Total Dhamaal is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language adventure comedy film directed and written by Indra Kumar.[5] The film is the third installment of Dhamaal series and a standalone sequel to Dhamaal (2007) and Double Dhamaal (2011). It stars Ajay Devgn, Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Riteish Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi and Jaaved Jaaferi.[6][7]

Total Dhamaal
Theatrical release poster
Directed byIndra Kumar
Screenplay by
  • Ved Prakash
  • Paritosh Painter
  • Bunty Rathore
Story byIndra Kumar
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyKeiko Nakahara
Edited byDharmendra Sharma
Music bySongs:
Gourov-Roshin
Score:
Sandeep Shirodkar
Production
companies
Fox Star Studios
Ajay Devgn FFilms
Maruti International
Sri Adhikari Brothers Motion Pictures
Anand Pandit Motion Pictures
Pen India Limited
Mangl Murti Films
Distributed byFox Star Studios
Release date
  • 22 February 2019 (2019-02-22)[1]
Running time
127 minutes[2]
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget₹90–100 crore[3]
Box office₹228.27 crore[4]

The storyline of the film is loosely based on 2015 film Vacation[1] and some scenes borrowed from the 2014 film Blended. Total Dhamaal was released on 22 February 2019 to polarizing reviews. Made on a budget of 90–100 crore, Total Dhamaal grossed 228.27 crore worldwide and became commercially successful.[4]

This is the last film released by Fox Star Studios before the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, which was completed in March 2019.

Plot

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Guddu and his partner Johnny steal 50 crore of black money from Police Commissioner Shamsher Singh. When they try to escape, their associate Pintoo double-crosses them and drives away with money. Avinash and Bindu are a troubled couple who file a divorce and argue over keeping their child. Lallan and Jhingur are partners who work in a fire brigade service where they only save people first who bribe them which leads to them being fired after causing a mishap while rescuing people from a house in fire. Adi and Manav find a job at an art gallery where they accidentally destroy the whole gallery and escape with the owner's advanced remote-controlled car. Meanwhile, Pintoo plans to leave the country but Guddu and Johnny catch up to him. While running from them, Pintoo gets onto a private plane to escape but learns that instead of the pilot, he brought the janitor with him. The janitor escapes with the only parachute and the plane crashes. Coincidentally everyone arrives at the site of the crash where Pintoo reveals that the money is kept in the Omkar Zoo by him and asks them to look under an OK. After learning about the money, everyone decides to grab the money for themselves.

Guddu and Johnny's car breaks down and they wait on the road to find another car. After finding one, they come across the Police Commissioner who then chases them both to a railway crossing, and they nearly escape the Commissioner when a train collides with their car. They then find an advanced car with a sarcastic Chindi-speaking G.P.S system that directs them to wrong routes and ultimately leads the car down a steep slope and destroys the car. Finally, they get on a plane which they believe is going on a diving trip but soon find out that it is actually going for a skydiving trip and are forced to both reluctantly jump off the plane. Avinash drives the car into the forest while claiming he knows a shortcut to the airport. When they get lost in the forest, they meet a local villager who claims to know the route to the highway. They both take him with them and try to cross a wooden bridge to get to the other side which breaks down. After luckily avoiding falling into the cliff, they realize that the villager was instead leading them to a restaurant called Hotel Highway which leads Avinash to beat him. Later, they try to cross a river to get to the real highway, which gets filled by water when the dam gets opened and they get swept to the edge of the waterfall. Lallan takes him and Jhingur to a nearby helicopter service, where they travel on an old and broken helicopter of the owner which is on the verge of crashing. They jump off the crashing helicopter and land on a building under construction. Adi and Manav use the stolen car to reach Janakpur. However, Adi crashes the car in a desert after getting distracted by an attractive woman and then he and Manav accidentally mess up with the remote, causing the car to blow up and they barely escape the burning car. Soon, they get attacked by a flock of vulture and Adi gets stuck in quicksand after escaping them. Manav finds a snake instead and Adi is forced to grab it to get out. When Adi gets out, he bashes Manav for not bringing a nearby rope that was being used for laundry.

After somehow escaping near-death scenarios, everyone reaches Omkar Zoo where they start finding the hidden money. They see that a man named Chinappa Swamy is planning to illegally close the zoo and turn it into a housing colony by killing all the animals. When the caretaker Prachi disagrees, he locks her inside the control station. The group then sees that Chinappa's men are poisoning the animal's food to kill them. When Jhingur, Manav, Johnny and Bindu ask to save them, the group decides to save the animals. Guddu comes across a lion and succeeds in keeping him from eating the poisoned steak. Lallan and Jhingur try to stop a baby gorilla from eating the poisoned bananas but Lallan gets beaten up by the father gorilla. Lallan saves the gorillas by convincing them to not eat the bananas. Adi and Manav try to rescue a baby elephant which has eaten the poisoned sugarcanes. They save him but the elephant pukes on Adi and the elephants thank them. Avinash and Bindu try to stop a tiger from eating the poisoned steak but Bindu gets chased by the tiger and she escapes him by climbing up a tree. Avinash then succeeds in convincing the tiger. Prachi gets freed when her pet monkey Security opens the door. After successfully saving the animals, the group finds the OK and decides to split the money equally between all of them. They, along with the Commissioner after finally tracking down Guddu and Johnny, are confronted by Chinappa but get saved when Security holds a gun to Chinappa's face. The animals then chase Chinappa. The Commissioner forgives Guddu and Johnny when he also receives some of the money. Avinash and Bindu forgive each other and decide to live happily together. Guddu falls in love with Prachi with Johnny asking if he can get a girlfriend too.

Cast

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Production

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Casting

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Besides Riteish Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi and Javed Jaffrey, director Indra Kumar signed Ajay Devgn for the third part of his Dhamaal film series in late May 2017.[8] Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit were also signed in mid-November 2017 marking their collaboration after seventeen years when they acted together in the film Pukar.[9][10] Esha Gupta was signed in June 2018.[11]

In late December 2017, Ajay Devgn FFilms collaborated with Fox Star Studios to produce the film.[12][13] Pen India Limited and Mangl Murti Films came on board as co-producers.[14][15]

Filming

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Principal photography commenced in Mumbai on 9 January 2018, and ended in August 2018.[16][17][18][19]

Music

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Total Dhamaal
Soundtrack album by
Gourov-Roshin
Released22 February 2019[20]
Recorded2017–18
GenreFeature Film Soundtrack
Length13:25
LanguageHindi
LabelSaregama
External audio
  Official Audio Jukebox on YouTube
Gourov-Roshin chronology
Baaghi 2
(2018)
Total Dhamaal
(2019)

The film score was composed by Sandeep Shirodkar while the songs in the film were composed by Gourov-Roshin, with lyrics by Kumaar and Kunwar Juneja. Vatsal Chevli assisted in mixing all the songs. All songs mixed by Aftab at headroom studios.

Track listing
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Paisa Yeh Paisa" (From Karz)Kunwar JunejaDev Negi, Subhro Ganguly, Arpita Chakraborty4:01
2."Mungda" (From Inkaar)Kunwar JunejaJyotica Tangri, Shaan, Subhro Ganguly3:16
3."Speaker Phat Jaaye"KumaarHarrdy Sandhu, Abuzar Akhtar, Aditi Singh Sharma, Jonita Gandhi2:58
4."Theme Song"KumaarDev Negi3:10
Total length:13:25

Release

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Theatrical

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The film was released on 22 February 2019 on 3700 screens in India and on 786 screens in overseas market making worldwide count of 4486 screens.[21] Earlier was set to release on 7 December 2018 but due to extended VFX work the release date has been pushed back to 22 February 2019.[22][1] The film has been certified with runtime of 127 mins by British Board of Film Classification and all set to release on schedule.[23]

After Pulwama attack, Ajay Devgn and Total Dhamaal makers have decided not to release Total Dhamaal in Pakistan. The makers of the film including the entire crew, actors and makers have donated 50 lakhs to families of soldiers who died in the Pulwama attack.[24]

Marketing

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The first teaser look of the film is released on 14 January 2019.[25][26] The first look theatrical poster was released on 18 January 2019.[27] The second look poster released on 19 January 2019 with trailer release date announcement on 21 January 2019.[28] Third official theatrical poster of the film is unveiled on 20 January 2019. It is promising "The wildest adventure ever!"[29]

Two theatrical fresh look posters of the film are made public on 21 January 2019. These have pictures of main cast on it.[30][31]

Home media

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The film became available as VOD on Disney+ Hotstar on 20 April 2019.[32] The Blu-ray and DVD was also released in August 2019 by Shemaroo.

Reception

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Box office

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The opening day (non-holiday) collection of the film from Indian market was 16.50 crore. Its lifetime domestic gross collection was 182.09 crore and from overseas markets it was 46.18 crore. The worldwide gross collection of the film was 2282.7 million. The film grossed 100 crore (US$12 million) worldwide in three days of release. In opening week the film grossed 150 crore (US$18 million). In 12 days of its release the film crossed 200 crore (US$24 million) mark in gross collection.[4][7]

Critical response

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As of October 2021, the film holds a 30% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 10 reviews with an average rating of 3/10.[33] Taran Adarsh rated the film with three stars and found it entertaining and loaded with clean humour.[34] Himesh Mankad from Koimoi gives 3 star out of 5 says "Total Dhamaal is a fair clean entertainer that can be enjoyed with the entire family. It's definitely an improvement over previous installment Double Dhamaal".[35] Trade analyst Sumit Kadel stated that "Total Dhamaal is funny specially in Ist half. Its a no brainer fast paced family entertainer, lavishly shot & well performed by Ajay Devgn, Madhuri Dixit, Anil Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh & the entire cast. 2nd half is moderate & it could have been better. Overall Good film." Rating- 3 out of 5[36] Ronak Kotecha writing for The Times of India gave two stars out of five and feels that in the ensemble cast, the film had the potential to be a comic roller coaster ride. He concluded saying "However, the fact that the film is slapstick is not a problem, what brings it down is poor writing and execution."[37] Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave 1.5 stars out of 5, commenting "I want to say here that I’m not against comedies that require complete suspension of disbelief. But even that requires thought, clever writing, and a lightness of touch. Total Dhamaal has none of those things. It’s a cash-grab film that believes ‘bigger is better’. Alas it’s not. From multiple remix songs, to the low-IQ racist and sexist humour, and a reliance on familiar gags and tropes, this is lazy, cynical filmmaking."[38] Raja Sen writing for Hindustan Times rated the film with one star out of five.[39]

Future

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Dhamaal 4 (2026)

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After the trailer release of Total Dhamaal, the third movie in an interview, director Indra Kumar said that another Dhamaal sequel is definitely on the cards and added that he has already registered two titles – Triple Dhamaal and Full On Dhamaal – for the next installment of the franchise. The fourth film will most probably be titled Dhamaal 4.[40]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Ajay Devgn [@ajaydevgn] (25 October 2018). "December date with you'll looks challenging, but still keeping my Feb date! Due to extensive VFX work, Total Dhamaal will now release on 22nd Feb and De De Pyaar De moves to 26th April" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ^ "Total Dhamaal 2019 | British Board of Film Classification". Bbfc.co.uk. 12 February 2019. Archived from the original on 17 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  3. ^ "Total Dhamaal – Movie – Box Office India". boxofficeindia.com. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  4. ^ a b c "Total Dhamaal Box Office Collection till Now – Bollywood Hungama". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  5. ^ "Total Dhamaal 2019 | British Board of Film Classification". Bbfc.co.uk. 12 February 2019. Archived from the original on 17 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  6. ^ "Total Dhamaal box office collection prediction: Ajay Devgn, Anil Kapoor starrer set for double-digit opening". Zeebiz. Archived from the original on 24 February 2019. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  7. ^ a b "Bollywood Top Grossers Worldwide Bollywood Hungama". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 18 November 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  8. ^ "DEVGN TO PLAY THE LEAD IN TOTAL DHAMAAL". Archived from the original on 24 June 2017.
  9. ^ "Excited to work with Anil Kapoor after 17 years in Total Dhamaal: Madhuri Dixit". The Indian Express. 4 December 2017. Archived from the original on 4 December 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  10. ^ "INDRA "KUMAR REUNITES MADHURI DIXIT, ANIL KAPOOR".
  11. ^ Hungama, Bollywood (16 June 2018). "EXCLUSIVE: Esha Gupta joins Total Dhamaal; film to release in 3D – Bollywood Hungama". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 4 August 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  12. ^ "Ajay "Devgn collaborates with Fox Star India for Total Dhamaal".
  13. ^ "Ajay Devgn starrer Total Dhamaal release date announced". 8 January 2018. Archived from the original on 27 August 2022. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
  14. ^ "dna". dna. Archived from the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
  15. ^ ""Madhuri, Ajay, Anil recreate 80s hit song Paisa Yeh Paisa in Total Dhamaal"". Archived from the original on 16 June 2018. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  16. ^ "Khan Gives First Clap For Ajay Devgn, Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit's Total Dhamaal Shoot". Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  17. ^ "DEVGN KICKS OFF TOTAL DHAMAAL WITH REGULARS AND NEW ENTRANTS ANIL KAPOOR, MADHURI DIXIT, BOMAN IRANI". Archived from the original on 9 January 2018.
  18. ^ "Total Dhamaal: Ajay Devgn, Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit recreate Karz's song Paisa Yeh Paisa". PINKVILLA. Archived from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  19. ^ "'80s hit track 'Paisa Yeh Paisa' recreated for 'Total Dhamaal' – Times of India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 24 June 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  20. ^ "Total Dhamaal – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack". JioSaavn. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  21. ^ Taran Adarsh [@taran_adarsh] (22 February 2019). "#TotalDhamaal screen count... India: 3700 Overseas: 786 Worldwide total: 4486 screens Has opened well in mass circuits... Metro plexes are decent... Biz at plexes should grow in evening shows when family audience, generally, turns up" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  22. ^ ""Total Dhamaal: Anil Kapoor-Madhuri Dixit-Ajay Devgn's film to release on next year"". Archived from the original on 25 October 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
  23. ^ Taran Adarsh [@taran_adarsh] (17 February 2019). "#TotalDhamaal certified PG by British censors on 15 Feb 2019. Approved run time: 126 min, 52 sec [2 hours, 6 minutes, 52 seconds]... #Overseas #UK" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  24. ^ Hungama, Bollywood (18 February 2019). "After Pulwama Terror Attacks, Ajay Devgn and makers to NOT release Total Dhamaal in Pakistan – Bollywood Hungama". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 18 February 2019. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  25. ^ Taran Adarsh [@taran_adarsh] (14 January 2019). "First look of Ajay Devgn with Crystal from #TotalDhamaal... Costars Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Riteish Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi, Jaaved Jaaferi, Sanjay Mishra and Pitobash... Directed by Indra Kumar... Fox Star Studios presentation... 22 Feb 2019 release. https://t.co/DzfHHWDHvP" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  26. ^ "Total Dhamaal first look: Ajay Devgn and a Hollywood star named Crystal". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 14 January 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  27. ^ Taran Adarsh [@taran_adarsh] (18 January 2019). "And here comes the first look poster of #TotalDhamaal... Trailer on 21 Jan 2019... 22 Feb 2019 release. https://t.co/P3aEAUlS3b" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  28. ^ Taran Adarsh [@taran_adarsh] (19 January 2019). "Trailer on 21 Jan 2019... Here's the second poster of #TotalDhamaal... Directed by Indra Kumar... 22 Feb 2019 release. https://t.co/pd40DIZkk7" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  29. ^ Taran Adarsh [@taran_adarsh] (20 January 2019). "Trailer out tomorrow... Here's the third poster of #TotalDhamaal... Directed by Indra Kumar... 22 Feb 2019 release. https://t.co/1jpCIJ5zdY" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  30. ^ Taran Adarsh [@taran_adarsh] (21 January 2019). "Trailer out today... New poster of #TotalDhamaal... Directed by Indra Kumar... 22 Feb 2019 release... #TotalDhamaalTrailer https://t.co/AA4Q3glF3o" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  31. ^ Taran Adarsh [@taran_adarsh] (21 January 2019). "And here's another poster of #TotalDhamaal before the trailer drops today... Directed by Indra Kumar... 22 Feb 2019 release... #TotalDhamaalTrailer https://t.co/Duc8kEUWGx" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  32. ^ "Total Dhamaal". Hotstar. April 2019. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  33. ^ "Total Dhamaal (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Archived from the original on 10 February 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  34. ^ Taran Adarsh [@taran_adarsh] (22 February 2019). "#OneWordReview…#TotalDhamaal: ENTERTAINING. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ No one is looking for logic here... Focusses on humour and entertainment... First half hilarious... Second half could've been tighter... Loaded with clean humour... Families and kids should like. #TotalDhamaalReview https://t.co/EQitTkHEH2" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  35. ^ "TOTAL DHAMAAL MOVIE REVIEW". Archived from the original on 30 October 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  36. ^ "TOTAL DHAMAAL MOVIE REVIEW". Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  37. ^ Kotecha, Ronak. "TOTAL DHAMAAL MOVIE REVIEW". Times of India. Archived from the original on 22 February 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  38. ^ Rajeev Masand (23 February 2019). "Total Dhamaal Movie Review: This Film Expects You to Wipe Clean Your Memory Before Entering Theatre". CNN-IBN. Archived from the original on 16 August 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  39. ^ Sen, Raja. "Total Dhamaal movie review: Yet another Ajay Devgn atrocity. 1 star". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 22 February 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  40. ^ "'Total Dhamaal' director Indra Kumar plans next instalment; registers two titles – 'Triple Dhamaal' and 'Full On Dhamaal'". Times of India. 22 January 2019. Archived from the original on 27 January 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
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