‘Welcome Back’ Movie Review – Bollywood Bubble

Directed by: Anees Bazmee
Produced by: Firoz A Nadiadwala
Cast: John Abraham, Nana Patekar, Anil Kapoor, Shruti Haasan, Paresh Rawal, Ankita Shrivastava, Naseeruddin Shah, Dimple Kapadia, Shiney Ahuja
Duration: 2 hours 32 minutes
Bollywood Bubble Rating: 2/5

Bollywood at present seems to be obsessed with sequels, the latest entry in this category is Anees Bazmee’s ‘Welcome Back’. The movie is a sequel to the very hit flick ‘Welcome’ that had Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif in the lead roles. This time around instead of Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif we have Shruti Haasan and John Abraham in the lead roles. The only actors from the earlier version are Anil Kapoor and Nana Patekar.

The sequel takes off from where the prequel ended. Seven years after Rajeev and Sanjana’s marriage, Uday Shetty (Nana Patekar) and Majnu Bhai (Anil Kapoor) leave the underworld and settle down to a life of honest businessmen in Dubai. The two have come under the scanner of two con-women Babita and Poonam aka Dimple Kapadia and Ankita Shrivastava, they are in the guise of the royals of Nazafgarh.

Rajeev’s uncle Dr Ghungroo (Paresh Rawal) finds out that his wife has a son out of their wedlock. The out of wedlock son is our hunk Mumbai gangster Ajju Bhai(John Abraham). The gangster Ajju Bhai, falls in love with Ranjana (Shruti Haasan), who is Uday Shetty’s sister. Now Majnu and Uday are on a lookout for a groom for Shruti. In this mayhem enters Wanted Bhai( Naseeruddin Shah) and his druggy son (Shiney Ahuja) who is madly in love with Ranjana. This leads to many a hilarious incidents taking place in the movie.

Anil Kapoor and John Abraham generate a number of laughs with their one liners. But Nana Patekar turns out to be the one with most of the funny one-liners, eg “Dr Ghungroo ka khaandaan itna sharif hai ki inki ghar ki makhhiyaan bhi sar pe dupatta leke nikalti hain”. ” Yahan bachche bhukhe baithe hain aur baap teen baar lunch kar chukka hai”. Shruti Haasan looks gorgeous as ever, Naseeruddin is awesome as Wanted, Shiney Ahuja has delivered the goods. Best is the combination of Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar and Paresh Rawal. Songs are hummable but not on par with the prequel.

‘Welcome Back’ is a good option to spend the weekend watching the mad slapstick entertainment.