15 years of ‘Welcome’: Playing Majnu bhai came ‘naturally’ to Anil Kapoor

Mumbai: As the 2007 comedy caper ‘Welcome’ completes fifteen years on Wednesday, Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor, who played the role of Majnu bhai in the film, is filled with gratitude. Majnu bhai among Anil’s favourite characters.

This character has given rise to countless memes of social media and WhatsApp stickers. Some people have even gone to the length of merchandising Maju bhai’s famous donkey on a horse painting by patching them onto t-shirts.

The actor mentioned that the character was indeed a fun one to portray as he didn’t feel like he was acting.

He shared: “It came to me naturally and with Anees bhai’s (Anees Bazmee, the director) writing and direction and with Nana being the perfect co-Star as Uday bhai made it even easier and lots of fun. I see so many recreations on social media of his dialogues and it’s amazing how he is still relatable even to the famous Gen Z. The character is one of the most iconic ones and will instantly lift your mood with his dialogues and swag.”

‘Welcome’ was directed by Anees Bazmee, and also starred Nana Patekar, Katrina Kaif, Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal, Malaika Sherawat and Feroz Khan. It told the story of a simpleton and his family who cross paths with a gangster family in pursuit of Akshay’s character of Rajeev. The ensuing comedy has many iconic moments that have gone down in the page of history and have been captured in memes.

Recollecting his experience of shooting with the ensemble cast, he added: “The on-set memories with Akshay, Nana, Paresh, Katrina will stay on. We used to laugh so much off the camera after the final take. A wonderful film, character and experience. I am so grateful for this ever growing love for him.”