Director Anees Bazmee is currently engrossed in the production of Bhool Bhulaiyya 3, and while work continues in full swing, he recently spoke to Siddharth Kannan about his passion for filmmaking. During the conversation, Anees Bazmee also opened up about the challenges he encountered while shooting the Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif-starrer Welcome (2007) and also addressed the initial dull responses the film received.
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Talking about how the trial show with over 200 people left him and the producer worried, Anees said, “When Welcome had its trial show, there were around 200 people, and they were all sitting blank. Nobody laughed. Then Firoz Bhai (producer Firoz Nadiadwala) got very worried and called me the next day, saying that people were not laughing. Later, after a discussion, he went by my conviction, and we did not make a single change in the film, no addition or subtraction. We released it as it is, and the film went on to become such a big hit.”
Anees also added the challenges he faced during the filming and narrated, “During Welcome, I was shooting in a hospital and was quite unwell. Nana (Patekar) was with me in the hospital. A doctor took him aside and asked him to get me admitted. I shot for that scene but don’t remember shooting it. Even when I sat on the edit table, I couldn’t recollect it. It was the scene where Anil Kapoor and Nana Patekar came to the hospital and learned that Firoz Khan’s son had been shot. And that became the best comedy scene of the film. I shot that scene with great difficulty; my nose was bleeding.”
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Anees Bazmee even shared that Welcome remains his favourite film. “It is very close to my heart, I made that film in a very happy mood.” Welcome has become a very successful franchise and now its third instalment is under works. Titled Welcome To The Jungle, the film stars Akshay Kumar, Arshad Warsi, Disha Patani, Raveena Tandon, Suniel Shetty, Paresh Rawal, Lara Dutta Bhupathi, and many more. The film is slated to release in 2025.
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