Movie lovers all over the world are desperate to see a good entertaining movie after the long non-happening break in Hindi Cinema. And even a marginally good movie could possibly become a profit earner for its producers at this particular point of time. But “Paying Guest” doesn’t even score the minimum points to qualify at that level. It is a completely out of tune project with an all predictable storyline and repetitive gags.
The plot can be easily guessed from its title and on air promos, which revolves around men posing like girls to get a shelter as Paying Guests. We have already witnessed the same narrative in many movies in the past and the only thing which could have saved the movie was its treatment and performances. Sadly, the movie doesn’t have anything to hold your interest in those departments too. From the start itself, you already know what is going to happen next and you simply give up all your hopes of watching a quality comedy from there on. All the four key characters lose their jobs, have no place to live and then find a home where only married couples are allowed as Paying Guests. It all sounds like a book already read till the last page. So there is no surprise element as far as the story is concerned.
In the performance department, though we have a talented ensemble of actors known for their comic timings, still no one in particular is as impressive as their earlier movies. Out of all only, Shreyas Talpade and Johny Lever (as the Sikh Landlord) manage to provide a few moments to enjoy for the viewers. Javed Jaffery looks like holding back intentionally, with Ashish Chowdhary & Vatsal Seth just playing their parts as assigned. Chunky Pandey and Inder Kumar are simply wasted in their non sensible roles. In the female lead, only Delnaz is able to give a good performance as Johny Lever’s wife trying to speak English words in her own style. Rest all including Neha Dhupia, Celina Jaitley, Riya Sen and Sayali Bhagat are only there to add more glamour on the screen. In fact, Sheryas & Javed in their woman avatars are more entertaining than all the other girls put together. But even their worth praising acts go un-noticed since there is nothing new in their under-written routine like sequences and all heard before, one liner jokes. Well known veteran comedy actors like Asrani, Paintel and Viju Khote are also there to give a real comedy feel to the movie.
Sajid Wajid’s music once again fails to deliver anything exceptional after their last week project, with only one song “Jack & Jill”, sounding good to the ears. Location wise, the movie has a novelty in store, exploring Bangkok and Pattaya with a fresh perspective. But without any real entertainment happening on the screen, you are just not interested in seeing only the good visuals.
It looks like the director, Paritosh Painter, only had an idea of men posing as women in mind for his movie. And then he got a whole script written around this plot and just started the shoot. He seems to be highly inspired from Ritesh Deshmukh’s widely appreciated lady act in “Apna Sapna Money Money”. A scene from this movie can also be spotted running on a TV in the background, when the boys come to Johny Lever’s house for the first time. Paritosh also tries to create the same magic of “Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron” towards the climax where all the characters jump into an ongoing stage show, in different getups, speaking their own dialogues. But here also the magic of the original remains untouched.
Summing up, “Paying Guest” is like a badly cooked and completely tasteless dish served to the hungry movie lovers at a time when they seriously need a good one.
Ratings : 1.5 / 5
