Paisa Vasool has all the seemingly wrong ingredients. First, there is no hero in the film. It is led by two women, Manisha Koirala and Sushmita Sen.

Second, Manisha wears spectacles throughout a film, a terrible no-no for any heroine.

Sushmita is shown chain-smoking, drinking without getting drunk and dancing in films for a living. All the traits of a vamp, yet she is not one.

And most of the action scenes are done by women.

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It must have taken guts for Koirala to make her production debut with a film like this. Her efforts are commendable.

Paisa Vasool may not tell a unique story, but it definitely lives up to its name.

Two girls, with contrasting personalities, shack up together. While one dreams of money, the other wants to get out of her boring existence.

By a stroke of luck, they eavesdrop on a phone call (in true Mr India style), where a man tells his sweetheart that he possesses Rs 3 crore (Rs 30 million). Immediately, they hatch a plan to rob the money and split it among themselves.

Of course, being amateurs, it takes a lot of trial and error to make their plan work. When they make their first threatening call from a public phone booth, they run out of one rupee coins. To see them extracting a coin from a beggar may tickle a bone. Or the other time when the duo is hiding in a tabela, Sushmita sprays perfumes on the buffaloes to get rid of the stink.

As the timid Maria, Manisha complements the adventurous Baby (Sushmita) well.

It is refreshing to see Sushmita finally getting meaty roles, instead of just item numbers and bit roles. Like her previous film, Samay, where she had proved herself, she is just as competent in Paisa Vasool and holds her own against the seasoned actress Manisha. In certain scenes, it seems as if Sushmita lends her own personality to Baby and delivers a very natural performance. Her comic timing is good, especially her annoyance when people make fun of her name or her exasperation when her filmi career goes downhill because she is too tall for the heroes. A happy-go-lucky, positive girl, who wants to get rich quickly, Baby convinces the cautious Maria into taking part in her daring plan.

Manisha, as the docile, intimidated girl, does her act well too. Bored of her monotonous life of running a bakery and living alone, Maria welcomes adventure. She gets led into the master plan and evens shocks Baby when she does the threatening job even better! Manisha turns in a subtle performance and shares great screen chemistry with Sushmita.

Though the film has its shares of flaws, one of the major confusing portions is when the duo meet. Maria cannot enter a couples-only disco because she does not have a date. Baby comes to her rescue and charges in with her. The two get along superbly and spend the night at Maria's house (Baby, who hails from Delhi, cannot find herself a house in Mumbai yet). Why does Maria invite Baby to live with her in the same room, after knowing her for only a day? When the first part of their master plan goes wrong, Maria does not end their relationship despite being morally tortured.

The other performances by Sushant Singh, Makarand Deshpande and Tinnu Anand are decent. Music, which is quite sparsely spread, is fine but nothing you would hum once you leave the theatre.

Verdict: For fultoo entertainment, watch Paisa Vasool!

CREDITS:
Cast: Manisha Koirala, Sushmita Sen, Sushant Singh, Makarand Deshpande
Director: Srinivas Bhashyam
Music: Director: Bapi-Tutul