The sequel of Welcome, which is to hit theatres this Friday, promises to be a family entertainer. The actors feel if the ‘making of the movie’ were to be released, it would be a bigger hit than Bajrangi Bhaijaan. By Riya Sharma
With the changing trends in cinema, we see a lot of efforts being put in for a movie promotion. Earlier, if a movie was reviewed by the critics’ opinion or number of awards it won, today it is more about the box office collection and the anticipated sequels of their previous hit.
But for John Abraham, the newbhai in town for his forthcoming movie, Welcome Back thinks it is better to leave some movies untouched. “For me, movies like Dostana and Vicky Donor should not have a sequel. When we did Dostana, homosexuality was a taboo and people accepted it because it was something new. Vicky Donor was a serious subject. We wanted to convey that the issue of sperm donation was not a joke. If you keep on stretching the same point, the audience will get bored and won’t like it,” said the actor-producer.
Talking about their movie, Anil Kapoor, John Abraham and Shruti Hassan spoke at length about their roles, experiences and the slight mention of obstacles that the movie had to face before the release. “We (director, producers actors) had to face a lot of difficulties to release the movie and there are still hindrances that are coming on our way. I have never urged people to watch my film to this extent but I feel emotional when I say that Bollywood would lose a good producer (Firoz Nadiadwala) if this movie doesn’t work well,” said Anil Kapoor.
When asked about the obstacles Kapoor politely denied to answer. “I don’t think we should talk about it. We shall discuss about the problems after the release,” promised Kapoor and added, “We all have something to look forward to. I have the second season of 24 lined up, Shruti has her Tamil films and John is working on Rocky Handsome and Dishum but for Nadiadwala, this is a very important film.”
Talking about the movie, Abraham explained, “Welcome Back starts from where Welcome ended. At the end of Welcome, we saw Katrina and Akshay getting married and that was the end of that story. In the sequel, Uday (played by Nana Patekar) and Majnu bhai (portrayed by Anil Kapoor) have retired from their bhaigiri and have become honest and good human beings.” Kapoor added, “Uday bhai in the movie is confused whether it was a right step to become honest or not. Majnu, however, is pretty much convinced that it was the biggest mistake of his life and therefore remains hilariously frustrated throughout the movie.”
Comedy is situational in the movie. “The characters are very serious but the situations are funny. Scenes begin with drama but ends in comedy. That is the beauty of the film,” shared Kapoor.
In the movie, besides the two bhais, Uday and Majnu, we are going to see Ajju bhai (played by John). “These two are peacefully running their hotel in Dubai whereas Ajju is just a beginner in the field and blackmail people in Mumbai for money,” said Abraham.
For Shruti, it is the genre that she hasn’t tried in Bollywood yet. “Comedy is really difficult and actors who do comedy are respected and adulated by the audience so for me it is something really new,” she said.
As the movie promises to be a comedy and full entertainer, the actors feel that it is not an easy task to make people laugh. Abraham said, “People, accept comedy very easily. I wasn’t comfortable in this genre. In Garam Masala, my first scene was with Paresh Rawal and Rajpal Yadav and they were outstanding. I almost called quits but it was because of Priyadarshan sir, Neeraj Bohra and of course, Akshay Kumar that I was able to do it.”
If one takes a closer look few of Abraham’s movies, which are sequels, had Akshay Kumar in the original like Hera Pheri 3 and Welcome Back. We wondered whether it would create a bone of contention between the two. Abraham replied, “As far as Akshay is concerned, he was the first person I called when I signed the movie. I have learnt a lot from him. I have done Garam Masala, Housefull 2, Desi Boyz with him. We have a beautiful relationship that goes beyond films. He was actually the one who suggested me to take up this project. He said, ‘Just do this film, don’t worry about anybody. With this film you will reach out to an audience in this country that you have never reached out to.’ And I think he is absolutely right.”
Abraham, who loves action, enjoys comedy the most. “Comedy is a serious business. It is the toughest genre and we try our best to make you laugh. Critics, very easily write reviews that can affect anyone but I want to tell them that we work really hard to make you laugh. For us, it has always been a serious business. In this movie, we have actors like Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar, Naseeruddin Shah, Shruti Hassan, Dimple Kapadia and Paresh Rawal — all of them giving their best. It is not easy. It may look simple and frivolous but there is a certain class attached to it,” said he.
The actor added, “Just go and enjoy and the movie with the cliché, ‘leave your brains behind and watch the film’ actually applies here. This film is just the opposite of Madras Cafe, which was my last film. In that movie if you missed one scene, you would have lose the track of what is happening. Here, it is opposite.”
photos Pankaj Kumar