This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
Canada: 
Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
What can we say about a comedy where our two goofy heroes from Gujarat named Kader and Shammi who end up in Pakistan playing two terrorists playing Ittefaq and….ahem, Wattthefaq?
Don't look at me. The narrative captures the silly sur and clings to it till the end.
At first, you hate all the suffocating stereotyping. Once our two ….errrr…heroes reach 'Karachi' (looks like some exotic non-Asian destination) we are subjected to a surfeit of terrorists, bombs and yes, one item bomb named Lauren Gottlieb who plays…don't laugh… a Pakistani Intelligence officer.
Honestly, we could do with less of such aggressive and provocative portrayal of Pakistan, if for no other reason, than to avoid them on the other side, making a film where they show every Indian as a rabid fanatical fundamentalist.
To that extent Welcome 2 Karachi is based on a dangerously regressive premise: take the two Indian (Hindu) heroes across the border and make them dodge bombs and bullets like two kids who have run accidentally onto a cricket field while Dhoni is showering runs.
On the run are two of the most brainless protagonists we've seen in a Hindi film. To his credit, Jackky Bhagnani remains effortlessly in character till the end. When an elderly Pakistani patriarch admonishes Bhagnani for not speaking Urdu, he breaks into a dialogue from Mughal-e-Azam. That this character should even be aware of Dilip Kumar's universe is a miracle.
In this way, we soon see how the comic element is turned around. And the stereotypical jokes are eventually on the Indian protagonists who come laden with ludicrous prejudices and end up going through a series of bizarre often funny escapades. I specially liked the way some of the hardcore terrorists display a humane side without even trying.
And the build-up towards a somber climax doesn't compromise the two protagonists' sheer asininity.
Arshad is as usual the narrative's 'laugh' saver. The problem is that unlike his screen partner Jackky, Arshad doesn't LOOK stupid and keeps slipping out of character with extremely urbane and all-knowing responses to the outrageous palate of plot twists provided to him. Jackky has no such problem. He remains a clueless Gujju to the end.
Dhokla, anyone?
It's not easy to make a non-stupid film with two stupid characters at its helm. Welcome 2 Karachi pulls off that daring feat without falling flat on its face.
For that alone, this film deserves a bit of our attention.
Article written by staff at Bollywood Hungama. Read more
Be the first to comment