Bollywood comes to Pakistan or so it seems in the Arshad Warsi starrer ‘Welcome to Karachi’. Warsi who became famous as Circuit from the ‘Munna Bhai’ films leads the cast that also features Jackky Bhagnani and Kubra Khan. Warsi and Bhagnani play two Indians who unwillingly end up in Pakistan’s commercial capital of Karachi and attempt to return home. In the midst of all the chaos, they also end up with the Taliban. According to Bollywood Hungama, Irrfan Khan was originally cast to play the second lead with Warsi but he quit the film at the last minute. Bhagnani eventually took over Irrfan Khan’s role.
Bhagnani is a newcomer to the Indian film scene and Khan was seen in the successful ‘Na Maloom Afraad’. Nigel Barber plays Commander Branson. Pakistani actor Humayun Kazmi also makes an appearance. Kazmi has featured in several films and television productions including the Shoaib Mansoor epic ‘Khuda Ke Liye’ and ‘Operation 21 O21’. The satirical comedy is directed by Ashish R Mohan. This film is being made by the same team that gave us ‘Youngistan’ and ‘Faltu’.
Bradford Bazaar in England has been used as a backdrop for Karachi for some scenes.According to The Times of India, the two lead actors in Taliban attire were mistaken for real by the Scotland Yard while filming in Wales. Bhagnani was quoted by the publication saying, “We were shooting in Wales in our Talibani outfits with real guns in our hands in a quarry that was a private property. Apart from Arshad sir and me, there were about 300 extras, all in the Talibani outfits, when suddenly we saw two orange choppers hovering above us. We merrily continued to fire our guns assuming them to be just normal choppers that were flying over us, till we saw them pointing their snipers at us and we found ourselves surrounded in full filmi style by the Scotland Yard cars. We learnt that they had caught us with our guns and clothes on their satellite and mistook us to be a terrorist outfit. Of course we clarified to them and showed them all our permissions and finally they laughed it off, but we were scared for those few moments when they gheraoed us.”
‘Welcome to Karachi’ looks to be a fun and entertaining flick and it will be great to see Warsi play a leading role on screen again. Prepare for laughs and more on May 21st 2015.