Guddu (Ajay Devgn) is hunched over his kabaadi shop when a map to the ‘Treasure of Life’ lands in his lap, and within minutes, his assistant Johnny (Sanjay Mishra) is being chased by a one-legged man on a tricycle. This is not a fever dream; this is the opening beat of Dhamaal 4, a film that announces its intentions immediately, chaos, volume, and a desperate need to prove it has outdone its predecessors.
Ajay Devgn’s Guddu Is a Slightly Tired Anchor
Devgn plays Guddu as a weary schemer who owns a kabaadi shop, and the performance feels like a man going through the franchise motions. He has the screen presence to keep the farce afloat, but the character lacks the jagged edges that made his earlier comic turns land. The treasure hunt initiation relies entirely on his deadpan reactions, yet the script gives him nothing to react against but noise.
One wishes the film trusted its lead to do more than serve as a straight man to the surrounding circus. His chemistry with the ensemble is functional, but it never sparkles into genuine comic rhythm.
Indra Kumar’s Direction: Scale Without Control
Indra Kumar brings back the franchise madness with a bigger canvas, boats, islands, underwater gags, but the screenplay feels stitched together without a structural spine. The strength is the sheer volume of setups; the weakness is that too many of them land like a punchline you saw coming from the next state.
The film moves in a linear treasure hunt structure, which should be a gift for pacing, yet it frequently pauses for comic skits that kill momentum. A tighter edit could have shaved fifteen minutes of this 143-minute runtime and turned a loud movie into a funny one.
Comedy Execution: Bigger Laughs, Same Formula
The franchise leans entirely on misunderstanding-driven gags, and Dhamaal 4 doubles down on this approach with crazier situations than the previous installments. The broken-leg introduction gag featuring Arshad Warsi and Jaaved Jaaferi, where one attempts to reunite with his wife while struggling with a cast, is the film’s comic peak, proof that when the timing clicks, this cast can still deliver.
But the adventure framework keeps pulling the comedy into a chase sequence that feels like a theme park ride designed by committee. The bumbling pirate crew led by Ravi Kishan intercepts the treasure hunters, and their scenes rely on slapstick that rarely earns its place.
The remote island circus sequence where all groups converge is meant to be the grand finale of chaos, but it becomes a blur of screaming and falling. The jokes are bigger in scale but smaller in wit, and the audience praise for “bigger laughs” feels like nostalgia dressed as appreciation.
For more on how Hindi comedy fares on the big screen, browse our collection of Hindi Comedy reviews.
Supporting Cast: Three Gems and a Lot of Noise
Sanjay Mishra, as Johnny, is the film’s secret weapon, his timing in the kabaadi sequences is effortless, grounding the absurdity with a lived-in stillness. Upendra Limaye plays Prithvi, the map-holder, with a quiet menace that never quite erupts into the comic threat the narrative needs. Ravi Kishan, as the pirate Adhura, commits fully to the bumbling antagonist role, yet his character is written as a single note repeated for two hours. The casting signals ambition, bringing these actors together suggests the film knew it needed supporting strength to carry the thin plot.
Box Office Modesty and Audience Reception
The film opened to ₹13.72 crore in India according to Wikipedia, and has collected ₹31.31 crore worldwide so far, a moderate figure that reflects franchise loyalty more than critical enthusiasm. The audience response has been mixed: praise for “nonstop entertainment” and “unexpected twists” sits alongside critiques of humor quality, including a moment where the film itself seems to acknowledge the problem (“Your humor is bad”). The U/A 13+ certification suggests the makers aimed for family crowds, but the box office data indicates this franchise may have peaked commercially.
The Verdict
If you are a Dhamaal loyalist who missed the gang’s brand of loud, chaotic comedy, Dhamaal 4 will give you exactly what you expect, bigger sets, louder jokes, and familiar faces. Everyone else should wait for the streaming release, where you can skip the slow patches and watch only the Arshad-Jaaved scenes.
This fourth installment is a watch for franchise completists and a skip for anyone hoping for franchise reinvention.
For a sharper, more focused action-comedy, check out our analysis of Dongamohan review and how it wastes its lead.
Comedy fans seeking better-crafted humor should read our take on Love Oh verdict for a role-reversal romance that actually lands its jokes.
