I went into the Dhamaal 4 reactions expecting a pile-on. Aka the usual sequel treatment, where everyone agrees the franchise should’ve stayed dead. Instead I got something messier, and honestly more interesting: a fandom that can’t agree on what it just watched.
Some people walked out grinning. Some people walked out asking where the jokes went. Both groups are talking about the same movie.
Let’s start with the good news, because there’s real good news here. Taran Adarsh gave it 3.5 stars and called it entertaining, adding that the first half is packed with fun and laughter, the post-interval portion is fantastic, and the climax adds an emotional touch. His advice, more or less: don’t overthink it, just let the madness happen. He pointed out that director Indra Kumar packed the film with slapstick, a treasure hunt, pirates, horror, and an entire zoo’s worth of animals, which, sure, that tracks with everything Dhamaal has ever promised.
Other early reactions leaned the same way. One viewer called it a complete entertainer, noting that it stays true to the franchise while pushing the treasure hunt to a new level, with strong performances from Riteish Deshmukh, Anjali Anand, Ravi Kishan and the child actors. Critic reviews echoed it too, with one calling the film a complete family entertainer packed with comedy, adventure, drama, and nonstop laughter, and praising Ajay Devgn’s effortless screen presence alongside Riteish Deshmukh’s timing.
That’s the plan collapsing into something else, though, because not everyone’s buying it.
Here’s the thread that got people talking. One user’s take on X went semi-viral for being brutally specific: the main lead acts like a supporting actor, while the supporting actor feels like the main lead — the one with great comic timing gets limited screen time, and the one whose timing is currently weaker gets more of it. That’s not a review. That’s a diagnosis.
And it lines up with what some professional critics said too. One review put it plainly: with a cast this loaded, you expect unlimited laughs, but it never happens — Ajay Devgn, Arshad Warsi, and Riteish Deshmukh feel like they’re trying too hard, and most of their jokes don’t land. The same review pointed out the actual bright spots were elsewhere, noting Jaaved Jaaferi is easily the best part of the film, with his expressions and timing still working perfectly, and Sanjay Mishra bringing genuine laughs whenever he shows up. Even the writing took a hit, with the reviewer flagging that the dialogues are very basic and the climax is predictable enough to see coming from far away.
So here’s the movie, in two threads. Thread one: nostalgia works, the ensemble is fun to watch reunite, the scale is bigger. One review actually zeroed in on this as the missed opportunity, pointing out that Ajay Devgn and Sanjay Mishra have tremendous comic potential together but the script barely uses it, so you keep waiting for that combination to explode into something hilarious and it never quite does.
Thread two: the actual comedy, the thing the franchise is named after, is inconsistent at best. Same review that praised the reunion energy also admitted the constant callbacks to earlier films become repetitive rather than rewarding after a point.
I don’t think both sides are wrong, is the thing. I think Dhamaal 4 is a movie built almost entirely on the goodwill of watching familiar faces do familiar bits, and whether that goodwill is enough for you depends on how much you wanted new jokes versus old comfort. One camp got exactly what they came for. The other camp noticed the seams.
Box office numbers, for what it’s worth, suggest the goodwill is winning so far, with the film opening to decent advance bookings. Whether that holds past opening weekend, once the “is it actually funny” debate filters down past X and into group chats, is a different question entirely.
Not going to pretend I have a tidy answer here. Some franchises you watch for the jokes. Some you watch because seeing the gang back together is the whole point, jokes optional. Dhamaal 4 seems to know which one it’s betting on. Audiences are still deciding if that bet pays off.
