Dhamaal 4 Opens in Theatres: Is Ajay Devgn's Comedy Franchise Still Worth the Ticket?

Thirteen years, four films, and one franchise that just refuses to slow down. That's the honest way to describe the arrival of Dhamaal 4 in cinemas today. And going by the early reactions rolling in, this one's landing somewhere between "genuinely funny return" and "fine, but you've seen this before." Both things, apparently, at once.

Here's everything worth knowing about the Dhamaal 4 release, cast, story, and how it's actually being received.

Why This Release Matters Beyond Just Another Weekend at the Movies

Comedy franchises rarely survive four installments in Bollywood. Golmaal and Housefull are really the only other series that have managed it, so Dhamaal reaching a fourth chapter is, on its own, a small industry milestone. It also matters because the mid-2026 theatrical window has been unusually crowded, with a patriotic drama, a spy thriller, and multiple comedy releases all fighting for the same audience in consecutive weeks. Whether Dhamaal 4 holds its ground says something about whether pure, no-frills comedy still pulls families into theatres the way it used to.

What Dhamaal 4 Is Actually About

If you've never seen the franchise, here's the simple version, no backstory required. A group of chaotic, mostly well-meaning men keep stumbling into elaborate treasure hunts, usually because of a misunderstanding, and comedy follows from there.

This time, the hunt centers on a hundred-year-old hidden treasure tied to a figure called Shaitaan Singh. The location is locked in the failing memory of a character named Prithvi, played by Upendra Limaye. When the secret slips out just before his final moments, it doesn't stay a secret for long. Arshad Warsi's Adi, Riteish Deshmukh's Lallan, and Jaaved Jaaferi's Manav all catch wind of it, alongside Ajay Devgn as Guddu, an IRS officer who gets pulled straight into the chaos. A pirate character played by Ravi Kishan adds another layer of competition to the race.

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How the Story Actually Unfolds

• The setup plays like a reunion. Several reviewers noted the opening stretch feels almost like a celebration of the previous film, Total Dhamaal, giving each returning character a proper reintroduction before the real chaos kicks in.
• The first half leans hard into classic Dhamaal comedy. Confusion over a map, a treasure hunt with a giant letter marking the destination, and rapid-fire misunderstandings drive most of the laughs here.

• The second half shifts tone. Once the treasure hunt reaches its destination, multiple critics pointed out the film pivots into more of a survival-adventure structure, with comedy layered on top rather than being the main engine.
• New female characters join the cast this time, including Sanjeeda Shaikh, Esha Gupta, and Anjali Anand, a deliberate move away from the franchise's earlier tradition of an all-male ensemble.
• The runtime sits around two hours and twenty minutes, and the Censor Board granted it a U/A 13+ certificate, with only minor tweaks to language and gestures rather than any cut scenes.

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What Critics Are Actually Saying

This is where it gets genuinely interesting, because the reviews aren't uniform. Several early reactions landed strongly positive. One reviewer gave it four stars, calling it a fun-filled joyride built for the big screen, while praising the ensemble chemistry, particularly between Arshad Warsi and Jaaved Jaaferi.

Not every review was quite as glowing, though. One more measured take described the film as strong in its first half but noted the pairing of Ajay Devgn and Sanjay Mishra, which had real comic potential on paper, never quite delivers the payoff it seemed to promise. That reviewer also flagged that the constant callbacks to earlier films start to feel repetitive rather than rewarding by the film's second half.

The general consensus, reading across multiple outlets, seems to be this: Dhamaal 4 doesn't reach the comic highs of the original Dhamaal, but it's still an enjoyable one-time watch for fans of the franchise, with the biggest criticism being an uneven back half.

What People Get Wrong When Judging a Comedy Sequel Like This

There's a tendency to judge a fourth installment against the very first film in a series, which isn't entirely fair. Franchise comedy, by design, trades some novelty for familiarity, audiences come back precisely because they know what they're getting. The more useful question isn't "is this as good as the original," it's "does this still deliver what the franchise promises." By most accounts here, it mostly does.

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Should You Actually Watch It in Theatres

If you're a longtime fan of the series, most reviews suggest this is worth the ticket, especially for the first half and the ensemble's chemistry. If you're coming in fresh, it's a lower-stakes, family-friendly watch, but temper expectations for the back half, where the pacing and comedy noticeably shift gears.

Closing Thoughts

There's something almost comforting about a franchise this unpretentious just showing up again, loud, silly, and completely unbothered by prestige. Dhamaal 4 isn't reinventing anything, and it doesn't seem to want to. Whether that's enough depends entirely on what you walked in hoping for.

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Disclaimer: This article is based on information available across the web. Parchar Manch does not take responsibility for its complete accuracy, as the content could not be fully verified.