Welcome Back Review

One line Review: This comedy ride can be enjoyed provided one chooses to keep their brains aside!

Positive Points: Some illogical yet funny sequences make this movie a fun ride. As a comedy thriller, the movie stays true to its genre throughout. The background score for Ajju Bhai (John Abraham) is funny. Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar and Paresh Rawal make a great combo.

Negative Points: Slow paced narration and extremely lengthy storyline. Both, the first as well as the second half are dragged and become monotonous towards the end. The plot and the storyline resemble a lot like its prequel, hence there is no newness and everything in the plot is just so predictable.

Plot: The movie opens with flashbacks of the prequel introducing Majnu Bhai (Anil Kapoor) and Uday Shetty (Nana Patekar), who unlike the previous film, have left all their bad practices and now run a successful hotel business. They are rich and desperate to get married! A mother-daughter duo, (Dimple Kapadia and Ankita Srivastava) are conning Uday and Majnu for their money. Meanwhile, Udya learns that he has another sister from his third mother, named Ranjana (Shruti Haasan). The task of getting her married falls on their old shoulders. Udya and Majnu catch hold of Dr. Gungroo (Paresh Rawal) who had recently discovered that he also has a ready-made son - Ajju Bhai (John Abraham). The story literally does not make any sense and the illogical sequences make one wonder the worth of their time! There is a very expected entry of another big underworld don Wanted Bhai (Naseeruddin Shah) and his son Honey (Shiney Ahuja).The Rest is all chaos where Ajju and Ranjana fall for each other and wish to get married. Uday and Majnu deny permission for the same as Ajju is a 'Mumbai Ka Gunda'. Another twist lands up in the story when the drug addict Honey also falls in love with Ranjana and gets obsessed with her.

Direction and other Technical Aspects: Anees Bazmee's imagination has flown from Mumbai to Dubai to desserts and to everywhere else it possibly could. Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar and Paresh Rawal are the saviours. Had they not been good, the film would have nothing of substance. The songs that they had put for every other happening are all passable. The editing is not crisp and the movie lacks the grip, hence was not successful in keeping the audience hooked. There needs to be a special mention of the graveyard scene in the second half which I found amusing. It was a well written and nicely executed scene which proved to be a rib tickling one.

Performances: The 'Welcome' trio - Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar and Paresh Rawal bring the fun old flavour back. They are great in their roles and posses commendable comic timing. Though they had less punches to stand upon but their presence managed to create lovable doses of laughter every now and then.

John Abraham played the role of a charming Mumbai Ka Gunda -Ajju Bhai. He acts his character throughout and has managed to pull off the role really well. Some of his attires are actually funnier than many of the sequences.

Shruti Haasan as Ranjana is average and managed to perform her role decently. The veterans Dimple Kapadia, Naseeruddin Shah are both really good in their comic avatars. Shiney Ahuja has also done a decent job. Debutant Ankita Srivastava had a lot of opportunity to showcase her acting talent but is not very impressive. She is indeed pretty but needs to go a long way when it comes to performing skills.

Music: There are a way too many songs in the film. Some are good, some passable and some are plain unnecessary!

Final Verdict: 'Welcome Back' is a light hearted, mindless comedy thriller that can make up for a decent one-time watch. For its genre, it is a complete family entertainer and as mentioned earlier, it is illogical and hence can be enjoyed only if we choose to keep our brain aside.