Total Dhamaal movie review: Ajay Devgn, Madhuri Dixit film gives ‘90s nostalgia, but in the worst possible way

Ajay Devgn, Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Arshad Warsi, Riteish Deshmukh starrer Total Dhamaal falls short in most departments. It even fails to be a ‘so bad that it is good’ kind of movie.

Once you watch Total Dhamaal, it is hard to imagine that director Indra Kumar had once made movies like Aamir Khan and Madhuri Dixit’s Dil (1990) or Madhuri Dixit and Anil Kapoor’s Beta (1992). Even in the early 2000s, his films like Masti (2004), Dhamaal (2007), were not just watchable, but enjoyable in parts. However, in  recent years with films like Grand Masti (2013) and Great Grand Masti (2016), his filmmaking skills made me wonder if he has lost his touch! And now, with his most recent multi-starrer, Total Dhamaal, my concerns have increased tenfold.

There are bad movies, there are movies that are so bad that they are good and then comes the Mount Rushmore of bad movies – Total Dhamaal has made it to the worst of the worst. The writing is terrible, dialogues are cringeworthy, script is all over the place, songs are underwhelming and randomly placed, characters are poorly developed, cinematography and CGI is just sad and honestly, I could go on and on.

And the madness & the craziness of the biggest franchise of laughter continues. Total Dhamaal is a mad adventure comedy about money. Guddu (Ajay Devgn), a small time crook gets double-crossed by his own colleague, Pintu (Manoj Pahwa), after they have managed to get their hands on an illegal booty. Guddu & his sidekick Johnny (Sanjay Misra) manage to trace his colleague but only after Pintu has given the information of the booty to 3 other groups i.e. Avinash (Anil Kapoor) & Bindu (Madhuri Dixit Nene) - a bickering couple about to be divorced; Lallan (Riteish Deshmukh) & Jhingur (Pitobash Tripathy) – Fire Officers turned offenders & two weird siblings Aditya (Arshad Warsi) & Manav (Javed Jaffrey).

Release date: 22 February 2019 (India)

Director: Indra Kumar

Producers: Indra Kumar, Ashok Thakeria

Production companies: Fox Star Studios, Ajay Devgn FFilms, Pen India Limited, Maruti International