Welcome Back Review

Rating: 1.5/5

Critic Rating: (1.5/5)

Welcome Back Review: Why did it come back?

This Anees Bazmee comedy caper is comic only in parts. The film is the sequel to the 2007 film. Reprising their roles as Majnu Bhai, Uday Shetty and Doctor Gungaroo are Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar and Paresh Rawal. New additions are John Abraham, Shruti Haasan, Naseeruddin Shah, Dimple Kapadia, Ankita Srivastava.

Welcome Back Movie Poster
Welcome Back Movie Poster

The makers did try to bring new twists and turns and made tweaks to the plot, but the film fails to make a lasting impression. The erratic plot, the unnecessary songs and dance sequences and to top it all up bad acting will not work in the favor of the film. This year comedy films haven’t ventured much but it is dicey if this one makes up for it.

Having said that, there are a few dialogues that shall crack you up and timed well. But overall film’s graph backs down toward a dip. The film has masala, rather too much of it. It becomes a salty, unbalanced khichdi.

Star Performances:

Anil Kapoor as Majnu Bhai is a dramatic version of the old Majnu. His character is hyper and in this film too hyper. But still he manages to add some tadka in the whole film.

Nana Patekar reprises Uday Shetty and is good. He didn’t go so much overboard with acting as the others did in the film. His humor is timed well and a bit of saving grace for the movie.

Paresh Rawal is his good self with Gungaroo. He dances around like the previous film, and has done a better job than anyone in the film.

John Abraham, the new goon brings nothing new to the silver screen. Some seriously bad acting and over-acting in terms of diction and pulling off the role. He only looks good on-screen, that too not in a gunda avatar but when he dresses up well.

Shruti Haasan as Anjana, the newly discovered sister of Uday and Majnu has few appearances here and there and has no lasting impression on screen, except for song-dance sequence.

Dimple Kapadia and Ankita Srivastava as thug duo are too OTT. And so is Shiney Ahuja. But what surprised me the most was what was Naseeruddin Shah doing in the film. When an actor of that caliber disappoints, the feeling is truly bad.

Others too did what they had to, but the film just was all over the place.

Technicalities:

John Abraham and Shruti Hassan Still in Welcome Back
John Abraham and Shruti Hassan Still in Welcome Back

The main problem with the film was its uneven plot, which was flying and jumping all around. There was almost no symmetry in it. The film’s downside was its masala content. Audiences who love masala flicks too might choke on it. Too many songs, almost every minute, with lyrics that can make no sense at all.

The film’s special effects seemed so artificial that you can see right through them. Be it fake crows, camels, dust storms or mini helicopters.

The film was helluva disappointment and there is just no takeaway from it. If you feel that you’d wanna sit through a film and enjoy, you might not be able to do so even.

Watch or not:

Watch it when it airs on Television. As then at least the advertisement shown on telly shall keep you entertained. In theatres, you shall feel trapped and would want out. But if you have a penchant for over-dramatized films, you might survive by the end of it and maybe enjoy it. To this Welcome Back, I am questioning why did it come back in the first place?

Thumbs Up: One-liners

Thumbs Down: Nonsensical plot, too many songs, overacting

Yawns: Many

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