26 June,2026 06:00 PM IST | Mumbai | Amarylisa Gonsalves
Welcome to the Jungle poster
The madcap Welcome franchise returns with its third instalment, spoiling the audience for choices at a time when a patriotic period drama, a rom-com, and a horror flick are all running in the theatres simultaneously. Welcome to the Jungle, directed by Ahmed Khan, promises to be bigger, quite literally, with over 30 actors joining in a jungle adventure. But does the instalment really make a bigger mark?
A corrupt businessman wants to save himself from a tax raid and, at his daughter Jacqueline Fernandez's idea, decides to put his money into a film. Dev and Das (Paresh Rawal and Rajpal Yadav) are called to direct the film, with Nainsukh (Shreyas Talpade) as the cameraman. They approach a flop hero, Rajeev (Akshay Kumar), for the lead role, with Tusshar Kapoor playing his assistant. Nadia (Disha Patani), Akshay's ex-lover, is signed as the heroine on the condition that she has nothing to do with her ex in the film.
Dev and Das are summoned by gangsters Yeda Anna (Suniel Shetty) and Romeo (Arshad Warsi), who force them to cast themselves in the film. By the way, Yeda Anna and Romeo are brothers of Uday Shetty (Nana Patekar) and Majnu Bhai (Anil Kapoor), respectively, from the 2007 classic.
They are trained for the army-themed movie by Lara Dutta. And a chain of comedic events leads them to a border village of Azadpur, which is held captive by a terrorist Zatara (Jackie Shroff), while Raveena Tandon plays a helpless, yet courageous, widow in the oppressed village.
The movie does make you laugh in places, thanks to seasoned veterans like Johnny Lever, Rajpal Yadav, Arshad Warsi, among others; however, some jokes feel too forced. The iconic references, like Akshay referring to Mohra and Khiladi, Arshad Warsi's bringing back his Jolly LLB dialogue, Suniel Shetty getting into his Border zone, and Pankaj Dheer, Firoz Khan, and Puneet Issar reviving their roles as Karan, Arjun and Duryodhan from BR Chopra's Mahabharat, among others, keep you engaged. Majnu Bhai's painting also makes a comeback, while Raveena Tandon's taunt at Akshay for 20 years of negligence rings some bells.
The story and screenplay are the biggest drawbacks of the film. The movie conveniently trades logic for slapstick comedy and iconic references. The makers also mistake the loud background sounds for comedy, and experiment with a range of background music, especially during the action sequences. At some point, you're wondering how and where the characters just come up in a scene, deliver their dialogue and vanish. That's what happens when you get 30+ actors onboard just for the heck of it, I guess. A few characters feel forced; the makers could do with a smaller cast and not struggle with distributing the screentime.
Akshay Kumar does what he's best at, and Arshad Warsi has a limited scope but does deliver in places. Suniel Shetty's swag shines as you enjoy watching his screentime. Disha Patani and Jacqueline Fernandez's characters play glam dolls while having very little to contribute. Farida Jalal and Kiran Kumar stand out with dialogues that no one would probably understand, but make you laugh the most. You lowkey miss Nana Patekar and Anil Kapoor in this one.
At one point, you're really rooting for an unexpected romantic angle between Akshay and Raveena, given their chemistry. But then you are reminded that the Mohra actress has probably aged into an aunty, while her co-star Akshay is still young enough for a Disha Patani.
The film very casually throws jokes around age, height, colour, body, speech, language and visual impairments, enough to offend and definitely not funny.
Overall, Welcome to the Jungle is a decent watch if you're looking for something funny and chaotic. It will give you decent laughs and a little bit of nostalgia here and there.
