Golmaal Returns

Golmaal Returns (transl. Chaos Returns ) is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language comedy film directed by Rohit Shetty. The film is a remake of the 1989 Marathi film Pheka Pheki, which itself inspired by 1973 Hindi film Aaj Ki Taaza Khabar,[3][4][5][6] it serves as the second installment in the Golmaal film series. The film stars Ajay Devgn, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor and Shreyas Talpade. It was one of the highest-grossing Hindi films of 2008.

Gopal lives with his wife Ekta, who is addicted to watching Indian dramas and soap operas. He also lives with his sister Esha and Ekta's mute brother, his brother in law Lucky. Lucky is in love with a deaf girl named Daisy. Investigating Officer Madhav, Esha's boyfriend, does not get along with Gopal.

One night, while returning from his office, Gopal saves an attractive young woman named Meera from some dreadful goons. Due to circumstances, both of them decide to stay the night at Gopal's friend's yacht. When he arrives home the next day, an over-suspicious Ekta suspects Gopal of flirting around with his female employees and having an affair with his secretary. Knowing how difficult it is to convince her with the truth, he invents a story about spending the night with a fictitious friend named Anthony Gonsalves. Ekta becomes suspicious and does not believe his story as she knows that he never had a friend by that name, and hence, she decides to write to Anthony to visit her and to confirm Gopal was telling the truth. Gopal meets Laxman Prasad who has come to interview for a position in his office. He is Meera's boyfriend, which is not known to Gopal who asks him to pretend to be Anthony, and meet and convince Ekta that he was indeed telling the truth, in return for a job. Laxman agrees to do so, and everything goes according to plan until the address on which Ekta had written a letter to Anthony as well as his name turns out to be real.

Meanwhile, Gopal finds out that a dead body was found at the same location where he saved Meera from the goons. Madhav finds out that Gopal was missing from his home that very night and that the dead person was Gopal's colleague whom he had threatened to kill over a spat. Madhav also finds out that Laxman is not the real Anthony. He asks Gopal to get the girl to the police station to prove that Gopal had been with her, and did not murder his employee. After three days and a lot of attempts, they still are not able to find the girl. In panic, Laxman and Lucky hire a woman called Munni who needs money to get her boyfriend Vasooli out of jail. But Munni is kidnapped by the murderer. In a rage, Vasooli comes to Meera's house, where Laxman and Lucky learn it was Meera whom Gopal had saved from the goons that night. After an initial shock, they decide to go to the police station. However, Vasooli kidnaps Meera in anger.

Gopal is later bailed out by Sawant who is going along with him to the Lover's Point, with Madhav, Esha, Lucky and Laxman following them in pursuit, and Ekta, Vasooli and Meera arriving later. Munni is found tied up in the back of the murderer's jeep and is freed by the group. Gopal learns that this was a plot concocted by Sawant to frame him for the murder, as his illegal drug trade was about to be exposed. The drama grows, as everyone attempts suicide (except Madhav and Lucky), much to Sawant's anger, until he is driven crazy from this and tries to kill himself.

Ekta and Gopal get back together, Madhav and Gopal also shake hands in the end. Lucky, meanwhile, marries the daughter of the president of Gopal's company, who happens to be Daisy and becomes the new boss, giving a shock to the others. Gopal and Laxman are declared the junior bosses, while Madhav is declared a 24-hour guard for Lucky.

Ajay Devgn is paired opposite Kareena Kapoor.[8] Amongst the rest of the multi-starrer cast, actress Amrita Arora is the love interest of Arshad Warsi[8] whilst Celina Jaitly and Anjana Sukhani are paired opposite Shreyas Talpade and Tusshar Kapoor, respectively.[9]

Originally expected to commence shooting for the film in Dubai on a forty-day schedule,[10] the cast shot for the film in Goa on a twenty-day schedule.[11][12] Shooting later continued in places like the Filmistan Studios in Mumbai,[13] South Africa and Bangkok.[14]

The soundtrack was released on 19 September 2008 by director Rohit Shetty and actors Ajay Devgn, Tusshar Kapoor & Shreyas Talpade on the musical show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2009.[15] While the film's soundtrack contains six new songs composed by Pritam for the sequel, the album also consists of songs from the first film. Lyrics have been penned by Sameer.

The music video of the song "Tha Kar Ke" cost ₹3.5 crore , making it the most expensive Bollywood music video up until that time. Its choreography and picturisation was reportedly inspired by the Sivaji song "Athiradee".[16][17][18]

Joginder Tuteja from IndiaFM gave the film's soundtrack 3 out of 5 stars and noted, that "Golmaal Returns is yet another winner from Pritam who delivers what is expected from a soundtrack for a film belonging to action-comedy genre. No one attempts to do anything exceptional or different from routine but walk the path which has been successful in the months gone by. The music may not go the Race (2008) way but does well enough to ensure immense awareness about the film due to its fast paced approach."[19] According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 14,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's tenth highest-selling.[20]

Golmaal Returns was considered financially successful.[21] It grossed between ₹ 420–450 million in the first five days.[22][23]

The film was released on DVD on 10 December 2010. The release included a single disc edition with the film and special features being the making of the film, and three songs: "Golmaal Remix", "Meeoow", and "Tu Saala".[24] On the Moser Baer release, it is one disc plus a bonus disc of Golmaal starring Ajay Devgn, Sharman Joshi, Tusshar Kapoor, Rimi Sen and Paresh Rawal.

In 2008, Shakuntala Bhatia, wife of director Rajendra Bhatia filed a complaint against Shree Asthavinayak Cine Vision Ltd., accusing them of directly copying the story of her husband's film Aaj Ki Taaza Khabar (1973).[25]

A sequel Golmaal 3 was released in 2010.