Opened: 20 October 2017
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Parineeti Chopra, Tabu, Arshad Warsi, Tushar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Kunal Khemu, Prakash Raj, Neil Nitin Mukesh
Director: Rohit Shetty
Producers: Rohit Shetty, Sirshak Shrestha
Rating: ★★★

You know those movies which you’re all geared up to hate and claw into, but after viewing them, they’re perfectly watchable? Yeah. Golmaal Again is one them. Contrary to how I laid into it here, I chuckled through most of it thanks to a few scene stealing turns particularly from veteran Johnny Lever, who still has spark and comic timing to boot, and among the motley crew, Shreyas Talpade, who practically towers above his loony cohorts with his wacky lisp and lol worthy lines.

Rohit Shetty knows his audience and despite his pedestrian sense of humour, you can at least count on him to not falsely advertise his products. Unsurprisingly, there’s zero logic, rhyme or reason here, but he somehow manages to make all the buffoonery consistent, with the gags flying in thick and fast – some of them work, others fall flat, but it’s relentless, so you don’t really pause to question it. In between all of it there’s even a plot, no matter how senseless, which will mostly keep you engaged for almost all of its runtime, as it’s mostly inoffensive and harmless fun. 

The fourth in the series and with no relevance or connection to the previous films, Golmaal Again revolves around five orphans, Gopal (Ajay Devgn), Madhav (Arshad Warsi), Lucky (Tusshar Kapoor), Laxman Prasad (Shreyas Talpade) and Laxman (Kunal Khemu) who return to their childhood orphanage to pay their respects to its founder who’s passed on after an accident, only to uncover a series of events which led to his death, as relayed to them by their former librarian, Anna (Tabu), who’s also blessed with a gift whereby she can communicate with the dead. She hatches a plan along with the local housemaid, Khushi (Parineeti Chopra), who’s anything but, so that they can save the orphanage from certain ruin from a couple of goons, and it is around this drama that the plot unfolds.

There’s a tonne of not so subtle slapstick comedy here, and some of it gets old beyond a point, but there’s a series of extremely original jokes too, particularly the one that takes potshots at Nana Patekar, who also sportingly makes a cameo, that keep the momentum of the film going. It’s also refreshing when actors can take the piss out of themselves – the one here about the age difference between Ajay-Parineeti lands perfectly even if initially it has the potential to get really creepy.

The actors let loose and let their hair down mostly and while Lever and Talpade steal most of the film, Devgn, Warsi, Khemu and Kapoor all get their moments to shine too and they make the most of it ensuring that their gags hit the mark. Tabu is mostly stoic and sullen here but she does what she can with the material, while Chopra is as cute as a button – even if the pair of them stand out like a pair of misfits and look like they belong in an entirely different film, despite having fairly chunky parts.

Unlike previous outings, Golmaal Again has a bigger budget to play with, and thankfully, for once Shetty avoids going overboard with blowing up cars and instead invests in some decent CGI and tolerable music even if it has been lifted and remixed from past chartbusters.

What then did I make of it all? Honestly? It’s not all that bad – some of the humour and wit is on point and the timing of its release is perfect given that most families will endorse it given its somewhat infantile theme. Like last month’s Judwaa 2 I did find myself giggling away at quite a few scenes, so while it’s entirely forgettable, surprisingly, it’s quite entertaining, and as such, given that I’m getting a little soft in my old age, I’m going with three stars.