Paisa Vasool (2004) User Reviews

Cowdung...

[AndreiPavlov · 3/10 · 11 February 2010]

Seriously, India surprised me with this tasteless production.

The movie is dark and does not have anything pleasant to the eye. It's ugly. That's for the image.

The flick has poor comedy elements which quite often seem to drag forever: for instance, there is an everlasting scene in which Maria Mhatre is hiding from the goofy criminal, who is kind of drunk (or doped?) - it really is a test for the viewer's patience. Sometimes this "comedy" steps into such dark areas that you can't believe your eyes: in one of the scenes the cripple in the wheelchair gets a harsh beating: he gets kicked, knocked down to the floor, beaten up by a plank, and finally hanged (head down?!?!) by that very goofy criminal. And as for this goofy bad guy, he really looks funny with his "explosion an a macaroni factory" black hair and funny moustache but in contrast to this silly outlook he acts in a most violent manner towards others (he also behaves like some good-for-nothing alky). Wherever he is on screen you have this uncomfortable feeling and feel sorry for the frustrated actor. That's for the "comedy".

As the film goes on, to me it gets less and less interesting because the story jumps in a hectic manner and the terrible male faces' close-ups with their awkward speech appear too often. Twenty minutes into the movie and I wanted to forget the whole stupid story - so I just continued watching to find out how far it all could go. That's for the storyline.

There is one thing I liked though. It's the use of English. The actors push in English phrases now and then. The choice of words is excellent. "Shit" and "bitch" are most common while the subs go: "Cowdung" in one certain place. They speak Hindi and then all of a sudden: "Sorry!" "Shit!" "Boyfriend!" with such over-the-top intonation. That is ridiculous.

I can give it a solid 3 out of 10 - mostly for a ridiculous mixture of English and Hindi and for the scene where a little boy is hitting (in his dream) the bad guy with some iron bar. Thank you for attention.

Absolute crap but watch it for Sush

[jahangirhussain74 · 2/10 · 5 April 2011]

I was fooled into watching this film because Manisha Koirala produced it. I was so disappointed after watching Paisa Vasool and I am regretting my decision to watch this film.

The story is directly lifted from the Hollywood flick 'High Heels and Low Lifes.' Maria (Manisha Koirala) is a loner and a divorcée who has run away from her cruel and immoral cop husband. The only source of her income is a bakery which barely helps her make two ends meet. By a chance encounter, she meets the bubbly Baby (Sushmita Sen) who is a struggling actress from Delhi. Baby is having a hard time making it big in the industry because of her height. Maria and Baby become fast friends and the latter decides to move in with her newfound friend. It is then that Baby learns that Maria is being constantly harassed by the local goons who want to throw her out of her bungalow. The situation takes a turn when the girls overhear a conversation (via a cross connection) where a robber confesses to steal Rs. 3 crores from a jeweler to his demanding girlfriend. Baby decides to blackmail the robber into giving them half of the loot. Though Maria initially develops a cold feet, she agrees after Baby talks her into it. As the story develops, the girls find it incredibly hard to recover the cash as people around them start getting murdered. Now Maria and Baby must hatch a plan to avenge the murders and recover their money.

Direction is very weak. No wonder because this movie is directed by a first-timer Srinivas Bhashyam.The movie gets too boring in the second half and the director puts too many unnecessary scenes to fill in the length. The editor should've chopped off a half of the scenes in the second half but then there would've been problems about the film's length. Music is pretty good but nothing great.

I was very disappointed with Manisha Koirala. She looks fat and old. But I guess the story needed her to be that way. And also adding to her minuses, she wears spectacles throughout the movie. Also, Koirala should give up the idea of producing low budget films. The only highlight of Paisa Vasool is Sushmita Sen. Sush was the only reason I sat throughout this boring movie till the end. She was unbelievably funny and she was the one to look out for in many scenes.

I would rate this movie 2/10. Just watch it for Sush but don't expect anything else.

Not bad

[AishFan · 6/10 · 8 April 2004]

I think this is the first attempt at a comedy with no males in the starcast. I thought the movie was pretty funny. Sushmita does much better job at acting than Manisha. However, both of them, especially Manisha, overacted. If something funny happened, they would laugh themselves inside-out, and you would be like, "Ok, shut up now. It's not that funny." It is interesting how just a blackmail can take the lives of innocent people. The story does a good job of bringing out comedy in a storyline involving blackmail and murder. There are also a couple edge-of-the-seat, suspenseful scenes that are very well executed. The dance club song and the remix melody are cool, foot-tapping tracks.

Bollywood/Hollywood remake at its best!

[Ace_of_Hearts · 9/10 · 17 February 2004]

Paisa Vasool manages to succeed where so may others have failed. It has managed to take a Hollywood movie (High Heels and Low Lifes) and add to it its own flavor without losing any of its quality.

SPOILER

Paisa Vasool starts just like its Hollywood counterpart with two women, Sushmita Sen and Manisha Koirala, who accidentally overhear a conversation in which a man confesses committing a jewelry heist to his girlfriend. Being the good citizens that they are, they try to call in the police. The police however ignores them so the two women take the only course of action left to them: they decide to blackmail the robber. Naturally this can not lead to anything good. What follows are attempts of the girls to enrich themselves and attempts of the robbers to wipe them out.

What is so special about Paisa Vasool is the way it starts with a good Hollywood movie and takes on a life of its own. Because of this Paisa Vasool has a very Hollywoodesque quality that expresses itself in the camerawork, very few songs and a minimal love story. The first half of Paisa Vasool pretty much follows HHLL except for a few details. After the intermission the story follows a different line mainly because of the addition of a third main character. Which is also when things start becoming interesting.

This movie is original. It's exciting. It's funny. And Sushmita Sen and Manisha Koirala are very good together. Can't wait to see more of them.

****/5 stars

A good movie that was much ahead of its time

[indibap · 8/10 · 3 May 2022]

A good movie with good performance by the two leading ladies who are protagonists. The screenplay could have been better and tighter and the direction was good.