Before stating anything else, let’s give the devil its due: unlike most modern “sequels”, Welcome Back continues where Welcome left off eight years ago. In this latter production of the director-producer duo of Anees Bazmee and Firoz Nadiadwala, we meet Uday and Majnu – played yet again by Nana Patekar and Anil Kapoor – in their newly acquired straight laced lives. Playing gangsters in the prequel, Uday and Majnu were coaxed into giving up on their illegal activities by Rajiv’s (Akshay Kumar) uncle, Dr. Ghungroo (Paresh Rawal). And they must now do as they promised.
Relocated in Dubai, Uday and Majnu are seen running a hotel and finding it hard to adjust to civility. Meanwhile, they discover that Uday has another sister – other than Welcome’s Sanjana, played by Katrina Kaif – whose name is Ranjana, playing by Kamal Haasan’s daughter, Shruti Haasan. Now as conscientious brothers, they must have Ranjana married off – just like Sanjana. But things are slightly trickier than they were eight years ago.
Unlike Welcome, in which the straight-laced nephew of straight-laced Dr. Ghungroo had to marry into a criminal family, Welcome Back reverses the roles. This time around, the groom-to-be, Ajju (John Abraham) is far from straight-laced: he is a bigger goon than all of them.
What ensues this first half-an-hour can very accurately be summarized in one word: chaos.
Shruthi Hassan
If you're unsure about your ability to deal with nonsense, don't even think about watching it
But was it funny?
The only question with a movie like Welcome Back – a slapstick, atrociously silly comedy – is whether or not it is funny. The twisted plot – in which, by the way, the likes of Naseeruddin Shah and Dimple Kapadia also feature – and its utter ridiculousness is not a problem at all; not as long as the movie succeeds in making you laugh. The problem for Anees Bazmee and Firoz Nadiadwala is that their production doesn’t.
We would’ve thought that the duo that managed to pull off Welcome, with its houses hanging off the side of cliffs and damsels in distress saving their knights in shining armour, would most certainly have pulled off a sequel. What they forgot, perhaps, was that a plot is not all that a movie needs – it also needs actors.
Certainly, the vetrans Nana Patekar and Anil Kapoor were more or less as convincing (goofy?) as they were in Welcome, but the sequel certainly missed Akshay Kumar. Even though Kumar’s role as Rajiv was one of his less flamboyant roles, since the character was modest, nevertheless, his expertise at acting in comedies helped him a lot in playing the foil to all the comic action with great ease. His replacement, John Abraham, while a seasoned enough actor, looked quite out of place in the ridiculousness that surrounded him. Furthermore, Akshay’s ability to draw out a laugh with even the flattest of scripts – the key to many of his successful performances – was certainly missed in Welcome Back.
As for the lead lady, Shruti Haasan, she was to Welcome Back much like what Katrina Kaif was to Welcome: a pretty girl getting married off. What’s the point of the “feminist” revolution in Bollywood when most lead actresses still don’t add a dime to most mainstream movies? When would movies showcase a female role that delivers most of the comic punches? Apart from Deepika in Chennai Express – which, too, was funny only because of her accurate accent – I can’t remember the last time a movie’s leading lady added a chunk of humour herself, instead of being the butt of jokes. Contemporary Indian actresses can perhaps take a leaf out of Sridevi’s book.
Scene from the movie
Anil Kapoor and Nana Patekar
Why Watch It: If You Like Silly Comedies, Go Ahead
Fans of comic movies, especially silly, plotless comedies, would most likely find Welcome Back enjoyable. While it won’t be as good a watch as Welcome or any other mock-Shakespearean Hindi comedies, Welcome Back would, at the very least, provide you with entertainment – which is something you are bound to need if you’re part of the daily grind gang.
Why Not: Everybody Else, Avoid it Like the Plague
If you have the slightest of doubts about your ability to deal with nonsense and pointless jokes, don’t even think about watching the film. Not only would it waste your time and money, it would also prevent you from approaching slapstick comedies in the future, which, I believe, would be a great loss, for you.
