‘Ufff Yeh Siyapaa’ Movie Review: Sohum Shah and Nushrratt Bharuccha’s Torturous Silent Comedy Finds Its Match in AR Rahman’s Most Annoying Score (LatestLY Exclusive)

Ufff Yeh Siyapaa Movie Review: There’s this old simulation video game called The Movies, where you play as a Hollywood studio owner and even get to make films. Since the game came out more than a decade ago, the characters only mouthed gibberish - little bursts of ah, umm, ohh. Ufff Yeh Siyapaa reminded me exactly of that - pointless noises, stitched together in the name of cinema. ‘Crazxy’ Movie Review: Sohum Shah’s Ace Performance Steers This Thrilling Ride That Skids in the Final Stretch.

Produced by Luv Ranjan and directed by Ashok G, Ufff Yeh Siyapaa is a silent comedy. Of course, when you think of silent comedies, the benchmark in India is Pushpak (1987), Singeetham Srinivasa Rao’s gem starring Kamal Haasan and Amala Akkineni. Pushpak remains timeless, its silence organic and its humour sharp. But creating a silent film in present times that is engaging, witty, and enduring is no easy feat. To borrow a line from The Big Bang Theory: making “constipated moose sounds” isn’t enough to make people laugh. Someone really should have told the makers of Ufff Yeh Siyapaa.

'Ufff Yeh Siyapaa' Movie Review -  The Plot

The story follows Kesarilal Singh (Sohum Shah), a middle-class electricity board employee in Uttar Pradesh, who lives with his wife Pushpa (Nushrratt Bharuccha) and their young son, whose obsession with mutilating dolls is surely a serial killer origin story in the making. When Pushpa catches Kesarilal ogling their glamorous neighbour Kamini (Nora Fatehi) doing stretches in the corridor (don’t ask why), she storms out with their child.

Kesarilal, initially heartbroken, decides to enjoy his newfound “freedom”. In the process of practising blindfolded knife-throwing (again, don’t ask why), he accidentally kills an intruder whose face resembles his wife. As he scrambles to cover it up, the situation only grows more absurd.

Watch the Trailer of ‘Ufff Yeh Siyapaa’:

There is also a subplot involving a parcel accidentally being sent to his house, in perhaps the most convoluted case of address-switching imaginable. Add to this a cop (Omkar Kapoor) who fancies himself as Dabangg's Salman Khan, and a mute conman (Sharib Hashmi), whose antics will make you regret ever laughing at Tusshar Kapoor in the Golmaal films.

‘Ufff Yeh Siyapaa’ Movie Review - Why So Silent?

Since I mentioned Pushpak earlier, the silent treatment of that film felt organic. It wasn't that the characters had the opportunity to speak but instead made grunting noises at each other. In Ufff Yeh Siyapaa, however, I have no idea why these characters cannot talk to each other. Hashmi's character, I assume, is mute, but none of the rest are. Is this a silent movie for the sake of being a silent movie?

It's not that Ufff Yeh Siyapaa has no dialogue or exists in a universe where no one speaks - we hear a random radio transmission where a woman keeps describing someone's bad horoscope (is it the viewer's?). Another scene has a group carrying a dead body, chanting "Ram Naam Satya Hai". It seems the characters in this film are silent by choice—a choice made purely to annoy the hell out of us. Mercury Movie Review: Prabhu Deva's Silent Thriller is Gutsy in Execution But Flimsy in Impact.

The second half decides to impersonate a Charlie Chaplin movie, with Nushrratt gamely trying to channel Chaplin’s spirit. It’s painful to watch, both for her and for the audience. Not that the first half was better, unless your idea of comedy is a middle-aged man tumbling between a young woman’s legs.

‘Ufff Yeh Siyapaa’ Movie Review - Awkward Structuring

Adding to the mess, the film awkwardly structures itself around the Navarasas—Sringara, Bhayanaka, Bhibhatsa, Hasya and so on. By chapter six, even the filmmakers seem to give up on the gimmick. The narrative collapses into multiple dream sequences and nonsense interludes, until you’re left wondering whether you’re watching surrealism, parody - or just a very bad film. I almost applauded when someone in my screening quipped, "This is Nolan stuff!"

The finale involves people running after each other with suitcases so identical that it seems convenience took a huge dump on the screenplay and then left the building.

And yet, in all the hullabaloo, you're left asking one question: where are the laughs?

‘Ufff Yeh Siyapaa’ Movie Review - AR Rahman?

And then there’s AR Rahman. Yes, that Rahman. His score here feels like he emptied a box of unused sound effects, slapped on some half-baked songs, and called it a day. It may just be his weakest work to date (Heropanti 2 included).

The cast, meanwhile, are left flailing, reduced to shrieks, moans, squeaks, and grunts. With no dialogue to ground their performances, there’s no room for nuance. I feel bad for them, I feel bad for myself, and I feel bad for anyone who has ever made a modern silent film.

Who said silence is golden?

Actually, it is.

It's just that, in this film, no one is ever silent.

‘Ufff Yeh Siyapaa’ Movie Review - Final Thoughts

Ufff Yeh Siyapaa is a disaster dressed up as a silent comedy, a film that mistakes noise for wit and gimmicks for humour. With a nonsensical plot, wasted actors, and a baffling score from AR Rahman, it’s a test of patience rather than an experiment in form. If silence is golden, this film proves that forced silence can be pure torture.

(The opinions expressed in the above article are of the author and do not reflect the stand or position of LatestLY.)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 05, 2025 12:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).