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3 min readUpdated: Jul 10, 2026 01:56 PM IST
In 2007, Indra Kumar came up with Dhamaal, in which a whole bunch of characters led by Sanjay Dutt, tumbled and fell into holes full of risible jokes. This was followed by Double Dhamaal and Total Dhamaal, which were more of the same, in terms of crassness.
2007 was a big year for brainless comedy, with Partner, Hey Babyy, Buddha Mar Gaya the big hitters, toplined by Bhool Bhulaiyaa. Inaneness was the name of the game, but the occasional touch of goofiness and entire starry ensembles committing to stupidity, saved these films.
How do you top the last two Dhamaals? Dhamaal 4 comes up with a number, because it can’t be bothered with thinking of what comes after double and total: maybe four was better than double double or total total.
But Indra Kumar’s inability to move forward from his creaky story-telling style, so stuck in the previous millennium, sinks this fourth iteration even before it’s had time to float. This time around, we get a combined knockoff of The Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones, as well as the director’s unending fascination with hidden ‘khazana’, to push its cast, led by Ajay Devgn and the doughty Dhamaal regulars (Arshad Warsi, Jaaved Jafferi, and Sanjay Mishra have been at it from the first film), into a too-long-ab-bas-khatam-karo-yaar treasure hunt.
The guys do what they have done in the Dhamaal films: Devgn is busy with the hero bits, leaping off ships and cliffs on rescue missions; Warsi and Jaaferi reprise their loving brother act, which they could do in their sleep; Sanjay Mishra adds a ‘Bro’ to each of his lines for coolth: you get the drift. About the only one who kept me awake was new addition Ravi Kishan as a Jack Sparrow-type samudri daku, complete with a peaked hat and kohled eyes.
There are also new faces in the ladies brigade. And of course Anjali Anand’s plus size becomes a series of unfunny punchlines: a too-sudden turnaround – Riteish Deshmukh’s horror at having ‘got stuck’ with a ‘moti’ is what we get for most of the run-time — is bunged in just so the film’s blatant fat-shaming won’t get it cancelled.
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Actually that’s not this film’s major problem. We don’t go looking for political correctness in self-confessed cringe comedies. But is it too much to expect a little bit of perkiness? And not such an avalanche of in-your-face CGI? Tigers, crocodiles, cliffs, clouds come crowding in. A couple of annoying kids do a good job of annoying us. And the climax comes with saccharine flowing, and laughs drying.
If this is your jam, the film is for you. As for me, I’m not holding my breath for Dhamaal 5.
Dhamaal 4 movie cast: Ajay Devgn, Arshad Warsi, Riteish Deshmukh, Sanjay Mishra, Ravi Kishan, Jaaved Jaaferi, Upendra Limaye, Esha Gupta, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Anjali Anand
Dhamaal 4 movie director: Indra Kumar
Dhamaal 4 movie rating: 1 star
