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Cast:
Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Anil
Kapoor,
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Nana
Patekar, Firoz Khan, Mallika Sherawat |
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Genre: Comedy, Romance |
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Music:
Himesh Reshammiya, Anand Raj Anand |
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Story:
Anees Bazmee |
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Presenter:
A. G. Nadiadwala |
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Producer:
Firoz A. Nadiadwala |
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Direction:
Anees Bazmee |
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Before we get into the review of this caper, lets go off at
a tangent. When I read the cast, I ruminated on the
following points:
Feroz and
Anil last came together in the dark Feroz production Janbaaz,
Anil and Nana were at loggerheads in the deadly Parinda,
Anil, Akshay and Katrina featured in the dull love triangle
Humko Deewana Kar Gaye and Anil and Akshay in another
melodramatic exercise in drudgery Bewafaa. |
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So how will these teams break the mould with
Welcome? Could they go to the other extreme and make
us genuinely laugh and have a blast?
Then I thought of Firoz Nadiadwala, who since 2000
has only been making crime comedies (except for the
gritty but unsuccessful Aan Men at Work),
never mind if they include terrible aberrations like
Deewane Huye Paagal and Fool-N-Final. And director
Anees Bazmee, whos delivered a
copy-that-was-better-than-the original in both Pyaar
to Hona Hi Tha and the hilarious No Entry. |
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Even the
three music director entities have collaborated in all
permutations in the past, with mixed results. And while
Akshay and Suniel were a part of four Base Industries films
in a row and were missing from FNF, why is only one of them
around this time? And so I proceeded to watch Welcome, the
latest in a long line of madcap movies (Partner, Dhamaal,
Heyy Babyy, Om Shanti Om) that show that todays audience
want star-studded laugh riots unlike in the past when
comedies were poor small-budget cousins with about five
exceptions in 25 years!
And do
you know what? Anees Bazmee, who unlike David Dhawan and
Priyadarshan takes comedy seriously (as he has said often)
delivers. Critically, you can sit in an ivory tower, laugh
as much as the frontbenchers and the kids of all ages, and
maintain your hard-boiled, easy-earned intellectual image by
writing a condescending review. But the film, in totality,
works and works well. |
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And isnt it ironic that I have troubled my brain so
much thinking about a film that sets a trend of
being advertised as a leave-your-brains-behind
comedy? Why are they degrading their own films and
above all the audience? Why not face the truth and
accept the axiom that Subhash Ghai believes in that
only intelligent men can make unintelligent films?
Yes, Bazmee keeps the characters and proceedings on
a more or less even key, and Akshay and Katrina make
for an eye-candy pair as they go through their
turbulent love. |
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Akshay is Rajiv, nephew of the immaculate Dr Ghungroo (Paresh
Rawal) and Katrina is Sanjana, sister of mobsters Uday
Shetty (Nana Patekar) and Majnu (Anil Kapoor). There is no
conflict of interests: both Dr Ghungroo and Uday and Majnu
want law-abiding, nice spouses for their kids (so to speak).
So - where is the catch? Well, the respectable doctor is
aghast when he comes to know that his bahu-to-be hails from
a parivar of pistol-purveyors! And so begins the mayhem as
Rajiv and Sanjana realize that they must bring the criminals
to the straight-n-narrow path before their love can lead to
the saat pheras. Dr Ghungroo, completely indifferent to the
mafia samdhis threats, isn’t exactly the mob’s terrified
victim. And in any case, everyones reckoned without RDX (Feroz
Khan) and Ishika (Mallika Sherawat) who sashays in saying
that she is Rajivs childhood sweetheart and yet dangles a
love carrot to the two gangsters! |
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We have read right from the launch of the
film that Welcome is based on a Hollywood
caper Mickey Blue Eyes, but then Anees
always has a Hollywood blueprint for his
films. But what is interesting is that it
also packs in a slice of another Holywood-inspired
comedy Shaadi Se Pehle (a film much before
its time) and shares Mallika Sherawat and
Suniel Shetty (yes, Suniel is there for a
fleeting cameo to keep up the superstitious
lucky Akki-Shetty team angle!). |
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go to the flipside. Welcome is not perfect. Writers Rajiv
Kaul and Praful Parekh work at a lower level of humour than
Bazmee, and we have some corny gags, erratic editing and
pace in the second half that Bazmee could have bettered by
being solo writer. Akshay (hes the crowd-puller, right?) has
already become repetitious as the dour-meets-comic, but this
time he is tepid compared to his co-actors. Katrinas just
eye-candy, but we cannot help think that she’s got a raw
deal compared to her deft turns in the past. The music is of
the (h)ear-today-gone-tomorrow kind. |
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And now for the films biggest plus-es: in that order
Anil-Nana and Mallika. They simply lift the film
with their scene-stealing acts. Nana goes one better
than his image-defying act in Bluffmaster! and Taxi
No. 9-2-1-1, and as for Anil, after No Entry he once
again shows his perfect sync with Bazmee. As for
Mallika, Welcome lady into the second half. Her
sauce and spice makes up whenever the film goes
loose at places. |
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So whats the nutshell verdict? Go watch the film.
Leave your brains behind to read this review. But
dont look for the uniform levels of either Hera
Pheri or No Entry. They are classics that will be
hard to better anyway! |
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