Indra Kumar's Dhamaal 4 runs on a jejune idea that the world is full of cheats and liars. In Kumar's world, it's not just humans who, driven by greed, become helpers and then backstabbers. Even God can be bribed with sweets and hefty donations. When Deshbandhu "Lallan" Roy (Riteish Deshmukh) asks for a rich wife and, in return, offers a 50 rupee note, he meets Paaro (Anjali Anand), who steps out of an "extra-large" car. But when he goes back on his word, the bells at the temple start ringing loudly, and the movie reveals that Paaro is actually the daughter of a car driver. If you somehow end up missing what Kumar is conveying here, fret not. Scene after scene, Dhamaal 4 heavily underlines how rapacious the characters are. Consider the scene where Guddu (Ajay Devgn), Jonny (Sanjay Mishra), and Prithvi (Upendra Limaye) hang on the edge of a cliff, desperately calling for help. "Help" arrives in the form of Adi (Arshad Warsi), Manav (Jaaved Jaaferi), Rosy (Sanjeeda Sheikh), Lallan, and Paaro, who ask which of the three knows where the treasure is because that person will be rescued first.
This doesn't make Kumar cynical. Cynicism still requires a perspective, a point of view. All Kumar has is a collection of third-rate comedy skits that might as well have been borrowed from the pages of The Great Indian Kapil Show. There are jokes about Paaro's weight, the height of a tribal man, a horror comedy sequence, and a slapstick routine involving a fake leg injury that leaves a woman hanging from a window. Kumar has neither comic timing nor any sense of how to keep his scenes punchy, tight, and brief. That horror comedy sequence is devoid of giddy suspense, so it begins to drag within seconds. And the "hanging from the cliff" scene runs for so long that any trace of humor evaporates long before Prithvi discloses the location of the treasure. When the characters finally reach the treasure, which lies inside a giant M formed by two mountains, Kumar relies on shaky ground and falling rocks for excitement.
This director, however, is no Steven Spielberg, and what's missing from the climax of Dhamaal 4 can be easily discerned by comparing it with the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark. To expect visual wit from Kumar is to make yourself the butt of a bad joke, but it's quite depressing to walk out of an ensemble comedy this lazy, this dreadful, just weeks after the far superior Welcome to the Jungle (both films are somewhat similar: they take their characters into lush green landscapes, constantly reference their own prequels and the filmographies of their actors, and have Warsi in common). Some of those depressing feelings also come courtesy of Kumar, who suddenly turns sentimental towards the end by preaching that family is the real treasure. It's not as if the jokes were splitting your sides or making you jump in your seat with happiness. Kumar, though, dulls his own movie further by assuming the guise of a traditional-minded uncle who, after cracking lame husband-wife jokes, suddenly turns sober and remarks that wives are homemakers. At least the dime-store morality is matched by the dime-store sense of humor. Add to this Kumar's self-admiration bordering on vanity, which surfaces when Lallan compares Indradhanush (rainbow) with Indra Kumar, and you don't merely have a lame comedy with mawkish sentimental detours but also an embarrassingly self-promotional vanity project.
Nothing, however, can beat the hideous AI-generated opening of Dhamaal 4, which serves as foreshadowing, communicating that what you are about to watch is going to be equally horrible. Satish Kaushik, unfortunately, passed away in 2023, and his Bata Bhai is resurrected through an AI cameo. It's one of the ugliest things you will see this year. I guess this also means it appropriately belongs to this so-called comedy adventure. If Indra Kumar is indeed Indradhanush, the colors he exudes are all bleak and dim. No wonder Dhamaal 4 looks so artificial. From the writing to the aesthetic, everything feels AI-generated. And if the opening scene is any indication, Kumar would probably generate all the actors for the fifth installment. The dreariness of Dhamaal 4, then, is a deliberate design. It signals Kumar's vision of his cinematic future. Expect more cheerless Indra Kumar comedies in the coming years.
Final Score - [1/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
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Publisher at Midgard Times