Welcome 2 Karachi Review: Welcome Dumb And Dumber

Welcome-To-KarachiThis film could well have been titled Welcome 2 Stupids! You know this is a film that does not care much for the intellect of the audience when most of the American characters, including the American visa officer, speak with British accents!

The dim-witted son (Jaccky Bhagnani) of a Gujarati event organiser, who rents out his boat for weddings and other parties, is besties with a court-martialled navy man (Arshad Warsi). For some reason the father trusts them to take his boat out for an event, but they are so drunk and so busy doing dandiya with a troupe of foreign dancers that they wander off at sea, get caught in a storm and are washed up on the shores of Karachi. The terrible computer graphics complement what you have seen so far and set you up for exactly what to expect.

For some reason they are unable to convince anyone they are Indian, that once they finally realize where they are. Even those they encounter are too wrapped up in being corrupt, evil, terrorists, glamorous to apply their brain cells. Lauren Gottlieb plays the most unintelligent intelligence officer one has ever seen in a movie. Her character clearly spends more time doing her hair and balancing on her four-inch heels that doing any sort of useful investigation.

Dumb and dumber must now find their way back to Gujarat. During this journey there are indeed some comical moments, but the writers and director (Ashish R Mohan, Khiladi 786) seem hell-bent on juicing this idea dry. The film goes on and one when it could easily have ended after 80 minutes. Instead it drags on to over 130 minutes becoming more idiotic, painful and noisy. There is an entirely absurd twist of a terrorist posing as the pilot of an airplane that, among others, is transporting a team of deaf-mutes to the Paralympics in America!

At one point, when captured by the Pakistani Army, they adopt the names Ittefaq and Whattefaq. This is one of the funnier gags in the film. What’s unfunny is watching Bhagnani’s Gujarati accent and stupidity disintegrate with each frame. Warsi holds things together with his admirable comic timing, rising above the inanity of the script and the rest of the pathetic performances.

The lead pair takes potshots at Pakistan at every given opportunity, but the dialogue is devoid of sharp satire or wit.

Rating: *

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Udita Jhunjhunwala

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