Paying Guests

wogma rating: Add to that never-watched 'To Watch' list ^(?)

quick review:

Story hasn't a head or a tail. Some characters are both male and female. Nothing else distinguishes one from the other. But the jokes are timed to induce enough laughter.

Director: Paritosh Painter

Cast: Shreyas Talpade, Jaaved Jaaferi, Ashish Chowdhry

Running time: 120 minutes

Genres: Comedy

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You know those plots for typical slapsticks where four good-for-nothing men are friends for some reason. And for some reason or the other end up homeless and are looking for a landlord to fool. Or these friends have a good-natured landlord, with a beautiful relative, who one or all of them have an eye on. Or the good-natured landlord/landlady is being harassed and the foursome come to the rescue. Well we have all the four element in Paying Guests. And guess what? It doesn't mask itself by having some random name, it says at the upfront, "Paying Guests".

First things first. The plot is a clear and outright copy of the Marathi film Ashi Hi Banwa Banwi. What can you say when the writers don't even bother to change some of the details? Of course there are a few changes, especially towards the end. But then the changes are copies or MAYBE tributes to other films.

Despite all of this though, you are laughing. I'm an inch away from being a self-proclaimed slapstick-hater-thus-basher. You can imagine how the ego hurt when I found myself laughing unstoppably at some of the lines. Of course, I had to rationalize it. Many, if not almost all, the jokes are predictable. They are timed as you would expect from ace comedians/actors like Javed Jaffery/Shreyas Talpade. Though even they couldn't pull off being dressed as women and not look distasteful. Chunkey Pandey and Ashish Chowdhary manage to get a few smiles out too. Yet, there's nothing spectacularly remarkable about the comic timing of the joke per se. The hilarious bits were the reactions of the actors to the joke itself. This is best experienced rather than read about.

Now, is the experience is worth tolerating 2 hours of non-stop non-sense? Especially with the inevitable loudness and exaggerated body language associated with the genre. With people running helter-skelter, hiding in closets, and banging into stuff. This brings us to the entire range of non-acting and over-acting - from Delnauz to Riya Sen to Celina Jaitley - the eye candy remains just that or not - you read some of the names on that list, right?

The characters and story doesn't seem to have received much attention. And yet, the silliness of the climax is just beyond expression. It so looked like the makers were a couple of pegs down...actually make that four, when they were writing/shooting it. And you might do well downing a few too, to enjoy this one.

- meeta, a part of the audience

24 reviewers^(?) - 0 yays 2 so-so 22 nays

Warning: clicking on "full review" will take you to an external website that could contain spoilers.

So-So, by Chanda Gohrani, AOL INDIA : ...Overall, ‘Paying Guests’ is not a great film... full review

So-So, fullhyd.com : ...There's plenty of situational comedy, and quite a few good lines.... full review

Thumbs down, by Nikhil Kumar, Apun Ka Choice : ...Here’s a shot at comedy by a man who’s directed a number of plays.... full review

Thumbs down, by Bharadwaj Rangan, Blogical Conclusion, The New Sunday Express : ...The only performer who wiggles out unscathed is Shreyas Talpade.... full review

Thumbs down, by Roshni Mulchandani, Bolly Spice : ...Crude, immature and tacky are the perfect adjectives to describe this piece of junk.... full review

Thumbs down, by Daliya Ghose, Bollywood Mantra : ...The script appears very poor and fussy.... full review

Thumbs down, by Shweta Parande, Buzz18 : ...The girls in the film are just there as mantelpieces.... full review

Thumbs down, by Udita Jhunjhunwala, DNA : ...Can someone please give Chunky Pandey other roles?... full review

Thumbs down, by Nupur, eTalkIndia : ...Poor screenplay even the leading ladies of the movie not get much scope in this movie.... full review

Thumbs down, by Martin D'Souza, Glamsham.com : ...There is no solid script... full review

Thumbs down, by Rajeev Masand, IBN Live : ...Everything about this film feels recycled... full review

Thumbs down, by Taran Adarsh, IndiaFM : ...Comedy is serious business and Paritosh Painter ought to know this by now... full review

Thumbs down, by Amit, merinews : ...The dialogues lack punch.... full review

Thumbs down, Movie Talkies : ...The film's music by Sajid Wajid's is lackluster like the movie itself.... full review

Thumbs down, by Anupama Chopra, NDTV : ...It only has lame, dull, double-meaning one-liners, that's all.... full review

Thumbs down, by Joginder Tuteja, Now Running.com : ...The Bangkok setting doesn't help.... full review

Thumbs down, by Goher Iqbal Punn, Radio Sargam : ...The jokes are boring and the dialogues seem poor with no life at all... full review

Thumbs down, by Sampurn, real bollywoood : ...Paying Guests is low in content aiming for cheap laughs.... full review

Thumbs down, by Elvis D'Silva, Rediff : ...It is difficult to guess whom this movie was made for.... full review

Thumbs down, by Sonia Chopra, Sify Movies : ...Paying Guests’s ending is a copy of several rehashes of the Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron stage scene.... full review

Thumbs down, SmasHits.com : ...Music as well as the lyrics are average unlike in Ghai's productions.... full review

Thumbs down, by Aalekh Kapoor, StarBoxOffice : ...Mind you, it’s not bad but it’s not good either.... full review

Thumbs down, by Nikhat Kazmi, Times of India : ...The jokes are in terrible taste.... full review

Thumbs down, by The Third Man, Upper Stall : ...The cast is thakela but within it, Shreyas Talpade still comes off the best... full review

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