New Delhi: ‘Welcome’ is one of the 2000s most popular ensemble comedy dramas that did great business at the box office. So much so that the Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Nana Patekar, Anil Kapoor starrer became a cult classic over the years. The dialogues of the film and the comic scenes are still part of the meme culture and continue to become part of social media in the form of GIFs,and more. Recently, in an interview with Siddharth Kannan, Bazmee shed light on how ‘Welcome’ was not understood by the producers on the film’s first screening trial and how no one found it funny.
The producers of Welcome did not think it was funny
When asked if he felt that his movie was hilarious but other people or producers did not think so, Bazmee reassured Kannan that this had happened several times with him. Giving an example of 'Wecome', he said, "Jab us movie ki trial hui toh the producers were blank. I was satnding on the side, koi hasi nahi, kuch nahi aur jo humre Firoz bhai jo hai voh boht pareshan the, ki bhai hasi to inhe aa nahi rahe, toh maine kaha film to ab yahi banayi hai, aur ab main jakar theatre mein public ko gudgudi to kar nahi paonga. Yahi hai film, mujhe lagta hai correct hai."( When the trial of the film happened, I was standing on the side and the producers were blank. They did not find the film funny. Firoz Khan, who was also present, was very worried about the film’s fate then. I told him that this is what it is. It will be released like this and I cannot go to the theatres and tickle the audiences)
“Unhone kahan ki agar apka conviction hai to achi bat hai,humne uske bawajood, na ek scene kata, na ek scene joda, na ek dialogue kum kia, kuch nahi kia. Vahi ke vahi film lagai aur voh boht badi hit hui. Toh sometime nahi logo ko samjh mein ata hai.."( So, he belived me and despite the screening, we went ahead with Welcome without any edits or additons. It was released just as it was)
Anees Bazmee on Nana Patekar being an easy person to work with
Meanwhile, Aneez Bazmee also shed light on working with Nana Patekar, with whom he has done three films, on ‘Welcome’
Sharing that despite the common perception, he always felt that Patekar was an easy person to work with and was very keen on doing comedy for the first time . “Nana ji is a fantastic actor. i was very confident from the very first day ki agar ye comedy karenge to kai actor ko pata hai ki comedy kaise ki jati hai, kyunki nana ji jo kia hai aaj tak...voh bhi itna pyaara admi hai, log pata nahi kyu kehte hai unke sath kam karna mushkil hai , and he is a sucha easy-go person , mujhe kabi koi problem nahi ayi ... unhone mujhe gale wale lagaya kahani sunkar, phir bole main kachi mitti huin, tere set pe aaonga, tujhe jis suit mein dalna hai dhal lena aur voh dialogue ke bad puri film khatam hui, unse mujhe naakun ke jitne shikayat nahi hai, unhone jis imandari se, jis lagan se aur jis tarah kam kia and kai scenes mujhe aisa laga jo itna ache nahi the lekin jo nana ji ne perform kia , to mujhe laga kya insan hai ( Nana ji is a great man and he is a briliiant actor, a kind of actor who knows ki comedy kaise kari jati hai. I wonder why people say, he is a difficult person to work with, I did not feel so. When I narrated the script of ‘Welcome’, he hugged me and told me, I will show up on set, I am like clay, you can mould me in whichever you like. From that day to the day the film wrapped up, I did not have a single complaint from him).”
About Welcome
Meanwhille, ‘Welcome’ made on a budget of Rs. 320 million, the film collected Rs. 1.22 billion at the global box office. It also became the second highest grossing Hindi film of 2007.