appearing as a conman with many names and many faces. He is a high-tech thief, who along with his two accomplices, goes about robbing places.
Once, he is offered a good deal to conduct a heist and rob the treasure belonging to a royal family. The members of the royal family are fighting legal battles over the distribution of wealth, which is worth billions of rupees. In this scenario, Mr Fraud manages to gain entry inside the palace by posing himself as an evaluator of the wealth. The royal family members, police personnel and a private security team are guarding the treasure. Whether Mr Fraud will be able to loot the treasure forms the crux of the story.
Critics have given mixed feedback to the Mohanlal starrer. "Mr Fraud" is a decent masala entertainer, though it not as gripping as one would expect from a heist film, said the critics.
However, they have heaped praises on Mohanlal's performance. They said that the actor has given a stellar performance in the film and his looks, one-liners will be a treat for his fans. The other actors including Siddhique and Vijay Babu have done their parts well.
The film's technical aspects including the visuals and the film's background scores have also received positive feedback from critics. They said that the songs composed by Gopi Sunder are decent, but they appear unwanted in the thriller flick.
Review Roundup of "Mr Fraud"
Entertainment Industry Tracker Sreedhar Pillai said "Mr Fraud" is a "decent mass masala catering purely 2 @Mohanlal fans. He seems 2 b enjoying it as he communicates straight with his fan."
"Run of the mill, @Mohanlal plays 2 the galleries & cashes in on his larger than life image with some punchlines & style," he further said.
"Mr Fraud is not at all such a tedious watch with its luxuriant display of gadgets, air-screen projectors and dialogues resonant with technical terms. The fight and chase happen with the accompaniment of dry-leaves propelled away with vigour, but certainly not as unbearable as the tiring song-sequences which offer no mercy for ears," said Aswin J Kumar of The Times of India.
"This one is not a family entertainer you want to rush to the first week, or the second for that matter, unless you're a hardcore Mohanlal fan or a diehard B Unnikrishnan admirer. Predictable, mechanical and lukewarm – something you usually wait to see on the television on a slow Sunday afternoon or at bargain price from the DVD store, according to Chitramala.
Verdict: Decent mass masala entertainer
