Akshay Kumar-Raveena Tandon's Welcome To The Jungle Scene Was For Audience To Interpret, Says Farhad Samji - EXCL

Welcome

To The Jungle is lushly wrapped with meta references that the audience couldn’t just ignore. From Akshay Kumar and Raveena Tandon’s 20-year reunion plug to reminding viewers of Salman Khan’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan, director Ahmed Khan served a brainrot along with writer Farhad Samji. The story of Welcome To The Jungle was written by the late Neeraj Vora, and Farhad wrote the film. In an exclusive interview with Zoom, Samji opened up about Bajrangi Bhaijaan’s reference in the movie. He clarified that the meta references in the film were written based on the casting, and each one shaped up organically.

Farhad Samji decodes Akshay Kumar and Raveena Tandon's scene

Talking to Zoom exclusively, Farhad said, “For the last four to five years jabse social media ne takeover kiya hai, they enjoy purani pictureon ka meta references. Writing mein bhi we made it a point, haalanki yeh scene pehle se decided nahi tha. Jab humari casting lock hui, Akshay sir aur Raveena ma’am ki casting lock hui, tab maine line likha, ‘20 saal se kahan the tum’. That was for the audience; jinko samajhna hai samjho. Uss hisaab se we started playing around.”

(Translation: For the last four to five years since social media took over, the audience enjoys references from old movies. We made it a point to write such dialogues, but this scene wasn’t decided. When Akshay Kumar and Raveena Tandon’s casting was locked, I wrote the line, ’20 saal se kahan the hum (Where were you for the past 20 years?)’. That was for the audience; let them decode it. Then, we started playing around.)

Farhad Samji on Bajrangi Bhaijaan reference

He added, “Bajrangi Bhaijaan ka reference bante bante ban gaya. Yeh sab humne pehle bhi kiya hai. Aisa nahi hai ki humne kuch naya invent kiya hai. Housefull 5 mein Jackie Shroff ne bola Choti bacchi hai kya. Isi mein logon ko maza aata hai. Audience joh order karti hai, voh hum serve karte hai.”(Translation: Bajrangi Bhaijaan’s reference shaped up organically. We have done such scenes in the past also. It is not something new that we invented. In Housefull 5, Jackie Shroff says ‘Choti bacchi hai kya? (Tiger Shroff’s iconic Heropanti movie dialogue)’. People love it. Whatever the audience orders, we serve.)Welcome To The Jungle is the third part in the Welcome franchise. Akshay returns to the series after 19 years. The film released in theatres on June 26.