Few minutes into the movie and it becomes anybody’s guess on what the film holds in store - an Indian Don who goes by name Bob Marley is largely wanted by various police forces; he is now settled in Portugal but nobody seems to know his whereabouts. As and always for a mafia film, Puri tries to amplify the villain’s image by templating his crimes. Its anybody’s guess on who will catch one of country’s most wanted criminal. Yes enter Theda Singh ( Balakrishna ) who is already a criminal and is recruited to catch Bob Marley. The film shoots off to Portugal in the second half where Balakrishna is seen as a cab driver. The twist comes when the Indian police learns that Theda Singh already has a connection with Bob Marley. How the biggest criminal faces yet another criminal; will Theda Singh bring Bob Marley on his knees forms rest of the plot.

Out of the whole movie, director Puri looks to have spent more time on the characterization, looks, body language and what not only on Balakrishna. His character of Theda Singh has a comical touch to it through the first half which is probably the biggest plus in Paisa Vasool. For a masala flick, its mandatory for the hero to mouth funny punch dialogues during fights and Puri has managed to give a handful, solely to keep the whistles coming from the fans. There is a line from the film when Balakrishna says only his fans and family have the rights to pull a gun on him and outsiders are not allowed. The line would rather go well with the film too, as it is tailor made for Balakrishna’s fans and his fans ONLY. Its heroism all the way with other characters too edging towards the hero’s machoism. By establishing a don who is known to be invisible in the eyes of the law, it becomes comical when the hero rather infiltrates too easily into the gang. The scenes leading up to this could have been made rather interesting, but sadly haven't.

Apart from Balakrishna, the film has Shriya Saran who has a minor but strong role and does what is intended out of her. She wins over the other two ladies of the movie – Kyra Dutt and Muskan Sethi, both of them pretty unimpressive in their roles. Puri seem to have brought them on board just to satisfy the masala aspect of a commercial film. The villain Bob Marley portrayed by Vikramjit Virk is not bad. Given the role of a stylish antagonist, he has managed to pull it off neatly. Music is confined to satisfy mass appeal again but except Mama Ek Pega Laa, other tracks fall flat. Mukesh has captured Europe portions on a colorful note; the stunt and car chases do justice to his skills.

Bottomline :

The flat storyline apart from Balakrishna’s sense of humor offers nothing engaging enough. Telugu cinemas have come a long way and its time the directors start looking at offering variety in Masala films too. By relying solely on Hero’s mass image, movies like Paisa Vasool do not go beyond the fan base in terms of entertaining. 

Verdict :

Strictly for the fans of Balayya.

Rating: 2/5