Ufff Yeh Siyapaa Review: An Experiment Worth Attempting Despite Its Faults

RATING - ⭐ ⭐ ✨ 2.5/5*

Ufff Yeh Siyapaa Review Movie Review:

G. Ashok makes yet another attempt in Hindi cinema, this time venturing into experimental storytelling that isn’t entirely successful but is certainly worth acknowledging. Many of you may already be familiar with the silent comedies of Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, and Charlie Chaplin. Now imagine the three of them trying to make a film in 2025—almost a hundred years after their original masterpieces—while blending it with a dash of Alfred Hitchcock’s murder mystery and shaking it well with Indian masala that includes a drugs racket, a lost-and-found siblings track straight out of Nasir Hussain’s era, and of course, husband and wife's melodrama. The final outcome from that cinematic blender is what Ufff Yeh Siyapaa feels like. Ashok’s smart, ambitious writing clearly aligns with the spirit of experimental cinema, but it also suffers from its own set of clichés, which the film struggles to overcome.

Ufff Yeh Siyapaa Story:

The narrative is divided into chapters, and the story kicks off with Kesari Lal Singh (Sohum Shah), a married man, attempting to flirt with his attractive neighbor Kamini (Nora Fatehi). His wife, Pushpa (Nushrratt Bharuccha), catches him red-handed, grows furious, and storms out of the house. That very night, Kesari stumbles upon the dead body of a woman who looks strikingly similar to his wife. Confused and terrified, he calls police. After a while, he realizes that the body has mysteriously disappeared, only to encounter another corpse—this time of an unknown man. Out of these two bizarre discoveries, the writer spins a tangled web involving a money scam, a smuggling racket, the classic separated siblings trope, and the constant cat-and-mouse game between a husband and wife.

From a writing and screenplay perspective, Ashok’s attempt deserves appreciation. The decision to present the film in chapters and use a non-linear unfolding of events adds intrigue. The structure ensures that the audience is at least curious about what comes next, even when the plot takes predictable turns. However, the problem arises with the dated and overly convenient ending. The so-called “happy ending” feels forced, and the excessive use of dream sequences dilutes the suspense. It’s perfectly fine to use one or two dream sequences to mislead viewers and heighten tension, but relying on four or five of them becomes tiresome. The film also struggles with maintaining logical surroundings in its locational theories, and the character development remains half-baked.

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Despite these flaws, Ufff Yeh Siyapaa manages to hold attention for its one-and-a-half-hour runtime. The continuous twists and turns, coupled with the non-linear storytelling, keep the viewers engaged. The film’s greatest strength lies in its narrative style—it creates chaos yet maintains control over the chronology. Even though certain events feel stretched, Ashok shows finesse in juggling multiple plot threads.

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Ufff Yeh Siyapaa Cast:

When it comes to performances, Sohum Shah delivers a decent act, often attempting to channel Buster Keaton’s stoic expressions and Harold Lloyd’s slapstick humor. In a few self-suffering comic scenes, his timing genuinely clicks. Though his character carries a photograph of Chaplin, there is hardly any true Chaplin-esque charm in his act, and perhaps that is intentional. Nushrratt Bharuccha looks convincing in her initial role, but the sudden appearance of a slightly altered “same character” in the second half—with a visibly different nose—feels like a careless oversight. Still, her second avatar gives her room to shine in an otherwise chaotic ensemble. Nora Fatehi, surprisingly, emerges as a good performer. Known more for her glamorous image than her acting chops, she benefits greatly from the silent film format. With no dialogues to deliver, she relies solely on expressions and body language, delivering what could arguably be called her career-best performance, which wouldn't really happen with other roles where she fails miserably with her dialogue delivery and foreign accent. However, some unnecessary shots of her exposing body parts felt cheap and avoidable. Here, the fault lies more with the director than the actress. Omkar Kapoor does a decent job in his limited screen space, while Sharib Hashmi is okay. Vijay Kumar Dogra and the rest of the supporting cast manage fine contributions without standing out too much.

On the technical front, Ufff Yeh Siyapaa is a challenging film to execute. The sound design, meant to be the backbone of a silent feature, unfortunately collapses under its own pressure. The inclusion of songs is perhaps the film’s biggest misstep. In a film advertised as silent, placing full-fledged musical numbers makes absolutely no sense. Even a deaf person could point out the irony of that decision. Cinematographer Nuthan Nagaraj does a fine job, though one can notice the repeated use of shots from different angles, which slightly reduces the freshness. Still, the camerawork manages to cleverly capture both the chaos and humor. Editor Chetan Solanki keeps the pace relatively tight, though trimming a few redundant dream sequences would have made the film crisper and more visually satisfying.

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G. Ashok certainly deserves credit for attempting something as unusual as this in today’s Hindi cinema landscape. It takes courage to bring back silent storytelling in a mainstream format, and the ambition is visible throughout. However, ambition alone doesn’t guarantee a memorable film. By being too indulgent in his writing and adding outdated tropes, Ashok weakens the very foundation of his experiment. Had Ufff Yeh Siyapaa been released back in 2005, it might have been hailed as a path-breaking experiment. But in 2025, with audiences already exposed to diverse global content, the film feels like a half-hearted throwback.

In a nutshell, Ufff Yeh Siyapaa is not a great film, but it is an interesting one-time watch. It works as an experiment, entertains in parts, and even surprises with performances, but falters with execution and tonal inconsistency. For those willing to appreciate attempts at unconventional cinema, this one is worth giving a chance—just don’t expect a modern-day classic. For others and especially masses, it won't make much difference if you watch it or not.

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