Sanket’s Review: Welcome Back

I have very fond memories of 2007’s blockbuster comedy “Welcome” that had irreverent humor and whacky characters. In the sequel, Bazmee picks up same actors in leads except for Akshay and he even keeps the characters unchanged. So you have Naseeruddin shah replacing Feroz Khan, newbie Ankita replacing Mallika Sherawat and couple of more. The film never quite deviates from the rulebook of its prequel – the mistaken identities and the mis-marriage formula. But unlike the prequel, the film doesn’t have as much of situational comedy. This one weighs heavily on crackling one liners and pronounced comedy.

But “Welcome Back” wastes too much of time on songs, half dozen of them and only one fairly enjoyable song, and dead subplot of Dimple Kapadia and Ankita. But the film benefits sharply from intermittently placed comic liners that cracks you up. Expectedly the film reserves best of the moments for the dependable duo Anil Kapoor and Nana. The second half has the pace dropping especially when jokes start to fly out of window to accommodate predictable twists. But I must admit that my face hurted in a scene situated in graveyard. Also the climax, unnecessarily elongated for thrills, has some genuinely funny moments.

Only “tutti bole” stands out among all the songs. The film has good locales and cinematography which gives the film an affluent poise. The action however is usual and almlost entirely unwanted for this comedy.

Anil and Nana takes the film right on their shoulders. They get meatiest roles and funniest bits. The chemistry between them helps the film immensely. John surprisingly holds his own even in a role that has less of comic flare. Paresh Rawal unfortunately doesn’t get the best bits. Naseeruddin Shah clearly looked awkward and his one-tone dialogue delivery didn’t help either.

It’s a film with mixed bag of elements. The film sure has enough comedy to entertain but the in-between bits of songs and action adds just about lot of noise. Still, a one-time watch tag is definitely what the film has.

Rating – 2.5/5