REVIEW: Money Hai Toh Honey Hai

The question is, will Govinda eventually become the next Dev Anand?

An extremely old Govinda pretending to be in his late 20s (reminding you of Dev Anand), a Prem Chopra (remember the famous villain?) trying to be funny with his silly antics, and a useless as usual Upen Patel who can even make Ravi Kissen look admirable. That's one thing that you'll realise after watching this flick.

What's it all about

Kumar Mangat must've been utterly crazy to have produced this one after the immensely disappointing Haal-e-dil but then some people never learn. Directed by Ganesh Acharya, Money Hai Toh... has everything that a sensible set of audience would not want – 'done to death' sexual innuendos, lines with double meaning, Govinda trying to speak English and be hip, Govinda doing his matkas and jhatkas (which we LIKE), Govinda trying to be a boy in his late twenties (already mentioned), Hannsika Motwani, scantily clad women, Ganesh Acharya shaking his belly, a lot of Bhojpuri dialogue delivery, Ravi Kissen (WOW), jokes that have ceased to be funny in 1950, you name it and there, you got it!

Money Hai Toh Honey Hai is about this one big businessman Jaiswal who has become mad with age, played by Prem Chopra. His lucky number happens to be SIX. So, he decides to leave his entire property to six people whose phone numbers he dreams up somehow. Needless to say, these six are Govinda – a spoilt rich kid, Upen Patel – an aspiring model, Celina Jaitley – a struggling designer who wants to make designer clothes for the common man, Aftab Shivadasani – an advertising professional whose lines never sell, Manoj Bajpai – a common man who never loses hope and Hannsika Motwani – the reigning queen of TV soaps who's sick of her bahu avatar and wants to become the sexy siren in Bollywood.

The movie begins with a song and dance like most movies these days, where except for Govinda, no one really is watchable. Then we are made to hear a line…An Idea can change your life. Wonder which telecom company is gaining mileage with THAT one! We almost expected a guest appearance by Abhishek Bachchan. Well, his absence was compensated by many cameos done by Sophia, Kim Sharma, Esha Deol (in a song) and Rakhi Tandon (Sweety of Hum Paanch).

The first half of the film deals with the lives of these six people and their trials and tribulations. Amidst a million sexual innuendos and lines like Jab Zindagi Jh*** toh kaise milega kalakand the story progresses telling us viewers about the six, failing to anyways hold your attention. What will however make you sit up and look from your cushy seats is the introduction song for Govinda. A semi-rock, rap version of Main toh raste se jaa raha tha…main toh bhelpuri kha raha tha. Ha Ha! Now that's what we call creativity!

What is also somewhat funny is the spoof on Ekta Kapoor. Rakhi Tandon plays Mukti Kapoor, the absolute queen of tellyworld who also happens to be the producer of the soap in which Ashima Kapoor (Hannsika) stars. Hannsika is the Smriti Irani prototype who has a fight with the producer (like the Ekta-Tulsi fight we heard about) and is sacked. There is also a Jai Walia in the movie who is the business tycoon roaming around with women wearing red dresses. Yes, you guessed it right. He constitutes the spoof on Vijay Mallya!

However, some twists and turns later, the six lucky ones get a call and are taken by surprise. The screen is split into six sections with their amazed faces and voila – Intermission!

You may not feel like coming back with your popcorn at all. But if you finally re-enter the theatre post interval, you will find the six in a plush bungalow just near the sea. Govinda tries to swindle money out of the other five by selling them dreams. And then the villain Ravi Kissen tries to muddle things up…and the six come together and their struggle begins.

The plot though a little rushed in the second half and hazed in parts, holds itself together.

Govinda still rocks!

About the actors, Govinda as usual is great with comedy. And boy, can he dance! Even at his age (real age not reel), this man can give any of the younger ones a run for their money as far as dancing is concerned.

Upen Patel is useless. But somehow in this movie since his character is that of a useless struggling model – he weirdly enough fits the bill. Aftab is decent. Prem Chopra is wasted. Celina holds her part. We realised that when this babe is not shedding clothes and doing meaningless item numbers, she can be bearable. Hannsika is good eye candy. She is decent enough with her expressions too.

But the two people who call for a special mention are Manoj Bajpayee and Ravi Kissen. Though their characters were small (especially the one of Ravi), they manage to shine through.

The sets are good. And dances are well shot (it's Ganesh Acharya, guys). The much publicised Hannsika belly dance was kind of a disappointment. It so happened that Ganesh Acharya shook more belly than the actress in that one.

VERDICT: Should you watch this movie? Well, Money Hai Toh…maybe. It's not a movie you'll want to pay exorbitant amounts of money for. But if you have nothing else to do and can enjoy mindless movies at times, go for a cheap morning show for this one.

RATING: 1.5/5 (One for the colourful settings and 0.5 for making it only two hours long)