By Martin D'Souza, Bollywood Trade News Network
The film is set in Bangkok and apart from the country, none of Bangkok's location, nor locals are used in the film. So why Bangkok in the first place? Also, if it was all about Paying Guests, Mumbai could have been the ideal location. In these times of recession, the film would have been completed in half the budget here. Recession, however, is not on the minds of the makers, I guess. But yes, the three friends are definitely facing a cash crunch and are on the lookout for a house to stay in. They have lost their jobs and the owner of the house they are staying in (an Indian) has kicked them out of his house. To add to their woes, a cousin of one of the friends joins them.
They finally manage to find a house (another Indian) where they have to pay no deposit, which suits them fine. However, Johnny Lever and Delnaz Paul, the owners, have one condition. They will let their house to only married couples. Therein begins the comedy when two of the friends dress as women to gain access to their new home.
There is no solid script, just happy coincidences meant to tickle your funny bone. And tickle it does. If you just want to relax and have a good laugh, Paritosh Painter's PAYING GUESTS would do just fine. But be prepared for some unnecessary jerks in script and songs added for the heck of it.
After the usual introduction of the four main characters, the film goes top gear in comedy. Aashish Choudhary, Shreyas Talpade and Jaaved Jaffery are the three friends. They are later joined by Vatsal Seth. Neha Dhupia, Sayali Bhagat, Riya Sen and Celina Jaitley complete the pairings.
The comic timing of Talpade, Choudhary and Jaffery is superb and it does keep you in splits. But apart from that, there is nothing of note.
Painter sketched this film just to amuse, I guess.
Rating - 1.5/5
