Golmaal Again

Golmaal Again (transl. Hotchpotch again) is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language horror action comedy movie. It was written and directed by Rohit Shetty and produced by Rohit Shetty Pictures, Mangal Murti Films and Reliance Entertainment. Made on a total budget of ₹69 crores including production and marketing costs, it is the fourth installment of the Golmaal franchise and stars Tabu, Ajay Devgn, Parineeti Chopra, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Kunal Khemu. This movie is also the sequel to Golmaal 3.

Filming

The movie's filming began in March 2017. The movie was theatrically released worldwide with a runtime of 152 minutes on October 20, 2017, coinciding with Diwali. Despite clashing with Aamir Khan's Secret Superstar, Golmaal Again became one of the year's highest grossers and was a blockbuster at the box office. Its lifetime domestic net collection was more than ₹205 crores, while the worldwide gross ended at ₹311 crores. The film received mixed reviews from critics with praise for its humour and performances and criticism for its flaws in the technical aspects. In 2019, a show based on the Golmaal film series was made and it was called Golmaal Jr, which is a show about two rival prank gangs of kids, headed by Gopal and Madhav. A spin-off film titled Cirkus was released on 23 December 2022.

Plot

Gopal, Madhav, Lucky, Laxman and Laxman 2 are orphans in an orphanage in Ooty managed by businessman Jamnadas. Gopal is afraid of ghosts. Lucky is mute and Laxman has a speech impediment. The boys find a baby girl and take her in, naming her Khushi. They care for her and are also aware of librarian Anna's ability to see ghosts and spirits. One day, when Madhav pranks and scares the timid Gopal in an empty bungalow, a fight ensues between the boys. Gopal gets punished, which prompts Gopal and Laxman to leave the orphanage, and soon, Madhav, Lucky and Laxman also do the same. Khushi is later adopted by the loving Colonel Chauhan and his wife.

Years later

Some years later, Gopal and Laxman work with Babli Bhai and Madhav, Lucky and Laxman work with Vasooli Bhai. The group reunites after learning about Jamnadas' demise. Returning to the orphanage after 25 years, they meet Col. Chauhan, Anna and Pappi, another orphan from the orphanage who has frequent memory loss. They meet a girl who they think is the bungalow's caretaker, Damini and learn about Khushi's demise. At an event after Jamnadas' funeral, businessman Vasu Reddy reveals the orphanage would be demolished and moved elsewhere in plans to make his own building. When the group leaves the orphanage and returns, a ghost possesses Laxman and speak in Nana Patekar's voice which scares Gopal. Next, the ghost possesses Madhav and prompts Vasooli to give them a task, indirectly bringing the three back to Ooty. A scared Gopal calls Anna, who reveals that there is a spirit in their house and suggests him and Laxman to move to Col. Chauhan's house. Upon reaching Ooty, the two groups start fighting each other out of anger. The three try to scare Gopal into leaving the house, but Gopal gets possessed and beats Lucky and Laxman badly. Later, Vasu Reddy assigns Madhav, Lucky and Laxman to burn down the house. But things go awry when Lucky gets possessed by the spirit and starts talking, which scares the group. The two groups then decide to leave, but Anna and Damini convince them to stay for the birthday celebration, and the group makes amends. The four find that Gopal has fallen in love with Damini and force him to confess his feelings. Pappi arrives and reveals that the girl they assumed to be Damini is actually Khushi, who is dead, while the real Damini is Pappi's girlfriend. The boys get terrified and try to escape the house along with Pappi, Babli Bhai and Vasooli Bhai after Damini confesses it herself. Anna arrives and stops them and explains to them that the ghost is none other than their childhood friend Khushi.

Flashback

A flashback narrated by Khushi explains how her boyfriend, Nikhil Surana, a young businessman and Jamnadas' nephew, killed him in order to obtain the orphanage in his name and demolish it for the construction of a site. Upon confronting him and threatening to go to the police, Khushi was strangled to death by Nikhil. With the help of Vasu Reddy, he managed to prove the killings to be accidents. However, Khushi's spirit came for help to Anna, who was surprised that the boys could see Khushi and eventually brought them to the house to help get justice for Khushi.

Back to the present

Back to the present, Gopal thrashes the goons sent by Vasu Reddy while the rest of the boys, who wanted to stay away from the matter, get emotionally convinced to stay. They convince Gopal to stop chasing the goons and later almost manage to scare Vasu into confessing the truth, but Nikhil arrives before they can and reveals there's no evidence to prove him guilty. This leads to a fight, during which Khushi attacks and nearly kills Nikhil but is calmed down by Anna, and Vasu convinces Nikhil to confess. With the orphanage saved, Khushi's spirit departs to heaven after bidding goodbye to the boys and Anna.

Cast

Main

• Ajay Devgn as Gopal "Gopu" Kumar Santoshi
• Tabu as Anna Mathew/the narrator
  • Diksha Sharma as little Anna
• Parineeti Chopra as Khushi Chauhan/Damini Jaisingh (fake)
• Arshad Warsi as Madhav Singh Ghai
• Shreyas Talpade as Laxman Prasad Santoshi
• Tusshar Kapoor as Lucky Singh Ghai
• Kunal Khemu as Laxman Singh Ghai
• Neil Nitin Mukesh as Nikhil Surana
• Johny Lever as Pappi Bhai
• Prakash Raj as Vasu Reddy

Recurring

• Sanjay Mishra as Babli Bhai
• Mukesh Tiwari as Vasooli Jhinga
• Vrajesh Hirjee as Pandu Ranga
• Murali Sharma as Inspector Mohan Dande
• Vijay Patkar as Havaldar Jaikanth Gandhari
• Uday Tikekar as Jamnadas Bansal
• Sachin Khedekar as Colonel Chauhan
• Ashwini Kalsekar as Damini Jaisingh
• Nana Patekar as Himself; the voice of the ghost
• Mohan Ram as a ghost
• Shreya Anchan as himself (special appearance)

Sequel

On November 7, 2021, Rohit announced that the fifth film of Golmaal series will be called Phir Golmaal. He also announced on that same day that it will be about Gopal, Madhav, Laxman, Lucky, and their new friend, who is named Vicky solving a case of them being accused of a murder as they keep on getting into trouble while solving it.