Star Cast: Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Paresh Rawal, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Raveena Tandon, and an endless brilliant ensemble!
Director: Ahmed Khan
What’s Good: A good screenplay and an ensemble that does not disappoint!
What’s Bad: Nothing in specific, except for a few dubbing glitches!
Loo Break: No, not even in the interval!
Watch or Not?: Absolutely Yes! Perfect time to laugh out loud with your family!
Language: Hindi
Available On: Theatrical release
Runtime: 2 hours and 50 minutes
User Rating:
What do you call a perfect comedy film? When everyone in the theater, of each and every age group, right from a 6-year-old kid obsessed with Akshay Kumar’s laughter to a 16-year-old kid falling for Disha Patani’s dance moves in Ooncha Lamba Kad to a 50 year old whistling to Suniel Shetty’s dialogues to an 80 year old laughing hilariously to Fareeda Jalal’s dialogues to everyone from the 90s just hooting endlessly to a Mahabharat reference! Oh man, I did not expect to watch out of the theater after such a laughter riot! But Welcome To The Jungle is the laughter riot that breaks out of the blue and creates the most epic chaos you would have seen in recent times!
Welcome To The Jungle Movie Review: Script Analysis
The story of Welcome To The Jungle is funny. A filthy rich, corrupt man (Zakir Hussain), resembling Vijay Mallya way too much, decides to make a 2000 crore film to turn his black money into white, on his secretary (Johnny Lever’s) advice. The stage is set. They plan to hire everyone who is flop in the industry. Flop director (Paresh Rawal), flop actor (Akshay Kumar), Dons turned struggling actors (Suniel Shetty, and Arshad Warsi), corrupt man’s dumb daughter (Jacqueline Fernandez), and the flop actor’s ex (Disha Patani). Some more actors come together to star in this film which is being made to show losses!
However, things take the most bizarre turn when they land amidst Mujahiddens and a forgotten village in India – Pakistan’s No Man’s land with a Mujahid leader, Jackie Shroff, and his sidekick, Vindu Dara Singh, exploiting the villagers that include Farida Jalal, Raveena Tandon, Kiran Kumar, and more! Do the actors finally make the flop film? Do the villagers get rid of the Mujahedin? What does the Indian Army have to do with it? All gets a very chaotic yet bone-tickling story with the most bizarre twist that would make you laugh endlessly!
Welcome To The Jungle Movie Review: Star Performance
With this performance, I officially officiate Akshay Kumar as the undisputed King of Comedy! I mean, he knows how to make you laugh! In fact, I witnessed the theater laughing throughout the film. After experimenting with serious, social, and action dramas, Khiladi Kumar returns to the genre that runs effortlessly through his veins. His comic timing remains celebratory and flawless. Not a moment dull, nor a joke or situation that did not land! Whether it is his hilarious facial expressions when caught between Raveena Tandon and Farida Jalal or his physical agility during the chaotic climax, Akshay anchors the entire film with infectious energy.
This energy is effortlessly transferred into the equally chaotic starcast. Right from the TV stars Kiku Sharda & Krushna Abhishek to the supporting actors Yashpal Sharma and Mukesh Tiwari. The entire supporting cast provides a spectacular energy to the film. Paresh Rawal returns to drop absolute gold as he leads this group as the director Devdas, while the duo of Suniel Shetty and Arshad Warsi bring down the house with their bickering bromance.
Among the ladies, Disha Patani and Jacqueline Fernandez bring the house down with their glamorous, perfectly timed comic beats, matching the chaotic energy of the boys frame for frame. A special mention to the Mahabharat trio, Pankaj Dheer, Puneet Issar, and Firoz Khan, whose surprise cameo triggers some of the biggest roars of laughter in the entire film! I might take another entire article to appreciate each and every article in detail, because it is practically impossible to break down and decode each and every performance. But together all of them pulled out a riot that was much needed in the cinema, for families to come together and just enjoy!
Akshay Kumar needs a mention again as he steers the climax effortlessly with a double role none expected to be this funny! I know that making fun of disabilities can never be cool, but you need to see it to believe that it is done with an absolute sense of funny intent!
Welcome To The Jungle Movie Review: Direction, Music
Let me be completely honest: directing a film with this many stars usually results in a messy, bloated disaster. I did not even expect Ahmed Khan to pull this off without a flaw! But by the end of it, writer Farhad Samji and director Ahmed Khan manage to pull off a miracle. The screenplay is a barrage of sharp one-liners, physical Comedy, and situational ironies. Every single actor is given their clear moment to shine; no one feels like an extra. In fact, by the end of it you remember each one of them! Even the cameos!
The transition from the urban vibrant sets to the dangerous jungle setting in the second half keeps the film visually stunning as well. Ahmed Khan uses his core strength – choreographing brilliant comic sequences pulling off a film that starts as a spoof on Bollywood and transitions very brilliantly into an action comedy that absolutely no one saw coming!
Before his tragic passing, Neeraj Vora was the foundational architect behind the golden era of Hindi slapstick comedy. He wrote the screenplay for Hera Pheri, directed Phir Hera Pheri, and penned the comedic DNA of classics like Awara Paagal Deewana and Deewane Huye Paagal. In fact, the original story blueprint for Welcome To The Jungle was actually written by Vora before he fell ill. Clearly, he kept blessing Ahmed Khan and his sensibilities, because the film never misses a beat with its comic timing. There are a few dubbing glitches, but all of them get swiped off amidst the hilarious drama that unfolds on screen! The soundtrack curated by Anand Raaj Anand and Vikram Montrose functions as a roaring adrenaline shot for the narrative.
Welcome To The Jungle Movie Review: The Last Word
I might officiate Akshay Kumar as the king of Comedy, but before that, I would salute Ahmed Khan. And probably both of them must be bowing down to the late actor-director and writer Neeraj Vora, because I genuinely feel he blessed this film from heaven! Because it is very difficult to make a film with more than 20 known stars and still not make any one of them feel unnecessary to the script!
Living up to the massive, nostalgia-heavy legacy of the Welcome franchise is a terrifying task. But oh boy, Ahmed Khan balances this wild, chaotic jigsaw puzzle with absolute flair and impeccable writing. Welcome To The Jungle is easily the funniest family entertainer of the year – a rare, wholesome comedy where bachche, boodhe, and jawan can all come, sit together, and laugh together!
4 stars!
Welcome To The Jungle Trailer
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