In an X post, the actor thanked Akshay, his co-star from the 2008 comedy 'Awara Pagal Deewana', for making him a part of the third installment of the 'Welcome' franchise.
Aftab shared a photo collage with goofy pictures of the duo, one from 2008 and another recent one.
"First Photo taken 16 years apart (2008 & 2024). As you can see, nothing has changed. Thank you 'Awara' for 'welcome'-ing this 'Deewana' to this 'Paagal' Jungle", he wrote in the post.
'Welcome To The Jungle' also stars Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty, Raveena Tandon, Johnny Lever, Paresh Rawal, Lara Dutta, Rajpal Yadav, Arshad Warsi, Jacqueline Fernandez, Shreyas Talpade, Tusshar Kapoor, Disha Patani, Kiku Sharada and Krushna Abhishek. Singers Daler Mehndi and Mika Singh round out the cast. The movie, presented by Jio Studios in association with AA Nadiadwala, is produced by Jyoti Deshpande and Firoz A Nadiadwalla. It is scheduled to be released in the theatres on December 20.
The first film in the franchise, 'Welcome', released in 2007 and the second movie, 'Welcome Back', came out in 2015.