Welcome To New York has a special song featuring Salman Khan.
Welcome To New York has so far made more news because of a song by Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, than the film itself. Now that the comedy, starring Sonakshi Sinha, Diljit Dosanjh, Karan Johar, Riteish Deshmukh, Boman Irani and Lara Dutta releases today, it will face the real test at the box office. The cast and team have been promoting it on social media by releasing several songs. Trade analyst Girish Johar has said that Diljit’s north India popularity, mainly in Punjab and the neighbouring states will be an advantage to the film, which will make anywhere around Rs 10 crore in its opening weekend. The film’s comic dialogues and situations seem to be its USP, along with a special song featuring Salman Khan who recreates his Dabangg magic with Sonakshi.
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Welcome To New York, starring Sonakshi Sinha, Diljit Dosanjh, Karan Johar, Riteish Deshmukh, Boman Irani and Lara Dutta, has opened to poor reviews. It remains to be seen if the film will survive the weekend test. In case you are still planning to watch the film, read Indian Express film critic Shubhra Gupta's review: Welcome To New York movie review: This Sonakshi Sinha and Karan Johar starrer is a lame tribute to Bollywood
Indianexpress.com's Shubhra Gupta says, "You wish there was more savagery and skewering all round, but Welcome To New York turns out to be a limp, lame tribute to Bollywood. Why would I bother to see this in a film, when TV shows are full of it?" Read: Welcome To New York movie review: This Sonakshi Sinha and Karan Johar starrer is a lame tribute to Bollywood
In an interview with DNA, Sonakshi Sinha said, "The makers came to me with the concept of a stage reality film. They told me they would shoot it at an award show, with everybody doing a cameo in it and having funny scenes. I found it interesting and felt I should be a part of this. I wanted to see what kind of an experience it would be. And, it was amazing."
Film business and trade analyst Girish Johar says Welcome To New York will have an opening of Rs 2.5 crore on Friday. He adds, "Everything lies on the film’s content. If it fares well with the audience, the collection even could go up to Rs 10 crore by the first weekend.” Read: Welcome To New York box office prediction: Diljit Dosanjh-Sonakshi Sinha film to earn Rs 10 crore in opening weekend
Diljit Dosanjh
Welcome to New York is popular Punjabi artist Diljit Dosanjh's third Bollywood film. Though Diljit has earlier done some fantastic roles in Phillauri and Udta Punjab, this will be the first time Diljit will be seen in a comic role, which has been his forte in Punjabi cinema. His on-point comic timing and dialogue delivery have raised our expectations from Welcome To New York.
Chakri Toleti
Chakri Toleti, a renowned filmmaker down south, is making his Bollywood debut with Welcome To New York. Having made films like Billa II, Unnaipol Oruvan and Eenadu, Chakri's talent as a filmmaker remains unquestioned. However, Welcome to New York is also his first comedy, we are looking forward to how this one pans out.
Bollywood's first self-referential comedy
While B-town celebrities taking jibes at the Hindi film industry and even themselves has probably become a thing at the glitzy award shows, it still remains an unexplored genre for a Bollywood movie. In one of the comic sequences in the trailer, we saw Karan Johar give a death sentence to a man because he dared to watch Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, well, if that isn't self-deprecating humour, what is?
Riteish Deshmukh and Karan Johar
Apart from Diljit Dosanjh, Welcome to New York also stars Karan Johar and Riteish Deshmukh. While critics have their doubts about Karan the actor, his camaraderie with Riteish Deshmukh in the trailer gave us all the right kind of vibes and they are even hilarious. It also helps that Karan has been a regular host at Bollywood Award shows and that is the sequence we saw in the trailer.
Rest of the cast
The list doesn't end there. Welcome to New York will also star Sonakshi Sinha, Rana Daggubati, Lara Dutta and Boman Irani. With such an impeccable set of actors backing the film, Welcome To New York could actually be the kind of laugh riot that the makers want it to be.