Welcome (2007 film)

Welcome
The poster features entire ensembled star-cast. The film title appears at top.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAnees Bazmee
Written by
  • Anees Bazmee
  • Rajiv Kaul
  • Praful Parekh
Produced byFiroz Nadiadwala
Starring
Narrated byOm Puri
CinematographySanjay F. Gupta
Edited byAshfaque Makrani
Music by
Production
company
Base Industries Group
Distributed by
Release date
  • 21 December 2007 (2007-12-21)
Running time
158 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget₹32 crore[2]
Box office₹117.91 crore [3]

Welcome is an Indian 2007 Hindi-language comedy film co-written and directed by Anees Bazmee.[3] It stars Feroz Khan (in his final screen appearance) Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar, Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Paresh Rawal, and Mallika Sherawat in prominent roles.[2][4] Sunil Shetty and Malaika Arora feature in special appearances.[5][6]

It was loosely inspired by the 1999 comedy Mickey Blue Eyes. Budgeted at ₹320 million (US$3.8 million) which includes making and marketing costs, Welcome was distributed by UTV Motion Pictures.[7] It was theatrically released worldwide on 21 December 2007, coinciding with the Christmas festival.[8][9] The film received mostly mixed to positive reviews from critics and praise towards Patekar and Kapoor's gangster characters. It led to stiff competition with Aamir Khan's Taare Zameen Par. Nevertheless, Welcome was a major commercial success and went on to become the second highest grossing Hindi film of the year with global revenues of ₹1.22 billion (US$15 million).[10] It is considered as a modern cult film.[11]

The film is the first instalment of the Welcome series and spawned a sequel, Welcome Back in 2015 that also became a commercial success.[12] A third, unrelated instalment in the series, titled Welcome to the Jungle, is slated for release.

  1. ^ Frater, Patrick (8 November 2007). "Indian Film to distribute 'Welcome'". Variety. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Welcome". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 1 November 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  3. ^ a b "Top All Time Worldwide Grossers Updated 11/5/2012". boxofficeindia. Archived from the original on 27 December 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  4. ^ Rohini Bhandari (8 August 2007). "UTV acquires worldwide rights for Welcome". Business of Cinema. Archived from the original on 21 February 2015. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  5. ^ "Malaika Arora does an item number in Welcome". Oneindia.in. 12 November 2007. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  6. ^ "Bollywood actor Feroz Khan dies". BBC News. 27 April 2009. Archived from the original on 30 April 2009. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  7. ^ "Welcome Cast & Crew". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 22 January 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  8. ^ "Welcome V/S Taare Zameen Par". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 22 October 2015. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  9. ^ Meenakshi Verma (26 December 2007). "Taare Zameen Par adds to Christmas sparkle at BO". Economic Times. Archived from the original on 22 January 2013. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  10. ^ "Box Office 2007". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 27 October 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  11. ^ "Anees Bazmee on Welcome screening".
  12. ^ Joginder Tuteja (27 December 2007). "WELCOME creates record in US, UK, UAE". IndiaGlitz. Archived from the original on 29 December 2007. Retrieved 30 August 2012.