HONESTY IN CAHOOTS WITH DISHONESTY!

An honest-to-goodness cop needs dough badly; a bad-ass conman is equally desperate for money. The two cross paths during demonetisation. And, the newfound brothers-in-arms hatch a plot to pull off the perfect caper, targeting a bunch of zany characters. Again and again... only till the foolproof plan begins to backfire.

That's the plot for the Kannada film: "ಮಾಯಾಬಜಾರ್ 2016 (Mayabazaar 2016)". 

Director and scriptwriter Radhakrishna Reddy has created magic in his debut venture with a super “thrills-'n-laughs” combo! He takes you on a topsy-turvy ride full of twists and turns. The film is sure to split your sides; that too, with very little cheap comedy of the slapstick kind!

The acting is sound all around. Achyuth Kumar and Raj B Shetty are in their elements; the comic delivery is flawless. Prakash Rai, as a corrupt, crooked cop, fits the bill to a T; but, he perhaps could have brought down the theatrics a notch or two. Sadhu Kokila adds to the laughter quotient with his usual, eccentric self, albeit a tad tediously, at times.

The flick is good technically with screenplay and cinematography being its strengths. The editing could have been better; and, the pace brisker. The background score is not worth writing home about. However, the title track “Loka Maya Bazaaru”– with SP Balasubrahmanyam's voice and Puneet Raj Kumar's cameo, a “male item number”, if you please– is foot-tapping good.

On the whole, "Maya Bazaar 2016" is engaging, endearing...and, entertaining! This fun film is value for time and money, for sure! 

More so, if “DTH-watched” from the creature comforts of the television at home.

As Robert McKee, the American author and story consultant, put it: “in comedy, laughter settles all arguments.”

I rate it 7.5 on 10!