With John Abraham and Shruti Haasan the movie clomps about, looking for the laughs. And failing, mostly, to find them.
Eight years after ‘Welcome’, the crew is back. And the only question we are left asking is ‘why’?
The original was full of obligatory silliness. It had the sexist jokes(Paresh Rawal, playing Dr Ghungroo, keeps turning his head wherever there is a full bosom, and getting thwacked across the face for his pains). It had the juvenile lines. It had the characters leaping and shouting. It was, basically, the big loud Bollywood comedy, with a plot that would make a wafer look thick, just situational gags, piled upon each other.
But, and here’s the thing, Aneez Bazmee pulled it off. It was funny in its broad way. It slapped a stick, and set up a rhythm: Nana Patekar, suits and sneer, and Anil Kapoor, stubble and ‘tapori’ lingo in place, as the good-natured hoods who want a ‘decent’ boy for their niece, played by Katrina. The bespectacled Akshay as Ghungroo’s nephew, who falls in love with the pretty Kat. Mallika Sherawat as the party girl who ensnares the bad boys. And Feroz Khan as the biggest mobster of them all.