How many times in the past we have seen our Mohanlal completing the half sung keerthana by the heroine or jumping out of a moving vehicle to save a decent character at the midst of the woods in the final minute? How many times we have seen him airing the punch lines to take more than a dozen villains single handedly or sealing big heists with simple wisdom? How many times we have seen the other characters in the fray contesting to honour the hero with the most extreme catch lines? If you are not yet satisfied to see him play the superhuman with the sharpest intellect and the fiery muscle power, `Mr Fraud' is another one for you. This time the director-scriptwriter B Unnikrishnan has taken the best of the scenes from many of Lal's vintage hits to create one move that is a mishmash of sorts to satisfy a fan, but one with plenty of loopholes. Though the versatile star is asked to be in a fancy dress parade in plenty of makeovers, it is only because of the brilliance of the actor in him that we could sit through another poorly scripted, technically fine flick with plenty of one liners. In the movie we have Mohanlal as a nameless character whose main job is to take up heist that will fetch him nothing less than in crores. So he appear with multiple makeovers and even as a band singer and a violinist who can play even to the likes of a Balabhaskar. A perfect man in every activity he does, the main thread of the movie has him coming up as Shivram, a professional valuer to access the treasures left hidden for years in the cellar of a big ancestral house. Naturally he is here as a professional to complete his latest assignment of transporting this treasure to an anonymous man who will give him a 500 crores for the deed. With supersophisticated gadjets, air screen projectors and even a OB Van accompanied with his two assistants who are ready to do anything for him, this Mr Fraud continues in his macho acts effortlessly edging out any opponents who comes in his way. And in the midst we are bombarded with lines like 'We are equal, but you are the first among the equals' or 'Your salt and pepper is hot, really hot' and "Who are you, lion or incarnation of Narasimha?" to give you a sample. Lal's character also take a satirical look at his heroic onscreen characters like the one where he is undoing his wristwatch before a physical duel by suggesting "I have done this so many times. So this time, let's skip this for now.', followed by cheers from his ardent fans. The problem with the movie is that apart from the base thread evidently inspired from the recent discovery of the secret chambers of Sreepadamanabha Swamy temple, is quite hollow to be filled up .The activities in the plot doesn't have any logical support that it just end up as a vehicle to show off the hero in his every possible antics. Some of his different looks impresses like the Salt'N Pepper' one but a couple of others like the one with the French beard is poorly made up. No other character except that of Miya as Saraswathy, the adopted child of a heir to the family, has any good detailing. Every other caricaturistic characters of thriller films are present here that we have seen umpteen times in Malayalam. The technical sides of the movie , the camerawork and editing are fine . With the support of a punchy, thumping BG scores by Gopisundar, the movie manages to push time without any lag which is the saving point of the flick. The few songs in the narratives are average at best. All in all, this `Mr Fraud, lacks a fine central plot and effective scenes. If you are a die hard fan of Mohanlal, there is something in it. And for others, this is just another run of the mill heist story with nothing fresh. Rating 6/10
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