Dhamaal 4 Movie Review: The Biggest Treasure Hunt Is Finding the Comedy

— Surya Prakash Josyula

Story

A hundred years ago, a pirate named Shaitaan Singh hides a priceless treasure on a mysterious island. He spends his life looting wealth and finally buries all of it in one secret location. The treasure remains untouched for decades, waiting for someone brave enough to find it.

In the present day, only Prithvi Deshpande (Upendra Limaye) knows the exact route to the treasure. He is the only person who can decode the secret. But a treasure hunt becomes exciting only when many people start chasing the same prize.

A pirate leader named Adhura (Ravi Kishan) learns about the treasure and steals the map from Prithvi. Unfortunately, he loses it. Since Prithvi remembers the entire route, he becomes a walking Google Maps for everyone searching for the treasure.

Soon, Guddu (Ajay Devgn) and his friend Johnny (Sanjay Mishra) join the hunt after learning about the hidden treasure. Guddu’s girlfriend Alia (Esha Gupta) and her two children also become part of the adventure.

The race gets even bigger when Adi (Arshad Warsi), his brother Manav (Javed Jaffrey), Adi’s wife Rosy (Sanjeeda Sheikh), and Lallan (Riteish Deshmukh), who dreams of becoming rich after marrying Paro (Anjali Anand), enter the hunt as well.

With so many people chasing the same treasure, Adhura finds himself dealing with far more competition than expected. Everyone races toward the mysterious island and its ‘M’-shaped mountains, facing misunderstandings, betrayals, chases, and endless chaos along the way.

Who finally finds Shaitaan Singh’s hidden treasure? Do they survive this dangerous adventure? That forms the rest of the story.

Analysis

The basic story is very simple: one hidden treasure and many people chasing it. It is a familiar adventure formula seen in films like Dhamaal, Race to Witch Mountain, and It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Every major character wants exactly the same thing—the treasure. So this is not a film driven by twists. It is supposed to be driven by the journey.

Unfortunately, that journey doesn’t stay exciting for long.

People don’t walk into a comedy expecting perfect logic. They leave logic outside the theatre and simply hope to laugh. In a comedy, what matters is not what happens, but how it is presented.

Dhamaal 4 understands that idea in the beginning. The first half delivers a few enjoyable moments and keeps the energy alive. But slowly, the film stops raising the comedy. The laughs become fewer while the repetition becomes more noticeable.

A good comedy keeps escalating. Every funny sequence should be bigger than the previous one. Here, that escalation never really happens. Instead, the film keeps moving from one situation to another without increasing the comic impact.

Another weakness is the character writing. In a well-written comedy, characters create the situations. Here, the situations simply push the characters from one place to another. Most of them react in similar ways, relying on slapstick humour. As a result, the characters start feeling alike instead of memorable.

From the moment the treasure hunt begins, every character keeps running after the treasure. At the same time, the audience begins searching for something else—the next big laugh. Ironically, that becomes the real treasure hunt.

The chaos is constant, but chaos alone cannot replace comedy. In fact, the confusion itself becomes the story.

Every character keeps asking, “When will we find the treasure?” The audience has a much simpler question: “How much longer until the climax?”

Just as the treasure remains hidden for a hundred years, the film’s storytelling also feels stuck somewhere in the past. It follows an old formula without adding enough freshness to make the adventure consistently entertaining.

Should You Watch It?

If you’re looking for a light family entertainer and don’t mind a predictable adventure, the first half offers a few enjoyable laughs. But if you’re expecting the magic of the original Dhamaal, this sequel may leave you wanting more.

Final Thought

By the end of Dhamaal 4, the film tells us who finally finds the treasure. But the real mystery remains unsolved: where exactly was the comedy hiding? That search continues long after the end credits roll.