‘Why Cheat India’ Movie Review: A scamster’s tale that needed to be told

Directed By: Soumik Sen

Produced By: Bhushan Kumar, Kirshan Kumar, Atul Kasbekar, Emraan Hashmi

Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Shreya Dhanwantary

Running Time: 2 hours 08 minutes

Bollywood Bubble Rating: 3/5

‘Why Cheat India’ sees Emraan Hashmi in top form, and it’s refreshing to see him in an avatar with little or no sexual undertones. Indeed, education is a big business in India and not enough stories explore the sense of competition and ambition that students (and their parents) face. There are very few seats available in India’s top premier colleges, and the applicant to seats ratio is easily among the worst (if not the worst) in the world.

For every success story, there are several shattered dreams and depressed families. In this movie, there is Rakesh (Emraan Hashmi) who uses scamming tactics to get rich kids a seat in exchange for cash. He uses middle class brilliant students to give proxy exams. One such student is Sattu, whose initial reluctance is short lived. He starts enjoying the money, and gets into trouble ultimately. To find out what happens next, you’ll have to see the movie.

As far as the performances are concerned, Emraan Hashmi looks every bit like a scam artist. His confidence is infectious even though he plays a negative character. Shreya Dhanwantary is cute and delivers a confident performance.

The film does have its drawbacks. A lot of the songs are unnecessary, and even though they are good songs, they fail to move the story forward. The love story between Rakesh and Nupur (Shreya) is unnecessary and leaves you with a bitter taste in the mouth.

However, all said and done, it delves into the education world with a lot of authenticity and that should be applauded. Everything from the drugs to the leaked question papers is something we all know is true. With ‘Super 30’ too on the horizon, I hope that we get to see more such films getting made.

Final verdict: 

If you’ve been through the entrance exam grind, this film will take you back in time. You can also watch it if you’re an Emraan Hashmi fan.

Watch trailer: