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| Produced by | Firoz Nadiadwala |
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| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
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Welcome is an Indian comedy film series, produced by Firoz Nadiadwala and directed by Anees Bazmee & Ahmed Khan. The first film Welcome[1] was released on 21 December 2007 and the second film, Welcome Back[2] was released on 4 September 2015. A third part, titled Welcome to the Jungle was released on 26 June 2026.[3]
Development and production
Following the commercial release of Welcome Back (2015), producer Firoz Nadiadwala envisioned expanding the franchise with a larger ensemble cast and scale. Officially announced under the working title Welcome to the Jungle, the third installment marked a shift in directorial leadership from Anees Bazmee to Ahmed Khan. The narrative was restructured to accommodate a multi-starrer format, intentionally departing from the plot continuity of the previous two films while maintaining the franchise's signature slapstick and situational comedy framework.
Principal photography commenced across major studio configurations in Mumbai before transitioning to international locations. The production required extensive pre-production preparation due to the large cast coordination and high-budget action sequences orchestrated alongside the comedic narrative. Music composition and background scoring were handled by multiple artists to replicate the pop-culture musical legacy established by the 2007 original film.[4] [5]
Overview
Welcome (2007 film)
Uday, a criminal don, decides to find a husband for his kind-hearted sister Sanjana, but he is unsuccessful since no one wants to be associated with a crime family. Dr. Ghunghroo has also been trying to get his nephew, Rajiv, married but due to his condition—the alliance must be with a purely decent family—he is also unsuccessful.
When Rajiv jumps into a burning building to save Sanjana, he is smitten by her. Uday and Majnu, Uday's brother gangster hatch a plan for an alliance with Dr. Ghunghroo. The plan works and Dr. Ghunghroo confirms the alliance, thinking that Uday is a very decent man. But when he is later told that Uday and Majnu are mobsters, he quickly takes his family and flees to Sun City, South Africa to escape. However, Majnu and Sanjana have come to Sun City as well. Rajiv meets Sanjana again and the two fall in love.
Dr. Ghunghroo reconciles with Uday and Majnu and finally agrees to the alliance. Uday and Majnu invite a powerful don of the underworld, RDX to the engagement. At the party, a girl named Ishika arrives, claiming to be Rajiv's childhood betrothed. Ishika is actually the sister-in-law of Dr.Ghunghroo whom Dr. Ghunghroo asked to come and try to break off the engagement. Ishika manages to do so, leaving Rajiv and Sanjana heartbroken. Dr. Ghunghroo reveals that he did this for Rajiv's mother, who had married into a crime family and was harassed and tortured, thus telling Dr. Ghunghroo to raise Rajiv away from crime when he was born. Dr. Ghunghroo decides he will agree to the marriage only if Uday and Majnu give up their life of crime. Rajiv and Sanjana do this by reawakening Uday's love for acting and encouraging Majnu to pursue his love for painting. With these things keeping them busy, Uday and Majnu have no time for crime any more.
Rajiv's actions anger RDX's son, Lucky, who attempts to shoot Rajiv. Sanjana gets hold of the gun and fires a shot that hits Lucky, causing him to go unconscious. RDX is informed of his son's death and comes to attend the cremation. However Lucky, who is still alive, escapes, trying to show his father that he's actually alive. RDX sets the pile of wood on fire, believing he is cremating his son's body. However Lucky, who had been hiding under the wood, jumps out upon realising the wood is on fire, and the truth is revealed to RDX. Rajiv, Ghunghroo, his wife, Ishika, Uday, Majnu and Sanjana are captured by RDX and brought to a cabin set next to a cliff. The frightened group is forced to play Passing the Parcel (Hot Potato) with a globe—but the one who ends up with the globe must jump off the cliff. When Rajiv refuses to pass the globe to Sanjana, Lucky angrily yanks it out of his hands, just as the music stops. Now that his son has the globe, RDX figures the only way he can maintain his image is by killing everyone. Before he can, several government brokers sneak up and cut the footings of the cabin, causing the house to start falling over the cliff, with everyone trapped inside. However, the cabin is suspended by only one column. Hilarious chaos ensues as the group tries to balance the cabin together and keep it from falling off the cliff. Rajiv finds a rope and the group uses it to get back onto stable ground. But to everyone's shock, the floor breaks and Lucky is found hanging on the edge of the cabin. While Rajiv is trying to rescue him, Sanjana reveals the truth to everyone that she was the one who shot Lucky, but Rajiv blamed himself so that Sanjana wouldn't get in trouble. After Rajiv rescues Lucky, the cabin he is standing on falls off into the cliff. Sanjana keeps crying for him thinking he is dead. However, Rajiv survives the event and is reunited with Sanjana and his family. Lucky and RDX are grateful to Rajiv for saving their lives and RDX gives up his life of crime, allowing Rajiv and Sanjana to finally get married.
Welcome Back (2015 film)
Uday Shetty and Majnu Bhai end a life of crime and become honest businessmen, settling in Dubai. Two conwomen from India, Poonam and Babita (Ankita Shrivastava), present themselves as Maharani Padmavati and Rajkumari Chandini of Najafgarh to con Uday and Majnu of their money. Babita causes the two men to fall in love with her, thus getting them to finance herself and Poonam's luxurious lifestyle. Later, it is revealed that Uday has another sister Ranjana from his father's third marriage and Majnu and Uday are emotionally blackmailed by Uday's father into arranging the marriage of Ranjana and are also forced to do so as Poonam makes that one of her conditions for getting Babita married to either one of them.
The movie then shifts to Dr. Ghunguroo, who has found out that he has a step son from his wife's previous marriage, Ajju a.k.a. Ajay. Ajju 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 the step-son of Doctor Ghunguroo, not knowing that he is a goon. However, at the engagement ceremony, Majnu reveals the truth of Ajju, to which Ajju resists with a fight, threatening to marry Ranjana without any of the brothers' consent.
In order to keep Ajju at bay, Uday and Majnu visit Wanted Bhai, who is an infamous blind don. The brothers are shocked to find that Wanted's son Honey likes Ranjana and would like to marry her. They decide to arrange the marriage of Ranjana to some other decent man, in order to sidestep Ajju as well as Wanted's son. However, due to Ajju and Dr. Ghunguroo, who are in league with Babita and Poonam, they are caught by Wanted Bhai, who summons them to his island.
There, Ajju and Dr. Ghunguroo try to convince Honey that he no longer loves Ranjana and that Babita is his true love. Meanwhile, Uday and Majnu try to kill Ajju, but are frightened at the graveyard in a ghost act planned by Dr. Ghunguroo, Ajju and Ranjana. Unbeknownst to all of them, their activities have been recorded by closed-circuit television, causing Wanted Bhai and Honey to plan to finish them off. However, in a hilarious climax scene, Honey is kidnapped by all of them and they escape towards the desert where they are chased by Wanted Bhai. In the midst of saving himself, Dr. Ghunguroo pushes Wanted Bhai, causing him to faint. Meanwhile, a group of camels heavily march there. Ajju is successful in saving Wanted Bhai from the stampede of camels, and restoring his sight. Wanted Bhai himself, as a form of gratitude, arranges the marriage of Ajju with Ranjana, calling Ajju his 'second son'.
Welcome to the Jungle (2026 film)
Welcome to the Jungle was originally scheduled for release on Christmas 2024.[6] The announced cast consisted of Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Paresh Rawal, Johnny Lever, Rajpal Yadav, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Aftab Shivdasani, Jackie Shroff, Daler Mehndi, Mika Singh, Raveena Tandon, Lara Dutta, Jacqueline Fernandez, Disha Patani, Urvashi Rautela, Farida Jalal, Krushna Abhishek, Mukesh Tiwari, Yashpal Sharma, Vindu Dara Singh, Kiran Kumar, Zakir Hussain, late Pankaj Dheer, Puneet Issar, Kiku Sharda, Feroze Khan (Arjun), Sudesh Berry, and Vrihi Kodvara.[3][7]
The first schedule of the shoot was completed in May 2024. As more schedules were planned, and with VFX work in post-production expected, the release date was pushed to 2025.[8] In August 2024, director Ahmed Khan said that 70% of the shoot was complete, and the international shoot schedule in UAE was planned for October.[9]
The film released theatrically on 25 December 2026.[10]
Cast and characters
| Character | Film | ||
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| Rajiv Saini | Akshay Kumar | Akshay Kumar (archive footage) |
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| Rajeev Chauhan | Akshay Kumar | ||
| Dr. Dayal Ghunghroo | Paresh Rawal | ||
| Sanjana Shetty | Katrina Kaif | Katrina Kaif (archive footage) |
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| Sagar "Majnu Bhai" Pandey | Anil Kapoor | ||
| Uday Shetty "Uday Bhai" | Nana Patekar | ||
| Mrs. Payal Ghunghroo | Supriya Karnik | ||
| Uday Shetty’s lawyer | Adi Irani | ||
| Uday Shetty’s bodyguard | Harry Josh | ||
| Majnu's goon | Snehal Dabi | ||
| Baljeet "Ballu" Rawat | Mushtaq Khan | ||
| Mr. Rakesh Kapoor / Vikrant Kapoor / Amar Kapoor | Ranjeet | ||
| Ranvir Dhanraj Xaka RDX |
Feroz Khan | Feroz Khan (archive footage) |
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| Ishika Kanojia | Mallika Sherawat | ||
| Lucky Xaka | Shereveer Vakil | ||
| Purushottam | Paresh Ganatra | ||
| Municipal worker | Charlie | ||
| Pandit Manilal Shastri | Sanjay Mishra | ||
| Dhanesh Varman | Vijay Raaz | ||
| Akhilendra Chandel | Asrani | ||
| Ajay Barsi "Ajju Bhai" | John Abraham | ||
| Ranjana Shetty | Shruti Hassan | ||
| Shankar Shetty | Nana Patekar | ||
| Poonam / Maharani Padmavati | Dimple Kapadia | ||
| Babita / Rajkumari Chandini | Ankita Shrivastav | ||
| Mansoor Sharif (Wanted Bhai) | Naseeruddin Shah | ||
| Honey Sharif | Shiney Ahuja | ||
| Baadshah Bhai | Neeraj Vora | ||
| Tailor | Rajpal Yadav | ||
| Raja Chauhan | Suniel Shetty (Cameo) | Suniel Shetty | |
| Romeo | Arshad Warsi | ||
| Narrator | Om Puri | Vijay Raaz | |
Item dancers
| Character | Film | ||
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| Special appearance in songs |
Malaika Arora (in "Honth Rasiley") |
Radhika Bangia (in "20-20") Sakshi Maggo (in "20-20") Lauren Gottlieb (in "20-20") Reema Debnath (in "20-20") Shubhi Sharma (in "20-20") Sambhavna Seth (in "20-20") Surveen Chawla (in "Tutti Bole Wedding Di") Snigdha Gupta Mehta (in "Tutti Bole Wedding Di") |
Akshara Singh (in Ghis Ghis Ghis) |
Crew
| Occupation | Film | ||
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| Welcome (2007) |
Welcome Back (2015) |
Welcome to the Jungle (2026) |
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| Director | Anees Bazmee | Ahmed Khan | |
| Producer | Firoz Nadiadwala | ||
| Screenplay | Anees Bazmee, Rajiv Kaul, Praful Parekh | Anees Bazmee, Rajiv Kaul, Rajan Aggarwal, Praful Parekh | Farhad Samji |
| Story | Anees Bazmee, Rajiv Kaul | Neeraj Vora | |
| Cinematography | Sanjay F. Gupta | Kabir Lal | |
| Editor | Ashfaque Makrani | Steven Bernard | Nitin Pathak |
| Composer(s) | Anand Raj Anand, Himesh Reshammiya, Sajid–Wajid | Meet Bros. Anjjan, Anu Malik, Abhishek Ray | |
| Background score | Sajid–Wajid | Aadesh Shrivastava | |
| Production House(s) | Base Industries Group | Base Industries Group, Swiss Entertainment | Base Industries Group, Cape of Good Films, Seeta Films |
| Distributor(s) | UTV Motion Pictures, Indian Films | Eros International | Star Studio18 |
Release and reception
Box office
| Film | Release date | Budget | Box office revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Welcome | 21 December 2007 | ₹32 crore (US$7.74 million)[11] | ₹117.91 crore (US$28.52 million)[12] |
| Welcome Back | 4 September 2015 | ₹48 crore (US$7.48 million) | ₹167.37 crore (US$26.09 million)[13] |
| Welcome to the Jungle | 26 June 2026[14] | ||
| Total | ₹80 crore (US$8.3 million) | ₹285.26 crore (US$30 million) | |
Critical reception
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes |
|---|---|
| Welcome | N/A (1 reviews)[15] |
| Welcome Back | 40% (4.3/10 average rating) (10 reviews)[16] |
Notes
References
- ^ Sukanya Verma (21 December 2007). "Welcome packs in a lot of masala". Rediff.com. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
- ^ "'Welcome Back' has twice the extravagance and laughter of its earlier part". The Times of India. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
- ^ a b "Akshay Kumar's Welcome To The Jungle To Release On December 25". NDTV. 27 January 2026. Retrieved 1 February 2026.
- ^ "Welcome to the Jungle crew and production updates". The Times of India. 25 December 2026.
- ^ Bollywood Hungama News Network (15 June 2026). "Director Ahmed Khan says Welcome To The Jungle has an unexpected serious side: "Watch it on mute and it looks serious"". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 28 June 2026.
- ^ ANI (17 August 2023). "'Welcome 3' to release on Christmas 2024, new title revealed". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 17 August 2023.
- ^ "Welcome 3: Akshay Kumar, Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi's 'Welcome to the Jungle' release date out". The Times of India. 9 September 2023. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
- ^ Aiyana Bhatia (17 June 2024). "Why Akshay Kumar's 'Welcome to the Jungle' release got delayed to 2025". moneycontrol.com. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
- ^ Trisha Bhattacharya; Sana Farzeen; Bhavna Agarwal (25 August 2024). "Akshay Kumar's 'Welcome to the Jungle' makers dismiss rumours of film's delay". indiatoday.in.
- ^ "'Welcome to the Jungle' Movie Review: Akshay Kumar Saves A Meta Bollywood Caper From Itself". The Hollywood Reporter India. 25 December 2026. Retrieved 26 June 2026.
- ^ "Boxoffice". Archived from the original on 1 November 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
- ^ "Top All Time Worldwide Grossers Updated 11/5/2012". BoxOfficeIndia.com. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
- ^ Hungama, Bollywood (5 September 2015). "Box Office: Worldwide Collections of Welcome Back :Bollywood Box Office - Bollywood Hungama". Bollywood Hungama.
- ^ "Welcome to the Jungle release date out: Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty-led star-studded comedy set to arrive this summer". Hindustan Times. 27 January 2026. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ^ "Welcome | Rotten Tomatoes". www.rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
- ^ "Welcome Back (2015) | Rotten Tomatoes". www.rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
External links
- Welcome at IMDb
- Welcome Back at IMDb