Welcome Back : Reviews and Box Office thread - Page 5

Film: Welcome Back
Starring: Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar, John Abraham, Paresh Rawal, Shruti Hassan,Dimple Kapadia & Naseeruddin Shah
Directed by: Anees Bazmi
Rating: **1/2 (Two and half stars)

What's It About:
The first instalment of this franchise (Welcome) was a huge success when it released eight years back. The definition of mainstream cinema has changed a lot since then but the makers of Welcome Back have stuck to the zone they started out with. The sequel, therefore, tends to amuse you because of its audacity to remain over-the-top, nonsensical and often funny in the most ludicrous manner. Uday Shetty (Nana) and Majnu Bhai (Anil) make a comeback - this time as reformed citizens in Dubai. In a twist of circumstance, they realise Uday has another sister Ranjana (Shruti) around the same time that Ghungroo (Paresh) discovers he has a son Ajju (John). The idea is to get them married until they find out Ajju is one of the biggest gangsters in Mumbai. Uday and Majnu try their best to break the alliance but by then, Ranjana and Ajju are already in love. More confusion comes in the form of the manipulative gold-digger (Dimple) and her daughter (Ankita Shrivastava), which is further escalated when Wanted Bhai (Naseer) lands on the scene with his son Honey (Shiney Ahuja).

What's Hot:
The film doesn't try to be anything more than what its predecessor was. And it needs to be evaluated according to the genre it belongs to. There is nothing called a screenplay in this film. The director merely plays around with the characters that became popular with the first film. And it works to an extent because Uday and Majnu literally shoulder the film all the way. The camaraderie between Anil and Nana is stupendous; their one-liners are the film's best moments. Welcome Back has huge production values and the money spent can be seen in every frame of the film. The graveyard scene is one of the film's highlights, more so because of the performances of all the actors. John holds up his own amidst the towering actors. Paresh is in his elements and Naseer is merely enjoying every bit of the absurdity he's a part of.

What's Not:
We're not complaining of the script because there is none and we aren't even looking for it. But even Welcome had its share of genuine screenplay-driven laughs, which the sequel lacks big time. The casting of Dimple, Ankita and Shiney goes completely wrong. The music is a huge letdown. The climax of the film makes you wonder what the director was on while shooting it. And what the actors were on that they all decided to be a part of it.

What To Do:
If you're in the mood for brain-dead humor, this is it. And if you're avid fans of Uday and Majnu Bhai.

Welcome had released in 2008 and gone on to create a crowd frenzy. Seven years later, minus the principal actors Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif, Anees Bazmeedecided to add a sequel to the franchise.Welcome Back was initially slated to release last December but further got pushed to May and then August and then finally settled for a September 4 release. What promised to be a fun filled joyful ride turned out to be a torturous ride to hell. Why? Insipid dialogues, mindless plot line and caricaturish performances envelop the film that's prequel had left people with pained guts.

Trying too hard to be funny, Welcome Back fails miserably and falls flat right on its face. Although I took my seat, expecting almost nothing from the mindless comic caper, the makers surprised me. By delivering one of the worst films of 2015 so far. So much that even a Hamari Adhuri Kahani looked like a masterpiece in front of Welcome Back. The film will vividly remind you of Humshakals, which also with a stellar cast had a lot going for it, before its release, until a negative word of mouth killed the film totally.

Analysing both Welcome Back and Humshakals, we bring you many ways in which the two are absolutely similar. Whether the film faces a similar fate at the box office is yet to be seen, but one thing is for sure, treatment wise, the films have stark resemblance. Here's how:

An Ensemble gone wrong!
Humshakals had a stellar star cast which boasted of names like Saif Ali Khan, Ram Kapoor and Riteish Deshmukh, all stalwarts when it comes to comedies. Welcome Back reprised the much loved characters of Uday bhai and Majnu bhai from the prequel, played by the talented Anil Kapoor and Nana Patekar. Add John Abraham to the cast and the film is good to go. Much like Humshakals, Welcome Back too fails to live upto the expectations. forget the audiences, the film does not even do justice to the lead actors. While Anil and Nana try to shine in this otherwise outlandish comic caper, John Abraham who has previously gifted a Madras Cafe looks out of place throughout the two and half hour long yawn-athon.

Overacting ki Bae-gums!
Humshakals had Bipasha Basu, Tamannah Bhatia and Esha Gupta playing leads, Welcome Back had Shruti Haasan, Ankita Srivastava and Dimple Kapadia upping the glam quotient. But what hurts is when you see someone of Dimple's calibre being reduced to mere tomfoolery, adding nothing to the film's plot whatsoever. And Shruti Haasan, what's wrong with you girl? Gone are those days when you can expect a riveting performance from the girl-who-has-it-in-her-genes. After a seriously half baked role in Gabbar is Back,Shruti as the loud, over-dramatic, over-emotional and highly OTT (Over the top, for beginners!) evokes one reaction from you- irritation! As for debutante Ankita, just one thing: We were better off without another ham queen in tinsel town. The actresses inHumshakals, barring Tamannah had disowned the film. Will the Welcome Back heroines go the same way? Let's wait and watch!

A comedy of errors. Literally!
Both Humshakals and Welcome Back were touted as the funniest comedy of errors for the respective years. As we've all seen, Humshakals was nothing but a pain up our... (ok let's leave it to that!) Back to Welcome Back. (That sounds funnier than the film actually!) Calling it a comedy of errors is partly right. Comedy? No way! Errors? Too many to count. Guess Bazmee took the genre way too seriously and ended up making a mishmatch of everything possible and everything he's ever made. Now we know what's taking Salman Khan so long to sign No Entry Mein Entry. The trailer did disappoint many fans but the film, in totality will seem like a funny obituary. RIP Comedy. Sajid made really bad use of PJs to insinuate laughter. Not to mention, he even got his heroes dressed up in drag to take the story forward. In Welcome Back, thankfully that doesn't happen. Actually, nothing happens. Only one particular sequence shot in the grave brings in a round of cheers. Otherwise, WB is shockingly bland

No continuity
Saif had said that even Sajid Khan wasn't aware of what he was doing on the sets ofHumshakals. Although no actor has come out in the open talking the same way about WB, we won't be surprised if someone does. Especially John. The film has a plethora of continuity errors. With almost no screenplay, Anees seems to have shot the entire film keeping his own whims and wishes in mind. We understand you aren't expecting an excellent 4 star review but that doesn't mean that you'll end up making a horror film in the name of a comedy, Anees! Also, songs pop out of nowhere, especially the Nas Nas Meinnumber which starts almost randomly and isn't situational. And the 20-20 song which is an introductory song for John's Ajju bhai has a number of bloopers. It seems that the makers suddenly decided to replace Sambhavna Seth with Lauren Gottlieb and ended up creating something that can out even the worst of editors to shame. Why? Because in one scene, it's Lauren and you turn around, it's Sambhavna.

An abrupt climax
Like the songs, the climax also leaves you disgusted. Abrupt and dragged, the climax leaves you un-satiated that you feel like claiming money for a free show you're in. Characters flying everywhere, sand storms and a bizarre ending, Welcome Back could have done so more and in so less time. Instead, they put the audience through the wringer, expecting their gibberish jokes to be funny and the extremely unfunny and ludicrous climax to bring in the ceetees and taalis. Sadly, none of that happened.