About a month back, I planned with my friend to go and watch the latest instalment to the ‘Golmaal’ franchise. I had seen the teasers and the trailers before, and was in the mood for a good laugh. As it is with many Bollywood movies, when the promo ads come out all exciting and funny but when you see the end product, it totally disappoints, I kind of expected the same from this one. But I believe the reason why I went was because the prequels looked extremely promising and so I put my faith in that thought. The story revolved around a group of friends who find themselves amidst a horror drama, stuck in a haunted house with no one to trust. So without spoiler details, I’ll tell you why director and producer Rohit Shetty’s film worked at the box office with a worldwide collection of Rs 300 crore in its fourth week only. It’s been a long time that India has produced good horror movies – ones that are not sleazy, vulgar or run-of-the-mill. With ‘Gomaal Again’, mixing horror with comedy along with a strong and a unique storyline is something new and truly engaging. The cast is perfect put together where everybody’s comic timing is on point, and the roles and the dialogues are divided among all equally. No person’s role is more or lesser than the other, except for Ajay Devgan and Parineeti Chopra, because obviously they are the central characters. Tabu and Neil Nitin Mukhesh have brief appearances in the film but are integral to the plot and are like a breath of fresh air as it has been a while since we have seen them on screen. The film is well scripted. The funny dialogues do make you laugh, are not vulgar and sometimes are so hilarious; you have to catch your breath between intervals. It had also been a while since Johnny Lever had come on screen and made us laugh uncontrollably as that is how we know him and so with ‘Golmaal Again’, there is never truly a dull moment when the funny man comes on. Veteran actor Nana Patekar has been utilised so well in the film, it’s amazing. And to see him towards the end of the film, on screen made all his fans go berserk. The songs may not be the strongest part of the film, but have been picturised in the typical Rohit Shetty colourful way with some amazing choreography done. I also like how the film gives out the message of letting bygones be bygones and forgiving others when the going gets tough so everyone can unite and fight adversities together. It is only when we are divided, is when enemies strike. The locations are beautiful. The film has been shot in Mumbai and India’s northern areas and Shetty has captured them amazingly well. ABOUT THE FILM — ‘Golmaal Again’ is a 2017 Indian Hindi comedy horror film, directed and co-produced by Shetty, and written by Sajid-Farhad. It stars Ajay Devgan, Parineeti Chopra, Tabu, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Kunal Khemu, Prakash Raj, Sirshak Shrestha and Neil Nitin Mukesh. ‘Golmaal Again’ is the fourth instalment of the ‘Golmaal’ film franchise and marks Devgan’s 10th film collaboration with Shetty. The production of the film began in July 2016 and principal photography commenced in March 2017 in Mumbai. The film released on October 20, 2017. Published in Daily Times, November 15th 2017.