Dhamaal 4 movie review: Deliciously dumb maal…

lsquoDhamaal 4rsquoDir Indra KumarActors Ajay Devgn Arshad Warsi Jaaved Jaaferi Riteish DeshmukhRating 3 starsThe only vantagepoint to view this overthetop ensemble comedy from is mdash as a series of unrelated microdramas or Instagram Reels for lengthy gags starring the filmrsquos multiple leads and their cohorts while the look and feel of the comedy itself simply switches genresThat is from actionadventure period piece family drama horror comedy survival thriller mdash with even more VFX than some scifi spectacles mdash down to a religious exhortation for emotional effectWhatever works for the audience I guess The choice is unlimitedAt its core Indra Kumarrsquos Dhamaal 4 like the three Dhamaals before it is a childrenrsquos film Which includes full set of funny fauna mdash crocodile whale tiger bats snake mdash to fit the wilds of VantaraIn this mela melee even the men and women in the movie could be primates from another jungle Whatrsquore they all after Pots of goldThis was also the premise reprised from Itrsquos a Mad Mad Mad Mad World 1963 in the filmrsquos first part mdash making this technically the fourth adaptation of the same comedyadventure starring Spencer TracyWhether each gag is equally a remake of other films mdash like the background score Bella Ciao from the Netflix series Money Heist mdash only the Internet is great at discovering and resharing over time Irsquove subpar memory with drawing quick connectionsFor now just smiling at how Riteish Deshmukh stars in an Andaz Apna Apna 1994 trope He bribes Gods to get what he wants mdash like most desis I knowHe tries to land a rich woman in a huge sedan who turns out to be the driverrsquos daughter instead That shersquos also overweight weighs him down rather heavilyYes therersquos enough fatshaming in this film to put horizontally challenged people off carbs for sometime That it might put off some people too is quite possibleOn such matters however I usually err on the side of comedy over political correctness that is oh so boring to begin with Saying this at the risk of being personally shamed for it tooThat said Riteishrsquos character is possibly the funniest of the lot while his heavyset heroine Anjali Anand outperforms several veterans on this show The franchisersquos favourite I suspect continues to be the underdeveloped manchild Manav Jaaved Jaaferi paired with Adi Arshad WarsiThe film with that many stars and nearly equal screentime of course must first emerge from a spreadsheet than simply a script by Paritosh Painter and others mdash alternating skits between each with a takiakalam recurring refrain of their own Bihari ldquobeyrdquo for Riteish ldquobrordquo for Sanjay Mishra or Jaaved being ldquonot so smartrdquoHow do you even judge such deliberately chaotic lunacy You start by not judging yourself As I donrsquot while cracking up silly mdash for no reason at all mdash as Ajay Devgn the pharaoh of franchise films and Sanjay press the bell at a home Both get instantly electrocuted with their skeletons showing through their jaws Pleasurersquos guiltless The gags are relentlessA story must take the film forward howsoever mad That ldquoShaitaan Singh ka khazanardquo from British times buried in a mountain shaped like M for money that everybody is running after is what in moviespeak is called the MacGuffin Hitchcock famously described it as ldquothe thing that characters on the screen worry about but the audience doesnrsquot carerdquoYou do care if all these characters will fall off the cliff together holding on to each other hanging on the ledge Thatrsquos the interval point mdash as long as any other climaxThe finale is more than a bit of a stretch in comparison and itrsquos almost entirely the moviersquos second half ending with even an emotional payoffAs if Irsquom supposed to take this pic seriously mdash that starts off with Ravi Kishan as a medieval pirate in a logwood ship with Ajay landing on it in a jet ski Do you careWell I donrsquot even remember the three Dhamaals despite rereading my own reviews which is essentially words for what I saw mdash the original I felt was likeable the sequel stressful to sit through threequel just about okay I guess thatrsquos also the nature of the genre mdash chewing gum of the mind But you like certain flavours more than othersVeteran filmmaker Indra Kumar Dil Ishq had another ongoing sexcomedy franchise Masti in multiple parts The last one of which Mastiii 4 2025 he gave up directorial duties on Good for him That was so bad itrsquos still stuck somewhere in my brainThis circus works all the more for the likeable leads you wanna get on a brainless joyride with Irsquom off Maybe your turn next