After the biggest hit of 2005 - No Entry, Anees Bazmee is back with Welcome starring a very interesting and formidable cast. Right from the promos it looked like another "leave your brains at home" rib tickling comedy. So it comes as no surprise that Welcome has opened huge even in the midst of tough competition from Taare Zameen Par.

Welcome is the story about how Hong Kong based gangsters Uday Shetty (Nana Patekar) and Majnu (Anil Kapoor) try to get Uday's sister Sanjana (Katrina Kaif) married into a respectable family. After a few funny sequences they bump into Rajiv (Akshay Kumar) and all seems favorable but with a hiccup in the form of Rajiv's mama Dr Ghungroo (Paresh Rawal) who is hell bent to get Rajiv married only into a shareef khandaan. Micky Blue Eyes, anyone?

First half of the movie is full of fast paced mad gags. There are many scenes which tickle your funny bones. And what better way than to watch this non-stop enjoyment in a jam-packed theater. How I wish the second half was equally interesting! It has some crazy scenes, no doubt, but Rajiv's plan of trying to reform the gangsters seems too illogical. Also the climax is over stretched. Still overall, Welcome is true to what it promises - hard core masaledar entertainment in the mould of Manmohan Desai, David Dhawan and Priyadarshan movies.

Although everyone gets equal scope in Welcome, the main scene-stealer is Anil Kapoor. In one of his best comic performances since Deewana Mastana, Anil Kapoor's Majnu brings the house down every time he comes on screen. His passion for live painting, one-liners, Munnaisque style and tapori dancing remain with you even after the movie is over. He proves yet again that you cannot write off this good actor yet.

Nana Patekar does well as the wanna-be-actor turned gangster Uday Shetty. The audience could simply not control their laughter the way he controls his anger. Watch him take 57 retakes (the number must have been inspired from his Ab Tak 56) for the horse-riding scene. That reminds me of Vijay Raaj going overboard with his wanna-be-perfectionist-director act. He could have done better. Feroz Khan has been somewhat under utilized. He manages a few laughs with "Abhi hum zinda hain" dialogue and jille-illahi kind of justice. But the script should not have tested our intelligence to the effect that the underworld's most feared don quickly turned into a tame pussycat rather than a crouching tiger.

Paresh Rawal is in great form and in any case no good comedy is complete without him these days. Very true to one of his own dialogues - Naam uska Ghungroo zaroor hai par usko koi bazaa nahin sakta!!! Katrina Kaif looks stunningly beautiful in "Ek uncha lamba kadh, uspe soni bhi tu hadh" and "Kola laka vellari" songs. Smart thing from the director that she does not get much dialogs as she still lacks in that department but honestly who cares as long as she has that tremendous screen presence. Mallika Sherawat contributes enough with her oomph and no one should be complaining.

Still waiting for Akki's report card? Well, it might come as a disappointment for his fans, but to be frank, Welcome is not Akshay Kumar's movie - certainly not in a way we are used to watch him taking honors in all his movies. He looks subdued in most parts, partly because that was what his role demanded, and partly because of Anil Kapoor and Nana Patekar's super performances. He does come into his elements towards the end especially when he shouts "Miracle, Miracle".

Direction by Anees Bazmee, screenplay and dialogs by Praful Parikh, Rajiv Kaul and Bazmee himself have provided yet another mindless hysterical guffaw. Sanjay F Gupta's cinematography is first rate with noteworthy locales of Dubai and South Africa. Some of the songs look grand. Recommended to all who wanna have some fun time.