Akshay shared a poster of Welcome to the Jungle in which he is seen standing with folded hands, while the other cast members stand behind him.
He penned a message for critics and influencers, – "Critics and influencers, please replace star ratings with laughter emojis."
Akshay's message comes at a time when every Hindi film is being heavily scrutinised by audiences, with accusations of paid negative PR campaigns frequently surfacing. Many people take to social media to share their thoughts, while trolls often judge every aspect of a film online.
Akshay is currently enjoying a successful phase in his career. The actor is firmly in his comedy era, as his recent films in the genre have performed well at the box office. His last release, Bhooth Bangla, a Priyadarshan comedy, was a hit. Before that, he starred in Jolly LLB 3, the legal comedy-drama that was also well received by audiences and emerged as a box-office success. His 2025 film Housefull 5 was likewise one of the biggest hits of the year.
The Ahmed Khan directorial stars 34 actors, including Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Disha Patani, Jacqueline Fernandez, Arshad Warsi, Jackie Shroff, Paresh Rawal, Raveena Tandon, Lara Dutta, Farida Jalal, Johnny Lever, Shreyas Talpade, Tusshar Kapoor, Rajpal Yadav, Krushna Abhishek, Kiku Sharda, Daler Mehndi, Aftab Shivdasani, Mukesh Tiwari, Yashpal Sharma, Kiran Kumar, Zakir Hussain, Vindu Dara Singh, Urvashi Rautela, Hemant Pandey, Brijendra Kala, Feroz Khan (Arjun), the late Pankaj Dheer, Puneet Issar, Sudesh Berry, Jeetu Verma, Vrihi Kodvara, Adityaa Singgh, and Bhagya Bhanushali.
It is the third film in the Welcome franchise, which began in 2007. The franchise's second film, Welcome Back, was released in 2015.
Recently, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter India, Ahmed Khan broke down the logistics of working with such a massive cast and crew. He said, "Imagine setting up a shoot of this scale; we didn't just need a ground, we had to find two massive, adjacent grounds. Why? Because we needed space to park 50 vanity vans. We needed additional holding areas for the background actors and cabins for the main unit. Then consider the commute. The actors arrive in their cars, the technicians in theirs, plus separate vehicles for the makeup teams, hair stylists, and personal staff. We were dealing with 200 to 250 cars arriving daily. Managing our set was less like managing a traditional film shoot and more like organising a massive music concert every single day!"