Story - Paying Guest

What happens when four young, fun loving boys [Shreyas Talpade, Jaaved Jaffrey, Ashish Chowdhary and Vatsal Sheth] begin a crazy house hunt which takes them through a series of ultra comical hurdles in a bid to find that one roof that can tolerate and shelter their combined problems?

In the search for a new accommodation, these crazy friends manage to convince their crazier landlord Ballu (played by Johnny Lever) to keep them as paying guests but, Ballu has one condition i.e. he wants only couples.

They give in to his conditions but how-they are all bachelors! Who will play their wives?

The new drama triggers a serious of confusions that builds into the rich complexities of mistaken identities and a climax of comic wizardries.
 

Paying Guest is a Low-grade Comedy
 

Paying Guest revolves around Shreyas Talpade, Javed Jaffrey and Ashish Choudhary, three best friends staying together as paying guests in Kiska Miglani’s (Asrani) house in Bangkok. But when Ashish’s cousin Vatsal Seth arrives from India to stay with them they end up messing things one drunken night and are thrown out by Kiska. Now jobless and homeless, the four go about in desperate search of budget accommodation. They end up getting one owned by Shreyas’s ex-employer Ballu (Johnny Lever and his wife played by Delnaaz Paul) but with a condition that they should be married. So Ashish and Vatsal end up turning Shreyas and Javed into their respective wives. Ballu is forever troubled by his younger brother Rocky (Chunky) who wants to get their father’s hotel in his name. What confusion it all leads to when the four leading ladies – Neha Dhupia, Celina, Riya and Sayali get involved in some way or the other forms the rest of the film.

While it was claimed to be the cinematic version of debutante director Paritosh Painter’s play by the same name, the entire film actually appears ripped off from actor Sachin directed Marathi super duper hit film that ran for almost 75 weeks called Ashi Hi Banva Banvi (1988). While AHBB was truly entertaining film that can be enjoyed again and again the same cannot be said about Paying Guests. Stale jokes, unimaginative writing and stereo typical characters rather caricatures make it a pain to sit through its two hours running time. The music is functional while dialogues are full of double innuendo. The climax is a direct lift of cult classic comedy Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron. Also while watching the film one can easily make out the almost the entire film seems to have been shot in and around Subhash Ghai owned Whistling Woods International in Mumbai’s Film City passing it off as Bangkok.

Acting wise Shreyas Talpade impresses as always. Javed Jaffrey is hilarious too and gets the best lines. Ashish Choudhary continues with his limited expressions and fails yet again. Vatsal is earnest but barely gets any scope. Neha Dhupia looks hot and is good amongst the actresses but her role is very short. Celina shows good comic timing. Sayali is hardly there and though the entire cast is present in the climax she is not there. But she is good in her small part. Riya Sen is cast in yet another dumb girl role in which she seems to excel. Johnny Lever is in top form after a long time. He is good even that one serious scene he gets. Delnaaz Paul is sweet. Chunky gets irritating after a point. Inder Kumar is totally wasted in a two scene role. Asrani and Paintal irritate.

Paying Guests is low in content aiming for cheap laughs. But if that’s your idea of entertainment then enter at your own risk.