Welcome movie review-An unwelcome proposition

Welcome may be a hit but that is purely due to the goodwill that Akshay Kumar has enjoyed in the year 2007. Aneez Bazmee’s previous movie No Entry was the biggest hit of 2005 and he decided to do an encore two years later by releasing this movie at the end of the year. Sadly, the movie has nothing new to offer, the humor though situational is insipid and the characterizations are pale.

Story: What story? Anyway if you want me to narrate to you an excuse of a story..here it goes. Dr.Ghungroo(Paresh Rawal) who gets slapped around is looking for a bride for his nephew Rajiv(Akshay Kumar). At the same time, Uday Shetty(Nana Patekar) and Majnoobhai(Anil Kapoor) are looking for a prospective husband with a non-criminal background for their sister. Man meets woman (sorry I can’t say boy meets girl for Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif) and they fall in love. Ghungroo agrees to the match but soon backs out while he comes to know that Sanjana(Katrina Kaif) is a sister of the criminal bhais .

Brothers in crime then try to woo Dr.Ghungroo and when marriage is announced, in comes the busty Ishika(Mallika Sherawat)who claims to be Rajiv’s childhood bride. The plot goes haywire and then it is left to Rajiv to reform the two brothers by making Ishika, the object of their attraction. He thinks that this formula would help reform Anil Kapoor and Nana Patekar. There is also Feroz Khan who has some say in the crazy antics and wants to do justice(God knows what it means). By the end, you are bored of the tomfoolery and want to go back home where you had left your brains.

Plus points:

Scenes: There are a couple of scenes which are humorous though largely inane. One of them is the scene where Akshay Kumar’s car goes haywire with Paresh Rawal getting dragged along on the car seat gone awry. The best scene is the howlarious funeral pyre scene. But then, you can watch these scenes in isolation, one does not even have to endure Welcome in its entirety.

Performances: The best of the lot is Nana Patekar. He manages to do a neat job. Anil Kapoor’s personality takes the cake. He looks really impressive; he seems to get younger with age. He revives his tapori magic again after so many years.Akshay Kumar has acted well but looks somewhat saturated with his comic antics. Ditto for Paresh Rawal. Katrina Kaif is the prettiest thing in the movie and does not have to do much.

Minus points:

Welcome is funny in parts and those parts are miniscule. The story is a let –down, the screen play is a bigger let down and the characterization is a disappointment. Editing is shoddy and the music is a let down. Except for the ‘munda Punjabi’ song, there is nothing that can be termed as ‘music’ in Welcome. Songs keep popping up at odd situations and the second half is as boring as the first half. There is no chemistry between Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif(whom I have loved as an on-screen couple in their past films). Mallika Sherawat seems to have one common thing with Rani(don’t worry, she ain’t in the movie). Not the good actress part. Mallika has a long way to go there. The common thing is both these girls have been stuck doing the same kind of roles. If Rani seems to dig playing the role of a prostitute(The Rising, Laga Chunari Mein Daag and Saawariya), Mallika seems to love playing the other woman, lusty bimbo or the item girl. She has played this role in umpteen number of films and she seriously need to do a recheck the way her career is heading. The climax of Welcome is shoddy and trying on your nerves. No wonder Akshay Kumar had reservations about it, the way it look similar to his very own Bhaagam Bhag.

Conclusion: Welcome has got a good initial and will be a hit thanks to Akshay Kumar’s gold run in the box office. If you remove Akshay Kumar from the picture(pun intended), there remains a big dent.

Rating:**1/2(below average)