Don't pay for this

Paying Guests, a film from Subhash Ghai's production house, which has funny acts, zesty appeal, a bunch of comic stars and attractive actresses is at least expected to be a mindless, colourful entertainer.

Alas, the audience will be disappointed with the playwright-turned-director Paritosh Painter's mediocre efforts at keeping the gags flowing.

Four guys (Shreyas Talpade, Javed Jafferi, Aashish Chowdhary and Vatsal Sheth) are struggling to find a place to live in Thailand. Ballu (Johnny Lever) and his wife Sweety (Delnaaz Paul) are willing to accept only married couples as paying guests in their house.

Making wives of friends

The situation forces two of the friends (Talpade and Jaffrey) to dress up as the wives of the other two. To add to this, the foursome tries to win the hearts of four skimpily clad bimbos (Celina Jaitley, Neha Dhupia, Sayali Bhagat and Riya Sen).

All this leads to nothing but cacophony. Painter has many successful comic plays to his credit. It is surprising that Paying Guests, based on one of them, is funny only in parts and that too because of the brilliance of individual actors rather than the screenplay.

The film could have been a laugh riot but is filled with crude humour. The climax too, influenced by the cult classic Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, falls flat. Painter's directorial debut proves that what may appeal as a play may not do so on the big screen.

Triumphant Talpade

Talpade is the best of the four while Chowdhary seems to be improving with each big-screen endeavour. Jaffrey's comic prowess isn't well tapped in the film while Sheth tries hard to make his presence felt.

The actresses have nothing to do but resort to skin-show, with Jaitley probably scoring the most in that. Lever and Paul draw few chuckles.

Chunkey Pandey is irritating in a sleazy role. The veteran comedian Paintal is seen after ages but is reduced to being a mere caricature.

Sajid-Wajid's music is below average, except the Jack-N-Jill track. The cinematography is polished and the editing tight. But Ghai's film will be far from welcomed by the audience.

— Abdulla Mahmood is a UAE-based freelance writer