My Take on Welcome(2007)

WELCOME



Cast: Akshay Kumar, Nana Patekar, Anil Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Feroz Khan and Malika Sherawat.

Direction and Story: Aneez Bazmee

Story: Two underworld dons Uday Shetty (Nana Patekar) and Majnu (Anil Kapoor) want to marry off their sister Sanjana (Katrina Kaif) into an honest family. Dr Ghunghroo (Paresh Rawal) wants his nephew Rajiv (Akshay Kumar) to marry a girl from a decent family. Through a series of hilarious events Rajiv and Sanjana fall for each other and now its Rajiv’s responsibility to make good Samaritans out of the two dons. Enter Ishika(Mallika Sherawat ) who helps Rajiv, by wooing both the brothers and keeping them away from bad activities. Story takes a twist when Sanjana accidently kills (at least she thinks) Lucky, son of RDX (Feroz Khan), Uday and Majnu’s boss.

My Take: Excellent plot . Strong cast. Great performances. Enduring music. Result: Terrific performance at the box-office( it grossed 35 crores in its first week, second only to Om Shanti Om's all-time high of 40 crores opening. Within two weeks, Welcome grossed around 56 crores, quite commendable given that it released alongside Amir Khan’s directorial debut Taare Zamin Par).
Akshay Kumar continues to entertain the audiences with his excellent performance, claiming his No. 1 spot as a comic hero, Katrina looks gorgeous (well actually, she does just that, she has hardly any dialouges), Nana, Anil, Feroz and Paresh are quite perfect with there comic timimg and Mallika is as stunning as ever. Music is quite catchy, compliments the movie.


In spite of all these, Welcome receives a mixed review from the audience. Well to start with, I believe, provided a strong plot, there are good movies and there are movies that could have been better. Welcome falls in the second category. Underworld don ki behen ki shaadi – quite a strong plot for a Masala Bollywood movie. But what the director must understand is that with time even this genre has acquired some class. Indian audience has great apetite for rib tickling comedies like No Entry and Welcome, provided they don’t repeat stuff(like the neck-condition of Dr. Ghunghroo). Movie’s huge starcast, enormous duration and most of all its mindless ending scene (C’mon, such a good plot deserves a better ending scene)lead to a let down.


All in all, a very good comedy movie, one of the best in 2007. My advice, try to switch off your brain to enjoy to the fullest.