FryDay movie review: Govinda can't escape the '90s in this unimaginative, below par comedy

Govinda fans can rejoice. This FryDay marks the return of the entertainer number one, in all his 1990s glory. He throws his entire body into the comedy — jiggling, wriggling and contorting his face while delivering the modicum of entertainment and laughs scattered through director Abhishek Dogra’s sit-com. [caption id=“attachment_5365991” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  A still from FryDay. YouTube[/caption] Writers Rajeev Kaul and Manu Rishi Chadha set this story in Delhi. Varun Sharma plays Rajiv, a down-on-his-luck water purifier salesman with a sleazy boss and an unethical colleague. Rajiv is no Einstein and those around him take advantage of this simplicity. His job now depends on installing this one water purifier on this fated Friday. Somewhere else in Delhi, a theatre actor is performing Mughal-E-Azam and gobbling up the dialogues of his co-stars. It is vintage Govinda but, like many other scenes, is over-written and overcooked. After a crash course in salesmanship by a bargain basement motivational speaker (Sanjay Mishra), Rajiv finally bags a client and on the appointed Friday, he arrives at Gagan Kapoor’s (Govinda) home. But the portly middle-aged man, who lives in a garish bungalow, has other plans for the day. With his wife Bela (Prabhleen Sandhu) away on work trip to Simla, Gagan has wasted no time inviting over his young paramour, Bindu (Digangana Suryavanshi). Every time the doorbell rings, Gagan’s plans for a little hanky-panky are thwarted. Unwanted guests include a thief, Rajiv, the maid and a cop. Dogra’s bedroom farce, largely located in this one set, gains some momentum only thanks to Govinda’s energy. However crass the theme of infidelity might be, only he can turn out dialogues like, “Once in a week it is must, what about Gagan Kapoor’s lust?” Although he is a fitting junior counterpart to Govinda, Varun’s act as hapless character (seen in Fukrey and almost everything else he has done) is repetitive and tiresome. Fortunately, the actresses play it straight, leaving the comedy to the main actors, supported by Brijendra Kala as the conman. Dogra’s direction is unimaginative and the production values so sub-par that besides Govinda fans with a penchant for physical comedy, there is no reason to thank god for this FryDay.