Movie Review: Golmaal Again, Here’s An Invitation To Brain Salad Surgery

Ajay Devgn, Parineeti Chopra and aha Tabu are out to woo the lowest-common denominator in this Rohit Shetty’s no-brainer

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Movie Review: Golmaal Again, Here’s An Invitation To Brain Salad Surgery


one and half star

Go, go go Golmaal, and that too Again? Okay, so here’s a doodad in which Rohit Shetty re-re-re-gives you those ones. Here’s a chestnut of an invitation, then, which requests you to leave the remnant of your brains at home. Really do extinguish your Dimaag: The Fire.

To be honest, I wish that ‘inflamous invite’ could have been accompanied by surgical instructions on how to carry out a bheja freeze. And  tips as well on how to store the bheja in a ‘fridge and retrieve it, too, after a mindless two-and-a-half hours, plus intermission, ads galore, and your perplexed trip back from the multiplex. Am I vexing eloquent? Perhaps.

Essentially because G’maal Ag’ain is one of those movies, a la Judwaa 2 or Housefull 1-2-3-whatevah, which are as immune to reviews as a rhinoceros is to a pinprick. It’ll make mega-bucks, yaay, so who’re you to nitpick? Erm, largely Bollywood is like that only, take the pell mell stuff or go to hell. Arre after all,  baba and babies, there’s no logic (or today’s buzzword, content), only magic here. Sigh. But where’s the jadoo ki jhaadoo, please Mr Shetty and Co? Do tell.

a still from golmaal again
A Still From Golmaal Again

Anyway to cut a longish review kinda shorter, there I am at an Inox audi, utterly dumbed down, and zapping myself to get into the phuljadi mood. Reason: to applaud Ajay Devgn, who once again achieves a balancing act on two moving vehicles (his entry on two mobikes in Phool aur Kaante, reduxed).

Besides actiongiri, Devgnji is into some comedy-vomedy, dances-prances (jejunely I’m afraid)  and looks quite nonplussed. Reason: he’s landed up, with his buddies, in  a bhoot bungalow nailed-‘n’-boarded together, you suspect, in Hyderabad’s Ramoji City studio. Aao twist karen? Yeah, sure and plenty more. Bore, snore. I wouldn’t dare to actually, must go with the flow, enjoyyy.

ajay devgn parineeti chopra tusshar kapoor arshad warsi and shreyas talpade in golmaal again

Ajay Devgn, Parineeti Chopra, Kunal Kemmu, Arshad Warsi And Shreyas Talpade In Golmaal Again

Ergo, in the vindaloo of mirth and horror, Devgn (Gopal affectionately called Gopu) and Co. (Arshad Warsi, Shreyas Talpade, Tusshar Kapoor, Kunal Khemu) are back , each one of them are eyeballs-a-poppin’ darting off-the-cuff quirks, and dropping yawn liners. Sample, then, the justification for the pairing of Devgn and Parineeti Chopra, with the jab, “Girls like father figures. You’re the father and she has the figure.” Right-oh.

The bhoot (or bhootni, keep guessing) must be evicted. Exorcism rites have to be conducted.  A caboodle of other characters encompassing Johnny Lever delivering a solo stand-up routine, Prakash Raj, Mukesh Tiwari, Sanjay Mishra, Vrajesh Hirjee and Neil Nitin Mukesh swirl-twirl around the hyper-active scene.

Indeed, you can sense that Rohit Shetty and his writer Yusuf Sajawal, believe that the more crowded and the sub-plotty the screenplay is, the merrier. Being compact, crisp and dare I used the word, orderly?, are certainly not Shetty’s forte, as you might have guessed after the packed-to-the-gills Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol-etc-etc Diwale.

As for the use of VFX and heightened colour-corrected visuals, that brand of varnish seems to be a compulsion with Shetty. The more garish and the overly lit-up the better, resulting in a flick which makes your eyes go a-flicker. Kya karen? Despite the access to cool state-of-the-art effects,the colour palate still belongs to the kitschy-kitschy hues of the  ‘80s and ‘90s from the Jeetendra-Sridevi romedies from Padmalaya studio. In retrospect, though, how you yearn for those yesteryear’s pots-and-pans jamborees.

Shhhh, I shouldn’t be asking such faltu questions. They matter not. Neither should I be asking why dear Tabu sporting a pair of spectacles, is portraying a clairvoyant who informs Devgn and Co. that they were reared in an oprhanage, where she once worked. There was considerable potential for her character to become the film’s unusual suspect, even a darkly humorous asset but then this is a male-ruled movie, no? So, let’s just say that whatever she does, it’s with her customary efficiency.

Admittedly, Devgn has his moments, especially when he comes off as a vulnerable afraidy cat. As for the rest, don’t expect the unexpected.

All seen (in a state of zombiedom) and endured, Golmaal Again is one thick-skinned rhino of a formula of a scare-giggle-fest.  Still, don’t give my review any notice. Because, my brain wasn’t ticking. Logic and other faculties were stored in the ‘fridge.




Image Source: youtube/relianceentertainment