Golmaal is an Indian Hindi-language comedy film franchise directed by Rohit Shetty and produced under his banner along with Reliance Entertainment. The series is known for its slapstick humour, ensemble cast, action set pieces, and recurring characters. It is one of the most commercially successful comedy franchises in Hindi cinema, with Ajay Devgn appearing as the central protagonist across all instalments.
| Type | Hindi-language film series |
|---|---|
| Genre | Comedy, action, slapstick |
| Director | Rohit Shetty |
| Lead actor | Ajay Devgn |
| First film | Golmaal: Fun Unlimited (2006) |
| Most recent film | Golmaal Again (2017) |
| Number of films | Four |
| Production banners | Rohit Shetty Picturez, Shemaroo Entertainment, Reliance Entertainment (varying credits across instalments) |
| Language | Hindi |
The franchise was launched in 2006 with Golmaal: Fun Unlimited, marking one of Rohit Shetty's earliest commercial successes as a director. The title is a nod to the comedic tradition of Hindi cinema, sharing the word "Golmaal" with Hrishikesh Mukherjee's 1979 classic, although the two are unrelated in story or production. The Rohit Shetty series established its own identity through broad physical comedy, ensemble interplay, and the director's signature use of stylised vehicular action.
The series introduced a recurring set of characters—Gopal, Madhav, Lucky, Laxman, and Laxman—a quartet (later quintet) of friends whose names and rivalries form the comic core of the films. The character of Lucky, played by Tusshar Kapoor, is mute throughout the franchise, a running gag central to the humour.
The first film stars Ajay Devgn, Arshad Warsi, Sharman Joshi, Tusshar Kapoor, Rimi Sen, and Paresh Rawal. The plot revolves around four friends who occupy the bungalow of an elderly blind couple by pretending to be their long-lost grandson and his companions. The film was a commercial success and established the template for the franchise.
The sequel features Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Amrita Arora, and Celina Jaitly. Sharman Joshi did not return, with Shreyas Talpade joining the ensemble. The story centres on a misunderstanding involving Devgn's character spending a night away from home, leading to a cascade of comic complications.
The third instalment expanded the cast to include Mithun Chakraborty and Ratna Pathak Shah as a separated couple who reunite, bringing together their two warring sets of stepchildren. Kunal Khemu joined the recurring cast. The film was among the highest-grossing Hindi films of 2010.
The fourth film added a supernatural and horror-comedy element to the franchise. The cast included Ajay Devgn, Parineeti Chopra, Tabu, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Kunal Khemu, Neil Nitin Mukesh, and Prakash Raj. Set partly in an orphanage where the lead characters grew up, the film deals with themes of memory, friendship, and ghosts. It became one of the highest-grossing Hindi films of 2017.
The films are directed by Rohit Shetty, with screenplays involving writers including Yunus Sajawal and Sajid–Farhad across various instalments. Music for the series has been composed by a rotating set of composers, including Pritam (first film), Vishal–Shekhar, and S. Thaman, with songs frequently featuring on Hindi music charts on release.
The Golmaal franchise is widely regarded as one of the defining mainstream Hindi comedy series of the 21st century. It contributed to the commercial revival of ensemble slapstick comedy in Bollywood during the late 2000s and 2010s, and helped establish Rohit Shetty as one of the most bankable directors in Hindi cinema. The series also forms part of Shetty's broader "Cop Universe" only loosely, with crossover references rather than direct narrative integration; however, characters from the franchise have appeared in connected projects, most notably the animated television spin-off.
Golmaal Jr. is an animated television series based on the franchise, featuring younger versions of the lead characters. It has been broadcast on children's television channels in India.