Golmaal (film series)

Golmaal is an Indian comedy film series directed by Rohit Shetty, with four films to date, the first three produced by Dhilin Mehta, the fourth by Shetty and Sangeeta Ahir. The first film Golmaal: Fun Unlimited released in 2006 and was followed by 4 sequels: Golmaal Returns (2008), Golmaal 3 (2010) and Golmaal Again (2017) and Golmaal 5 (2026). All the films starred Ajay Devgn, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor, Sanjay Mishra, Vrajesh Hirjee and Mukesh Tiwari, with Shreyas Talpade appearing in three, Kunal Khemu and Johnny Lever in two.^[1][2][3] The series also has a spin-off named Cirkus was released on 23 December 2022.

Golmaal is now the ninth-highest-grossing film series in Bollywood. The film series has been described as a screwball comedy franchise.^[4][5]

An animated version of the film series named Golmaal Jr. was released for with three central characters: Madhav, Gopal and Lucky.^[6]

Friends Gopal, Lucky, Madhav and Laxman often dupe gullible people out of their money. Hilarity ensues when they target an elderly couple and simultaneously try wooing their beautiful neighbour.

Gopal, who lives with his ever suspecting wife, Ekta, gets stuck in a yacht for a night after he saves an attractive young woman from a bunch of hooligans. Ekta suspects him of having an affair and decides to uncover the truth.

Cupid strikes when Pritam, a single father, comes across his college sweetheart, Geeta, in Goa. However, when their respective children go at war with each other, the two find it difficult to reunite.

Five orphan men return to the orphanage they grew up in to attend their mentor's funeral. However, they encounter the ghost of their childhood friend, Khushi, and help her attain salvation.

After the release of the fourth installment, Rohit Shetty expressed interest in making a fifth part of the franchise,^[7] after getting the right script.^[8][9] Ajay Devgn showed interest to return in the next part,^[10] with reports of Kareena Kapoor also returning for the next installment.^[11]

On 14 March 2026, on the occasion of Shetty's birthday, it was announced that Golmaal 5 would officially begin filming, with Ajay Devgn, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Kunal Khemu returning, alongside Sharman Joshi, who appears in the franchise for the first time since Golmaal: Fun Unlimited (2006), having been absent from all subsequent installments and Akshay Kumar joining the cast.^[12][13]

A scientist separates two sets of identical twins to find the conflict between nature vs nurture. However, years later the twins come close and creates confusion and hilarious situations.

It was revealed in the upcoming film Cirkus trailer released in December 2022, that film is set in 1960's and it would be a prequel to the fourth film of Golmaal series. In the trailer five kids was standing in front of "Jamnadas Orphanage" and telling their names - Gopal, Madhav and Laxman (2 kids), while the fifth kid is mute and trying to tell his name is Lucky.^{[14][15][16][17]} However, the film failed massively at the box-office.

This table lists the main characters who appear in the Golmaal franchise.

Box office

Critical reception

An animated series Golmaal Jr. based on the characters from film series premiered on Sonic Nickelodeon on 13 May 2019. However it does not follow with the Golmaal canon and does not serve as a prequel to the Golmaal franchise.^[25][26]

• Golmaal: Fun Unlimited at IMDb 
• Golmaal Returns at IMDb 
• Golmaal 3 at IMDb 
• Golmaal Again at IMDb 
• Golmaal 5 at IMDb