Welcome Back

About the film

Welcome Back is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language crime comedy film directed by Anees Bazmee and produced by Firoz Nadiadwala. A sequel to the 2007 film Welcome, it features an ensemble cast that includes John Abraham, Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar, Paresh Rawal, Shruti Haasan, Dimple Kapadia, Naseeruddin Shah, Shiney Ahuja, and Ankita Srivastava. The film was largely shot in and around Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Welcome Back was released worldwide on 4 September 2015.

Plot

Foster brothers Uday Shetty and Majnu Pandey have ended their life of crime and are now honest businessmen, settling in Dubai after being duped by their brother-in-law Rajiv, but the two still remain unmarried. Two conwomen from India, Poonam and Babita, pose as Maharani Padmavati and Rajkumari Chandni of Najafgarh in order to con Uday and Majnu out of their money. Babita gains the attention of the two men, thus getting them to finance her and Poonam's luxurious lifestyle. Later, it is revealed that Uday has another sister Ranjana from his father, Shankar Shetty's third marriage and Majnu and Uday are emotionally blackmailed by Shankar into arranging the marriage of Ranjana and are also forced to do so as Poonam makes it one of her conditions for getting Babita married to either one of them.

Meanwhile, Rajiv's uncle, Dr. Ghunguroo, finds out that he has a stepson named Ajju from his wife's previous marriage that he was unaware. Unlike Rajiv who was decent, Ajju is brash and is a local goon of Mumbai, where Ranjana studies. Through a chain of hilarious events, they both fall in love with each other. Meanwhile, Majnu and Uday arrange the marriage of Ranjana with Ajju, not knowing that he is a goon. However, Majnu gets suspicious, and reveals the truth at the engagement ceremony, causing Ajju to retaliate with a fight, threatening to marry Ranjana without any of the brothers' consent.

Expecting to keep Ajju at bay, Uday and Majnu visit Wanted Bhai, an infamous blind don. They also return to their old, violent ways in order to kill Ajju. When they meet Wanted Bhai on his private island, the brothers are shocked to find that Wanted Bhai's son Honey likes Ranjana and would like to marry her, and flee in panic. They decide to arrange the marriage of Ranjana to some other decent man, in order to sidestep Ajju and Honey. However, due to Ajju and Dr. Ghunguroo, who are in league with Babita and Poonam, tipping off Wanted Bhai about Ranjana, everyone is caught and taken them to the island. Wanted Bhai decides to marry Poonam, so she and Babita decide to con him instead. At the island, Ajju and Dr. Ghunguroo try to convince Honey that he no longer loves Ranjana and that Babita is his true love. In response, Uday and Majnu try to kill Ajju, but are frightened at the graveyard in a ghost act planned by Dr. Ghunguroo, Ajju and Ranjana.

Production

A large portion of Welcome Back was shot in the United Arab Emirates. It is the first Bollywood film to be shot inside the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi. Later, a replica of the Emirates Palace was re-created in Mumbai's Film City to shoot the song "Tutti". A comedy sequence was shot at The Meydan, the world's first five-star track-side hotel, situated at the Meydan Racecourse in Dubai. Other filming locations include the Jumeirah Zabeel Saray Hotel, the Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Jumeirah, the Sofitel Hotel – The Palm, the Grand Hyatt Hotel, the Burj Khalifa and Rixos The Palm Dubai. A particular scene was shot in Dubai's Margham Desert, with 1000 camels being arranged for it. It was reported that a pivotal scene was shot on the personal yacht of the royal family of Dubai, Al Maktoum. Furthermore, it was said that limited edition luxury and sports automobiles including a Ferrari Spider, a Mansory Carbonado Apertos, an Aston Martin One-77 and a Rolls-Royce Phantom were used in the film.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for Welcome Back was composed by seven artists: Meet Bros Anjjan, Anu Malik, Mika Singh (each one song in collaboration with Yo Yo Honey Singh and Milind Gaba, Abhishek Ray and Siddhant Madhav. The lyrics were written by Kumaar and Manoj Muntashir. The music rights for the film were acquired by T-Series. The full audio album was released on 6 August 2015.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 40% of 10 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.3/10.

Bollywood Hungama gave the film 3.5 stars out of and wrote, "if you enjoy slapstick comedy that defies logic and have enjoyed Welcome, then Welcome Back is surely a paisa vasool entertainer for you". Dhriti Sharma, writing for Zee News, stated, Welcome Back is vibrant and the ensemble cast keeps it gripping. The screenplay is brilliant, just a little bit of loops in editing in the first song. The comic flavour of the movie has been kept intact, and the direction has been profoundly beaded into scenes". Ananya Bhattacharya from India Today gave it 3 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Welcome Back is quite the laugh riot that can de-stress you after the atrocities of the week. Leave the brains aside, and you have (at least) two hours of hardcore fun". Rohit Vats from Hindustan Times gave the film 2.5 out of 5 and wrote, "Welcome Back is funny in parts, but that Welcome fluidity is missing big time. There are moments but they are very limited in number. Welcome Back's pace is its biggest asset and that may make you enjoy this 153-minute long film". Deepanjana Pal from Firstpost wrote, "At 153 minutes, Welcome Back is just a shade too long and the ending is a sandstorm of stupidity. But you'll forgive Bazmee and gang because for at least 120 minutes, this comedy keeps you in splits. Welcome Back might be 2015's silliest film, and this is the best reason to watch it". Shilpa Jamkhandikar, w…

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