‘Paying Guests’ - of a house hunt and impersonation (IANS Preview)

NEW DELHI - After weeks of lull at the box-office due to the grim stand-off between the producers and multiplexes, filmmaker Shubhash Ghai hopes to bring in a dash of humour with his slapstick comedy “Paying Guests” releasing Friday.

Written and directed by debutant Paritosh Painter, the film hopes to attract footfalls after the failure of Vashu Bhagnani’s “Kal Kissne Dekha” in the first week (June 12) after the stand-off ended.

The film stars Shreyas Talpade, Ashish Chaudhary, Celina Jaitley, Neha Dhupia, Riya Sen, Vatsal Seth, Jaaved Jaaferi and Sayali Bhagat.

The story revolves around four men in Bangkok who need a home to stay.

In their search for an accomodation, they come across Ballu (Johnny Lever) who agrees to keep them as paying guests. But his condition is that he will keep only couples - so Jaaved and Shreyas decide to dress as women.

“The story revolves around four friends in Bangkok who need a house and end up living as couples, with me and Shreyas as women,” Jaaved told IANS.

“I understand the body language of women very well. I know their mannerisms; so, it’s not so difficult for me… it wasn’t anything new for me. It came kind of easy to me,” he added.

While playing a woman “came easy” to Javed, it took a toll on Shreyas, who had to undergo waxing - the painstaking hair removing process.

“Getting waxed for the role was a torture for me. It was like being in a delivery room. I was yelling like a mad dog while I was getting waxed. Even my wife Deepti got scared. She was with me when it was being done… it literally made me shriek like anything,” said Shreyas.

Sayali who plays Jaaved’s lady love in the film was on the other hand all praise for Ghai.

“It is a dream for every actor to work with Subhash Ghai and my dream was realised through this film. He is a wonderful person and has the ability to make all his actors feel very comfortable. He is a fantastic mentor and I got a lot of guidance from him,” she said.

With music from composers Sajid-Wajid, the film also marks the debut of Wajid as a lyricist - for the Indian version of nursery rhyme “Jack & Jill”. He has also lent his voice for the title track of the film.