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Jakarta Post

'€˜Welcome Back'€™ An ideal Indian movie for a good laugh

In tune: Ajju dances with his sweetheart, Ranjana (Shruti Haasan)

Aruna Harjani (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sat, September 12, 2015 Published on Sep. 12, 2015 Published on 2015-09-12T12:38:54+07:00

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'€˜Welcome Back'€™  An ideal Indian movie for a good laugh

In tune: Ajju dances with his sweetheart, Ranjana (Shruti Haasan).

Welcome Back is an even better hilarious sequel to the movie Welcome.

Welcome Back, now in Jakarta theaters, is a story about two rich bachelors, middle-aged mobsters who decide to make a fresh start away from their underworld beginnings.

They settle in Dubai and become established businessmen.

One day Uday Shetty (Nana Patekar) and Manjnu Bhai (Anil Kapoor) realize they are aging and need to find suitable wives, the sooner the better. A mother (Dimple Kapadia as Maharani) and daughter (Ankita Srivastava as Chandni) team, who are con women, are set on posing as Queen and Princess of Nazafgardh. Maharani guides her daughter Chandni to make both men fall in love with her, while trying to con them into giving cash.

As predicted, both men fall heavily in love with Chandni and finally ask her to decide which lucky man will marry her.

On the day in question, Uday'€™s disowned father enters the house to inform him that he has another daughter from a third wife for whom he has to find a suitable husband. He begs Uday and Manjnu to take care of her well-being and make sure she finds a husband.

The two con women '€“ Maharani and Chandni '€“ needed to get out of making the decision to marry Uday or Majnu. Maharani sets a condition that Chandni will marry one of them only after Uday'€™s sister Ranjana (Shruti Haasan) gets married.

Uday and Manjnu start the task to find Ranjana a suitable husband. They bump into an old relative, Dr. Ghungroo, who is on the way to India. He informs them that he intends to visit his son.

When both men hear this, they immediately tell Dr. Ghungroo that they have an unmarried sister who can marry his son. In reality, Dr. Ghungroo'€™s son Ajju (John Abraham) is the son of his wife from her first marriage.

Dr. Ghungroo meets his son in India for the first time only to see the worst side of him. He turns out to be the head gangster and one of his enemies come to take revenge on him on his birthday.

In the meantime, Ranjana meets Ajju by accident and the two fall in love.

Uday and Manjnu are happy when they find out that Ajju is the son of Dr. Ghungroo. They are about to become engaged when Manjnu finds out that Ajju is a gangster like them.

The engagement is broken off, but Ajju is determined to marry Ranjana, who informs him that their marriage will only take place with the approval of her brothers.

Uday and Manjnu later seek the help of another much feared mobster named Don Wanted (Naseeruddin Shah), who has a bachelor son named Honey Baba (Shiney Ahuja), to get rid of Ajju without realizing that Honey, a drug addict, is in love with Ranjana.

Don Wanted tells Uday and Manjnu to prepare the wedding of his son and their Ranjana. Uday and Manjnu try to find ways to stop the wedding. Ajju, on the other hand, finds his own way to make Ranjana his wife.

Welcome Back is a purely entertaining film from beginning to end. The superb portrayal of the artists is the magic potion of the movie.

Nana is perfect as a mobster and portrayed a good transformation of a sobered up mobster.

Anil Kapoor'€™s body language and facial expressions were perfect for giving justice to his character.

Director Anees Bazmee'€™s forte of a comical movie is evident in the film. While the actors and actresses are good in their own ways, the good direction can be felt in the way the artists complement each other.

John Abraham'€™s portrayal of a mobster is excellent and a good change from his '€œlover roles'€ in other films. He managed to show off his six pack body in a scene where he unbelievably fought about 50 men without getting a scratch on his body.

Although the script makes sense, there are discrepancies in the storyline in a few scenes. In one of the scenes, Uday and Manju think they have killed Ajju, but don'€™t seem to wonder why he'€™s alive the next day nor even look surprised to see him.

This is one of those movies where you see actors in their mid-50s, but their heroines look like their daughters. Nana and Anil are in their mid-50s and they were paired up with Ankita, who is a young amateur actress.

The vast difference in age was not suitable, especially in their dance scene. The producer could have hired a better actress, as Ankita couldn'€™t match the talent of Dimple Kapadia.

At one point, the movie dragged on, especially in the second half when one keeps on waiting for the movie to end, but this is common in many Hindi films.

Welcome Back may not be a critic'€™s choice, but it is a film not to be missed. If you need a good laugh, then as the Indians would put it '€œleave your brains at home and enjoy the movie'€.

The movie features eight songs and dances that showcase costumes and props in rainbow colors. Welcome Back is an ideal Indian movie, in which you have action, drama, comedy and colorful dance performances.

'€” Photos courtesy of Eros International

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