Golmaal Again Review - More Like Pedophilia Again

This review is rather redundant. No matter what the words that follow these, the masses and Rohit Shetty won’t be affected by it. Here is Golmaal Again, the fourth installment of Shetty’s much-loved Golmaal series. It follows the lives of Gopal, Lucky, Lakshman, Lakshman and Madhav. Each old men, as dim-witted as the next. Perhaps the oddballs in the group are Arshad Warsi and Ajay Devgan (Devgan especially, looking much older than the rest), who just look like overgrown man-children who are prancing about too loudly. The film is set in an orphanage, surrounded by such vivid greenery, you’d think that Shetty would’ve borrowed from Anurag Basu’s Jagga Jasoos.

Shetty’s films (to certain people, don’t judge) do offer a sense of escape. He was immensely rewarded with films like Chennai Express, Golmaal and even Singham. Yet here, you’ll laugh …sporadically but not come out of the theatre energized like you did in those loud, pointless but fun films. That’s mainly because Golmaal Again has an actual plot. However nonsensical it may be, this one tries to evoke some emotion. The welcome change here is Tabu. No matter how one-toned her performance is, she always sports a grave look that helps move the story along. She looks straight ahead and picks up the pace when the film falters, with the help of her voiceover.

There’s even Parineeti Chopra, playing a cliched, typical role that I noticed the first frame that she was on screen. That’s the problem. Golmaal Again is predictable and silly, but that can be overlooked. Why? Because Shetty’s brand of filmmaking is supposed to be predictable, not an analytical look into our lives. Even though the film addresses it, the relationship that blooms between Ajay and Parineeti is disgusting. Ajay can act like a twenty year old sleeping in Shreyas Talpade’s lap, but the pairing is pedophilia personified. Parineeti, who’s proved that her energy can light up the drabbest of films, like Meri Pyaari Bindu and Daawat-E-Ishq. Here, she’s supposed to be drab, sad, dull, monotonous and repetitive. So, Chopra’s talents are wasted.

Devgn, no matter his flaws, does give a performance to write about. Like Baadshaho, his character is predictable but he keeps the film afloat and Shreyas Talpade singing to him made me laugh too. The film’s posters read ‘No Logic, Only Magic’ and Tabu even utters those words a number of times in the film. It’s long, overwrought, loud, repetitive but Golmaal Again never gets crass. That’s a plus point in a film that you can have so many problems with. Having said it, it’s too long. Clocking in at over 2 hours and 30 minutes, the film tested my patience immensely. Like Parineeti in this film, Golmaal Again is a one-trick horse that loses its mojo and fun much too early into the film. On a scale of 1 to 5, Golmaal Again is 2 stars.