The welcome was a box office triumph, starring Akshay Kumar, Nana Patekar, Anil Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Feroz Khan, and Paresh Rawal, among others. However, filmmaker Anees Bazmee has claimed that a trial screening had a negative reaction.
Anees Bazmee, a filmmaker, said that audiences did not react well to his 2007 film Welcome during the initial screening trial. The comedy-drama starred Akshay Kumar, Nana Patekar, Anil Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Feroz Khan, Paresh Rawal, and Mallika Sherawat, among others, and was a box office triumph as well as a critical hit. People who saw it during a trial, however, informed Anees that it didn’t make them laugh, which made the director so anxious that he ended up in the hospital.
Anees’ latest film Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 has been a box office hit, starring Kartik Aaryan, Kiara Advani, Tabu, and Rajpal Yadav among others. The film has made 137.54 crores in 13 days and is set to reach 150 crores in its third weekend. When asked how he retains trust in his films despite the amount of publicity they get before release, Anees answered it was crucial to have faith in one’s work.
He said to Bollywood Hungama, “When we produce a film, we watch it multiple times for editing, background, mixing, and previewing, among other things. So we can get a sense of how excellent it is. However, it is critical to have trust in your job. I remember when I initially tried out Welcome, no one loved it. When I asked them what they thought was lacking from the film, they answered, “hashashi aati” (it doesn’t make us laugh). I wondered how I, as a filmmaker, could go out into the public and tease every one of them to make them laugh. It is a challenging job.”
Anees said, “So I rewrote the script. I was in the hospital because my blood pressure had skyrocketed due to my stress. Because I only work on one project at a time and give it my all. So I get upset because if I produced such a terrific video, why isn’t it making people laugh? So I sat in my hospital bed and resumed work on the script. And by the time I finished it, I thought it was a terrific film. I’m not sure why these 50 folks didn’t laugh. Even though some people disliked it, I believe the film is entirely right and a smashing success. As a result, we published it without changing a single frame in editing.”
Anees remembered having a similar experience in 1998 during the first tryout of Ajay Devgn and Kajol’s film Pyar To Hona Hi Tha. People were accustomed to seeing Ajay in action parts and couldn’t stomach him in a romantic comedy, but he remained optimistic.
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