Welcome (2007 film)

Welcome is an Indian 2007 Hindi-language comedy film co-written and directed by Anees Bazmee. Loosely inspired by the 1999 comedy Mickey Blue Eyes, and marking the final screen appearance of actor Feroz Khan, it stars Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar, Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Paresh Rawal, and Mallika Sherawat in prominent roles. Sunil Shetty and Malaika Arora feature in special appearances.

Budgeted at inr 320000000 which includes making and marketing costs, Welcome was distributed by UTV Motion Pictures. It was theatrically released worldwide on 21 December 2007, coinciding with the Christmas festival. The film received mostly mixed to positive reviews from critics leading to stiff competition with Aamir Khan's Taare Zameen Par. Nevertheless, Welcome was a major commercial success and went on to become the second highest grossing Hindi film of the year with global revenues of inr 1220000000. It is considered as a modern cult film.

The film is the first instalment of the Welcome series and spawned a sequel, Welcome Back in 2015 that also became a commercial success. A third, unrelated instalment in the series, titled Welcome to the Jungle, is slated for release.

Plot
Dr. Ghungroo lives with his wife and his son-like nephew Rajiv, an auctioneer who is his late sister's son. A Don, Uday Shetty, wants his half-sister Sanjana to get married but all his attempts fail due to his criminal background. Rajiv is smitten by her after a chance meeting. Uday and his best friend, Sagar Pandey a.k.a. Majnu Bhai, want their marriage to happen. But after learning that they are mobsters, Ghungroo flees to South Africa with his family. Majnu and Sanjana arrive there for a holiday. She and Rajiv meet again and fall in love.

Uday and Majnu force Ghungroo to accept the alliance, and invite their boss, the powerful underworld Don, Ranvir Dhanraj X a.k.a. RDX, for their engagement. Ghungroo sends his sister-in-law Ishika to break the alliance, who succeeds by falsely claiming to be Rajiv's childhood betrothed at the engagement party. Ghungroo reveals that Rajiv's criminal father harassed and tortured Rajiv's mother, who then requested Ghungroo to keep Rajiv away from crime. Ghungroo says he'll agree to their alliance only if Uday and Majnu give up their life of crime.

Rajiv and Sanjana attempt to do this by reawakening Uday's love for acting and encouraging Majnu's passion for painting. With these things keeping them busy, Uday and Majnu do not have time for crime anymore.

Rajiv's actions anger Lucky, RDX's son, who attacks Rajiv. Sanjana gets hold of the gun and fires a shot that accidentally hits Lucky, which makes him unconscious. RDX is informed that Lucky has died, and he comes to attend the cremation. However Lucky, who is still alive, escapes while being followed by Rajiv, Uday, Majnu and their henchmen, while trying to show his father that he's alive, but fails and hides inside the cremation area. RDX sets the pile of wood on fire, believing he is cremating his son's body. However Lucky, who had been hiding under the wood, jumps out upon realizing the wood is on fire, and the all the truth is revealed to RDX. Rajiv, Ghunghroo, his wife, Ishika, Sanjana, Uday, Majnu, their henchmen, and Uday's lawyer are captured by RDX and brought to a cabin set next to a cliff. The frightened group is forced to play Passing the Parcel (Hot Potato) with a globe — but the one who ends up with the globe must jump off the cliff, with these rules to be followed strictly and mandatorily. When Rajiv refuses to pass the globe to Sanjana, Lucky angrily yanks it out of his hands, just as the music stops. Now that his son has the globe, RDX, known for always keeping his word and following the rules, figures the only way he can maintain his image is by killing everyone. Before he can, government brokers sneak up and cut the footings of the illegally built cabin, causing the house to start falling over the cliff, with everyone trapped inside. However, the cabin is suspended by only 1 column.

Hilarious chaos ensues as the group tries to balance the cabin together and keep it from falling off the cliff. Amidst this, Majnu tries to hit Lucky's head that is stuck inside a vessel by using an axe, during which an angry RDX tries to shoot Majnu, but misses it, causing the bullet to hit a beehive. As the bees sting everyone, Rajiv finds a rope and the group uses it to get back onto stable ground. But to everyone's shock, the floor breaks, and Lucky is found hanging on the edge of the cabin. While everyone else is bickering and Rajiv is trying to rescue him, Sanjana reveals the truth to everyone that she was the one who shot Lucky, but Rajiv blamed himself so that Sanjana wouldn't get in trouble. After Rajiv rescues Lucky, the cabin he is standing in falls off into the cliff, leading everyone into believing that Rajiv died. However, Rajiv survives the event and is reunited with Sanjana and his family. Lucky and RDX are grateful to Rajiv for saving their lives and tell Rajiv to ask for anything that he wishes for. Rajiv requests them to give up crime, and RDX agrees, allowing Rajiv and Sanjana to finally get married. Uday and Majnu request RDX to get them married to Ishika. However, they realize that Ishika fooled them along with Rajiv, as a part of his plan to marry Sanjana. This angers Uday and Majnu, who start to chase Rajiv, and the movie ends on a hilarious note.

Cast

 * Feroz Khan as Ranvir Dhanraj Xaka "RDX"
 * Anil Kapoor as Sagar "Majnu Bhai" Pandey
 * Nana Patekar as Don Uday Shetty
 * Akshay Kumar as Rajiv Saini
 * Katrina Kaif as Sanjana Shetty
 * Paresh Rawal as Dr. Dayal Ghungroo
 * Mallika Sherawat as Ishika Kanojia
 * Supriya Karnik as Niharika "Payal" Ghungroo
 * Shereveer Vakil as Lucky Xaka
 * Asrani as Akhilendra Chandel
 * Charlie as Nandan Singh
 * Snehal Dabi as Kakhil
 * Paresh Ganatra as Purushottam Bhan "Pappu"
 * Sharad Sankla as Aadesh Mehta, Municipal Officer
 * Adi Irani as Harkesh Sahni, Advocate
 * Mushtaq Khan as Balwish Dey "Ballu"
 * Sanjay Mishra as Pandit Manilal Shastri
 * Om Puri as Narrator
 * Vijay Raaz as Dhanesh Varman
 * Ranjeet as Rakesh Kapoor
 * Suniel Shetty as Himself (Special appearance)
 * Malaika Arora as Herself in song "Honth Rasiley" (Special appearance)

Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by Anand Raj Anand, Himesh Reshammiya and Sajid–Wajid. The lyrics were penned by Anand Raj Anand, Sameer, Shabbir Ahmed, Ibrahim Ashq and Anjaan Sagiri. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 15,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's fifth highest-selling.

Box office
At the box office, Welcome opened to a massive response locally, by grossing inr 350000000 on its opening week. Despite facing competition from the popular Aamir Khan-starrer, Taare Zameen Par which was also a huge success, Welcome grossed inr 974300000.0000001 domestically. It became the second highest-grossing film of 2007, just behind Om Shanti Om. The worldwide gross was around inr 1179100000.

Critical response
Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, and stated "Welcome is one of those entertainers that deliver what it promises: Funny sequences, super performances and loads and loads of laughter. Without doubt, it will be welcomed with open arms by the aam junta!". The Times of India gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, and stated "Go for end-of-the-year gags and season-of-goodwill giggles." Hindustan Times stated, "Akshay Kumar has a flair for comedy but even that is beginning to bore which is quiet evident in Welcome." Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, and stated "it's the extraordinary camaraderie between the actors, completely consumed by the foolhardiness that surrounds them, that tickles the bone. And hard."

Tajpal Rathore of the BBC gave the film 3 out 5 stars, and stated "Comedies should always be taken lightly in Bollywood and Welcome is as zany as they come. And while it emerges as an addition to Kumar's repertoire of films that have little style and even less substance, it is the formidable ensemble cast that ultimately succeed in welcoming you to the theatre hall." Rajeev Masand gave the film 1 out of 5 stars, and stated "Welcome the tortuous comedy."

The Hindu's negative review entitled "No, thank you!" concludes saying "Gags to make you smile, some to make you gag".

Sequel
A sequel to the film, titled Welcome Back, has been released. It features John Abraham, Shruti Haasan, Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar and Paresh Rawal. Earlier reported to release on 19 December 2014, the project finally released on 4 September 2015.