''Welcome 2 Karachi'' is a 2015 Indian

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

-language

black comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the olde ...

directed by

Ashish R Mohan Ashish R Mohan is an Indian film director and actor. His work as a director include ''Khiladi 786'' and ''Welcome 2 Karachi''. He started his career as an assistant director with Anil Devgan on the film '' Blackmail'' starring Ajay Devgn. ...

and produced by

Vashu Bhagnani Vashu Bhagnani is an Indian film producer who works in Bollywood films. His films include '' Coolie No. 1'' (1995), '' Hero No. 1'' (1997), '' Bade Miyan Chote Miyan'' (1998), ''Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai'' (2001), '' Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein'' (20 ...

. The film stars

Arshad Warsi Arshad Warsi (born 19 April 1968) is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films. He is the recipient of several awards including a Filmfare Award from five nominations and is noted for acting in varied film genres. Before making his acting deb ...

and

Jackky Bhagnani Jackky Bhagnani (born 25 December 1984) is an Indian actor, film producer and entrepreneur. Early life Bhagnani was born in Kolkata, West Bengal in India to a Sindhi family. After schooling, he got a degree in commerce from H.R. College of Comm ...

as pivotal leads. Music directors

Jeet Ganguly Jeet Gannguli (, born Chandrajeet Ganguly, on 24 May 1977), is an Indian score composer of Bengali and Hindi movies. Early life and education Born in a Bengali Brahmin family, Gannguli was initiated into the world of music at the age of thr ...

and

Rochak Kohli Rochak Kohli is an Indian music director for Bollywood films. He made his music debut in Shoojit Sircar's romantic comedy ''Vicky Donor'' with ''Pani Da Rang''. The song was made in collaboration with Ayushmann Khurrana, the lead of the film. ...

composed music for this film. The film was released on 28 May 2015.

Plot

The story kicks off with two dumb and dumber friends, Shami a courtmartialed navy officer and Kedar a

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

who has been denied a U.S. visa multiple times. Both plan to sail to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

using a boat but, with a twist of fate, end up on the beach of

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. On realizing the truth they both try to escape, while being chased by an ISI Agent. Both get kidnapped by a local don Azher Baluch, who demands ransom from Kedar's father and later releases them in a pathan colony to collect fake passports. But Shami, messes up with a bunch of pathans over an India-Pakistan match. In the struggle to escape from pathans both meet a

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

i militant, who takes them to a Taliban camp where they are misunderstood as Talibani militants. A few days later, Shami and Kedar plans to escape the camp by stealing camp leader's mobile phone, which was actually a

detonator A detonator, frequently a blasting cap, is a device used to trigger an explosive device. Detonators can be chemically, mechanically, or electrically initiated, the last two being the most common. The commercial use of explosives uses electri ...

of a bomb designed by Taliban to attack

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

army. In attempt to dial a number Shami unknowingly triggers the bomb destroying the Talibani camp itself. Attracted by the explosions, an

drone Drone most commonly refers to: * Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg * Unmanned aerial vehicle * Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft * Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to: ...

arrives and the two are arrested by American Army. After knowing their situation both are released. They go to Azher Baluch, the only person they know in Pakistan. Baluch makes a deal with ruling minister that in return for an election ticket he will hand over the two guys to him. The minister wants to take the credit of attack on Taliban by announcing both Shami and Kedar as Pakistani soldiers. Soon the two are declared as national heroes by Pakistani media while the Indian media claims them as Indians stuck in Pakistan. Caught in this tug of war Shami and Kedar are once again kidnapped by American army, who promises to deport them to India if they could give the credit of Talibani camp attack to American Army in media. They agree and are sent to Karachi Airport to finally catch a flight back to India. While waiting for their flight, Shami notices a Talibani militant disguised as an airlines pilot. Seeing a possibility of a terror attack they both decide to rescue, being backed by Pakistani army. During crossfire Shami and Kedar manage to overpower the militant and take off with the plane, finally able to depart from Pakistan. The movie ends with both sitting in the cockpit only to find a strange voice behind them (possibly another militant) suggesting them to take a left turn.

Cast

as Shammi Thakur *

as Kedar Patel *

Lauren Gottlieb Lauren Gottlieb (born June 8, 1988) is an American dancer and actress who works mainly in the Indian film industry. She was a contestant on the third season of the reality dance competition ''So You Think You Can Dance'' and played the lead role ...

as ISI Agent Shazia Ansari, also as lead belly dancer in the song "Shakira" **

Priya Raina Priya Raina (born 5 November 1988) is an Indian television actress, singer, comedian, host, and voice over artist born in Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir, India. She is best known for her comedy show on Sony TV Comedy Circus Ka Naya Daur. In 2019 s ...

as the voice of ISI Agent Shazia Ansari *

Imran Hasnee Imran Hasnee (born 1 December 1972) is an actor who has worked in the Hollywood films '' A Mighty Heart'' and ''Slumdog Millionaire'', and played lead as well as character roles. Career In Bollywood (Indian Film Industry) he worked in ''Paan ...

as ISI Agent * Kubra Khan as ISI agent Asma *

Ayub Khoso Ayub Khoso ( ur, ; born 1959) is a Pakistani actor of film and TV. With a career spanning more than three decades - mostly in television - Khoso is a well-known name in Pakistan. He is known for his roles in films like ''Khuda Kay Liye''. Ear ...

as Taliban leader Agha Jaan *

Adnan Shah Adnan Shah, well known as Adnan Shah Tipu or simply Tipu is a Pakistani actor known for his comic and villainary roles. Career Adnan Shah started his career in 1999 as a television actor and gained popularity through a sitcom titled "Sub Set Hai" ...

as Azhar Baloch *

Dalip Tahil Dalip Tahil (born as Dalip Tahilramani; 30 October 1952) is an Indian film, television and theatre actor. He studied at Sherwood College in Nainital, India. After attending Aligarh Muslim University for a year, he graduated from St. Xavier's Co ...

as Kedar's father *Raj Das as Raja *

Pavan Malhotra Pavan Malhotra (born 2 July 1958) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films and television alongside Punjabi and few Telugu films. He has played lead roles in Buddhadeb Dasgupta's National Film Award-winning '' Bagh Bahadur'' and Saeed Akht ...

as Pathan *Kumud Pant as Gang Member *Ali Hyder Junejo as J

Production

The film has been shot in various parts of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

including

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and sets were recreated to resemble

. During the shooting of scenes in Wales, the lead actors were mistaken as real Taliban people and the shoot was halted by

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

authorities. The Bradford Bazaar was used as the backdrop of the film's shooting in Bradford. During the shoot, the airport set from Birmingham was stolen by truckloaders. During this, Bhagnani suffered a loss due to which shooting came to a halt.

Casting

The role of Jackky Bhagnani was first offered to

Irrfan Khan Irrfan Khan () (born Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan; 7 January 196729 April 2020), also known simply as Irrfan, was an Indian actor who worked in Indian cinema as well as British and American films. Widely regarded as one of the finest actors in In ...

but due to other commitments Khan left the film. Kubra Khan was originally cast as the female lead and shot most of the film before creative differences led to her leaving the film and being replaced by

, who reshot most of her scenes. Certain scenes featuring Kubra were retained in the final version of the film and the script was re-written to change her role into a much smaller one.

Soundtrack

The music for the film is composed by

Jeet Gannguli Jeet Gannguli (, born Chandrajeet Ganguly, on 24 May 1977), is an Indian score composer of Bengali and Hindi movies. Early life and education Born in a Bengali Brahmin family, Gannguli was initiated into the world of music at the age of thr ...

and Amjad-Nadeem. The soundtrack of the film comprises 5 songs. The full audio album of the film was released on 29 April 2015 on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

Critical reception

The film received largely negative reviews from critics. Paloma Sharma of Rediff rated it 0.5 stars and said, "Welcome 2 Karachi is a sad excuse for screen space"

Box office

Welcome to Karachi grossed ₹1.5 Cr in India on its opening day. The comedy drama film only managed to gross Rs. 5.50 crore net (55 million) approx. on its first weekend at the box office, including paid previews. This isn't shocking as the film pulled poor numbers on its first day by grossing Rs. 1.35 crore net (13.5 million)approx. on Friday. The film however saw a decent growth on Sunday than it saw on its first day by doing a business of Rs. 2 crore net (20 million) approx. at the box office.Box Office: Arshad Warsi's Welcome To Karachi's First Weekend Collections
Businessofcinema.com (1 June 2015). Retrieved 2015-10-08.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 4023852 2015 films 2015 action comedy films 2015 black comedy films 2010s satirical films Indian action comedy films Indian satirical films 2010s Hindi-language films Films scored by Jeet Ganguly Films scored by Rochak Kohli Films scored by Amjad Nadeem Films shot in England Films set in Karachi India–Pakistan relations in popular culture Indian black comedy films Military of Pakistan in films 2015 comedy films