Mumbai, February 10: John Abraham, Anil Kapoor, Paresh Rawal and Nana Patekar are set to star in the third and fourth installments of Welcome franchise and the makers have already started working on the projects. The 2007 comedy film Welcome, directed by Anees Bazmee and produced by Firoz A Nadiadwala had Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Feroz Khan, Kapoor, Patekar, Rawal and Mallika Sherawat. The film was a blockbuster.

The makers came with Welcome Back in 2015 with Abraham. The sequel saw Kapoor and Patekar reprising their roles of underworld dons - Majnu and Uday. "We are planning to do Welcome 3 and Welcome 4 back-to-back. We will start shooting soon. The actors will remain same - John, Anil, Nana, Paresh bhai. The third one will be directed by Ahmed Khan (the first two were helmed by Bazmee)," source close to the makers told PTI. Welcome 3 Cast: Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar, Paresh Rawal To Reunite, Will Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif Join Them?

The producers are planning to release the third part in 2020 and the fourth one in 2021. "This time we will have lot of action. We will have fun and stylised action, like how it was in 'Mission Impossible' series. So, there will be laughter and action both. First time we will incorporate the action thing in 'Welcome' series," the source added.

Shooting for the third instalment will commence this year abroad. "The moment Welcome 3 will get over in two month's time we will start Welcome 4. It will be the first Indian franchise to have a movies back-to-back. We had planned this four-five months ago."