9th Hum Awards in London

Paying Guests
Paritossh Painter
Producer: Subhash Ghai
Starring :Shreyas Talpade,Javed Jaffrey,Ashish Chowdhry,Celina Jaitly,Chunky Pandey,Riya Sen,Sayali Bhagat,Neha Dhupia

'Paying Guests' is a rip roaring family comedy presented by Bollywood's showman Subhash Ghai's Mukta Arts. You may recall that the movie was earlier called 'Chaar Yaar', but was later re-titled 'Paying Guests'.

Yes, this madcap comedy is the same that was based on Paritosh Painter's super hit theatre play by this very name and ran for two years in the US, the UK, UAE and India. So, this laugh riot is written and directed by Paritosh Painter himself and produced by Raju Farooqui.

The star cast is huge and comprises Shreyas Talpade, Aashish Choudhary, Jaaved Jafferi and Vatsal Sheth (Males) and Celina Jaitley, Neha Dhupia, Riya Sen, Sayali Bhagat (Females). Among others are Chunky Pandey, Asrani, Delnaaz Paul and Paintal.

The movie is a story about four friends who only create more problems while they think they are solving the existing ones!

This crazy trio of young and fun-loving guys who include Shreyas Talpade, Javed Jaffrey and Ashish Chowdhary begins 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 landlord, a Sindhi landlord played by Asrani, whose first name Kisk is considered funny.

Since all these youngsters are bachelors, they don't know how to deal with this new situation. They think over it and settle among themselves to fulfill their landlord's condition. Thus, the new drama triggers a series of confusions that build into the rich complexities of mistaken identities and a climax of comic wizardries!

Incidentally, all the three lose their jobs on the same day. Johny Lever who owns a restaurant fires Talpade; Paintal dismisses Jaffery for canoodling with his daughter Sayali Bhagat and Chowdhary quits on his own following confrontation with his car dealer Neha Dhupia.

Then, Vatsal Seth turns up as a cousin to work at Pattaya in Thailand. Meanwhile he consumes alcohol and thus turns homeless and unemployed at the same time. In the ensuing hunt for an alternative place of residence Chowdhary and Seth turn up at Lever's home where his wife Delnaaz Paul also offer accommodation to couples. Strange, isn't it?

Incidentally, almost all the male characters in the movie try to speak in ridiculous accent. Aashish Chowdhary is the exception. The female characters, on the other hand, are skimpily dressed and are barely seen in the movie.

The music has been scored by duo Sajid-Wajid and Shabbir Ahme has penned the lyrics. Cinematographer is Selva Kumar and editor is Manish More. The Sajid-Wajid duo has provided fast-paced and foot-tapping music as in their other movies like 'Welcome' and 'Partner'.

However, the duo has failed to impart it the Ghai kind of freshness with nice lyrics. This is evident from the first song "Jack and Jill". Another song "Nazar se nazaria" by Sunidhi Chauhan on the lines of "Crazy kiya re" from the movie 'Dhoom 2' hasn't fared well too. Even the title song "Paying Guest", which is sung by composer-turned-singer Wajid Ali, fails to strike a chord either. So the music as well as the lyrics are average unlike in Ghai's productions.

The director has tried his best to shoot the movie extensively and has gone out to Bangkok besides shooting in Mumbai. Paritosh Painter has followed in the footsteps of other writers who are foraying into direction. Paritosh has acted / penned / directed a number of comedy plays, besides writing the script of 'Dhamaal'. He has now ventured into film direction too. Overall, the movie is a flop in all respects.


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