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By
Taran Adarsh, July 25, 2008 - 12:15 IST
 David Dhawan and Priyadarshan triggered off a trend
-- of making brainless comedies -- and thus began a
wave of leave-your-brains-at-home laughathons.
Inspired by the success of these ha-ha-he-he fares,
every second film-maker decided to join the
bandwagon for that elusive Hit. But, of late,
no-brainer comedies have reached a saturation point.
Ganesh Acharya's MONEY HAI TOH HONEY HAI actually
tests the patience of the viewer. Fine, you don't
expect a riveting storyline from a film of this
genre, but you definitely expect laughs, don't you?
You expect to be entertained, don't you? Alas, what
you get to see is definitely not good, not even bad,
it's verrry boring!
In his debut film SWAMI, Ganesh Acharya proved that
he knows his job well, but what is this? How did the
makers okay the script [writer: Muazzam Beg] in the
first place? What did the actors see in this script?
Did they want to be a part of a mini-multistarrer
for the heck of it?
MONEY HAI TOH HONEY HAI is like flying in an
aircraft without a pilot. You don't know where it's
headed!
MONEY HAI TOH HONEY HAI deals with six characters:
Bobby [Govinda] is a happy go lucky guy, who runs
away from home to prove himself. Lalabhai [Manoj
Bajpayee] becomes wealthy, but he's back on the road
as his business fails and he loses all his money.
Gaurav [Aftab Shivdasani], a copywriter, is fired
from his job. Manik [Upen Patel] is a struggling
model who sleeps with a middle-aged fashion designer
[Archana Puransingh], hoping to make it big. Ashima
[Hansika] is a successful TV star, but she's not
happy with her career and is desperate to do films
as the lead heroine. Shruti [Celina Jaitley] is a
struggling dress designer.
 One fine day, they all get an SMS informing them
that they are the owners of a 1,000 crore company.
However, their happiness does not last long for the
lawyer reveals that there's a loan of 1,200 crore on
the company and they must repay it and until the
loan is repaid, they would be kept under house
arrest.
The story sounds interesting on paper, but on
celluloid, it's non-existent. Prem Chopra picks up
random cellphone numbers and makes them calls. He
wants them to inherit his fortune. But the entire
first hour is devoted to why they became losers.
It's only at the interval point that you expect the
story to begin. But does it take off? Nope!
Instead of sticking to the core issue, it meanders
into meaningless sub-plots, which only add to the
boredom. The finale at the fashion show [well
choreographed by Achala Sachdev] is interesting, but
by then you're exhausted and want the movie to end.
The writer of this film is the biggest culprit. The
writing touches a new low with this film. Ganesh
Acharya tries to pack in funny sequences, but just
two bring a smile -- the Archana Puransingh-Upen
Patel track and Govinda's encounter with a Vijay
Mallya lookalike, who is surrounded by a bevy of
beauties.
The songs [music: Nitin Arora, Soni Chandi] too show
up without any valid reason whatsoever, although a
few songsare tuneful and well choreographed.
 Now to the performances! Govinda looks too old for
his part. The role demanded a 20 + actor and Govinda
looks completely out of place here. The age shows!
Imagine, he calls Jawed Sheikh his father and Ketaki
Dave his mother!!!! Besides, why is behaving so kool
by speaking in English? It looks fake!
You feel sad to watch an actor of the calibre of
Manoj Bajpayee being reduced to absolute nothing. Is
he the same actor who acted in SATYA? And ZUBEIDAA,
PINJAR and 1971? Aftab Shivdasani looks right for
the part, but he hardly gets any scenes. Upen Patel
does a good job and his scenes are truly funny.
Hansika goes over the top. Celina Jaitley gets no
scope either. Archana Puransingh, besides Upen,
provides a few laughs. She's excellent. Prem Chopra
is wasted. Ravi Kishan too doesn't impress.
On the whole, MONEY HAI TOH HONEY HAI is a poor
show. At the box-office, a damp squib!
Rating *
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