Paying Guest

Paying Guests has four leading men. Two of them turn ‘women’ midway and spend the rest of the time changing clothes and taming vocal chords. Shreyas Talpade and Javed Jaffrey play wives to Ashish Chowdhury and Vatsal Seth so that all the four can occupy Johnny Lever’s PG accommodation where the rules read ‘couples only’.

Supposed to be a comedy, Paying Guests becomes painful and crowded when all the men start parading their women, who wear little expressions and even lesser clothes.

While Celina Jaitley is on the lookout for a cowboy lover who can cook as well, Riya Sen happily rotates around her boyfriend. Neha Dhupia plays a tough boss, but breaks down if her employee-cum-crush doesn’t shower compliments on a saari day. Sayali Bhagat’s histrionics is limited to opening and closing cupboards for Javed Jaffrey who wants to hide from her shouting folks.

Innuendos are plenty and one cringes at the poor taste. Talpade looks pretty in drag, but he chose the role unwisely. The film itself is a drag. Why pay for cheap laughs?