Rohit Shetty and Ajay Devgn are back. They previously collaborated for Singham Returns in 2014 but their last comedy film, Bol Bachchan, came five years ago and did great at the box office. Two years prior to that, they did their last Golmaal flick so another instalment in the franchise is the currently running Golmaal Again – an addition to the franchise that keeps you roaring throughout the film. The story may be a little over the top but the execution isn’t and that’s the reason why it is on its way to become the highest grossing film of the year.

The gang is back with Gopal (Ajay Devgn), Madhav (Arshad Warsi), Lucky (Tusshar Kapoor), Laxman Prasad (Shreyas Talpade) and Laxman (Kunal Khemu) who this time around live in an orphanage in Ooty – a town in India – before they decide to explore the world and leave the town for good. A few years later, they return to the orphanage to attend the funeral proceedings of their mentor Jamnadas (Uday Tikekar) and meet Anna (Tabu) and Colonel (Sachin Khedekar) but all doesn’t seem right to them. There is a murder mystery lurking in the background, a greedy friend and a relative who backstabs. Gopal and gang join hands to solve the case and save the orphanage from destruction while spreading laughter all around.

The film belongs to Ajay Devgn who makes his return as Gopal. He is always angry except when there is a ghost around; Arshad Warsi plays the irritating sidekick and so does Tusshar’s Lucky who still can’t speak except when the ghost enters his body. The two Laxmans do what they do best which is finding problems and then make a fuss about them. Tabu plays the librarian who sees dead people walking, while there is a ghost that goes into people’s bodies as shown in The Fallen where a ghost jumps from one body to another. Too much for an Indian audience, right?

The film has a few songs but hardly any except Neend Churai Meri remix has repeat value; which is a sad thing as filmmakers are not taking the soundtrack seriously. They should value them as much as they value dialogues, which are penned here by Sajid-Farhad. The duo can make a normal film look like an extraordinary one and that’s exactly what has happened with Golmaal Again. They have made use of every opportunity to throw in pop culture references and making fun of stars such as Fawad Khan, Ajay Devgn and others. The young who have no idea about dialogues that are older than them would laugh at anything, even a threat and that’s what happened with the film.

Be it Johnny Lever’s antics as Pappi or Sanjay Mishra’s attitude as Babli, everything gels so well in this 151-minute long adventure. It was good to see Johnny Lever in a substantial role where he has short-term memory loss and others find new ways to stop him from switching personalities. On the whole, the film is to be viewed if you want to unload logic from your brain and embrace magic that will save the day. •