Welcome 2 Karachi

There is a vicarious desire among movie audiences to see characters that are even stupider than themselves, and a film like Welcome 2 Karachi would fulfil that need. This is a film about a couple of Indian tubelights flickering in a Pakistani city hit by power outages.

Two fluorescent lights, both with defective starters, have been exported by cruise ship from India to Pakistan. Shammi (Arshad Warsi) and Kedar (Jackky Bhagnani) wash up on a beach in Karachi after a storm. As they are lying there exhausted, a terror attack takes place, and, shortly thereafter, rescue teams arrive, mistake them for survivors and take them to Jinnah Memorial Hospital (which is actually in Rawalpindi).

Being dumb and dumber, it takes them a while to realise that they are in Pakistan, but once they do, the clichés begin. Every person in that country is a terrorist, or at least affiliated with an extremist organisation. Mad mullahs take up a lot of screen time, and when they are on a break, Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) takes over.

The only compliment paid to the neighbour’s culture and society is on their food. Shammi loves being kidnapped because then he can ask to be fed with shami kebabs, romali rotis and the like, while the kidnappers bargain for ransom from a reluctant Dad and employer in India (Dalip Tahil).

One genuinely amusing scene has to be conceded. This is when Shammi and Kedar are sitting with Pathans and watching an India versus Pakistan cricket match on TV. Shahid Afridi gets out and Shammi celebrates raucously, making disparaging remarks about Afridi’s cricketing skills and about Pathans in general. Subsequently, he is ‘fakred’ by them (puns on the Urdu word ‘fakr’ abound in the movie).

You watch this movie at risk to your sanity. The mindset of its makers betrays an attitude that caricatures an entire country.

Arshad WarsiAshish R MohanJackky BhagnaniWelcome 2 Karachi