Starring Ajay Devgn and Kareena Kapoor. Rated PG. Now playing

One of Bollywood’s most successful comedy franchises Golmaal is back for its third run. While the filmmakers try to crank up the fun factor full blast for another zany adventure centered around the Golmaal crew, the laughs seem forced and somewhat tiresome.

This time we pick up the action in Goa where three brothers, made up of the still vocally-challenged Lucky (Tusshar Kapoor), the crazy Madhav (Arshad Warsi), and the new Laxman (Kunal Khemu), who butt heads with their entrepreneurial rivals: beautiful but tough Daboo (Kareena Kapoor); the stuttering, original Laxman (Shreyas Talpade); and their leader, the muscular Gopal (Ajay Devgn).

The two groups’ asinine antics are just a ruse to set up the hokey story of elderly long-lost lovers Pritam (Mithun Chakraborty), who happens to be the father of Lucky, Madhav, and the new Laxman, and Geeta (Ratna Pathak), who is the mother of Gopal and the original Laxman.

Director Rohit Shetty desperately tries to mine amusement from the infighting of the main characters, but with little success. It is the veterans Chakraborty and Pathak who deliver some humour and tenderness through flashbacks. Their old, clichéd Bollywood love story is complete with a special cameo by the legendary Prem Chopra as the father who won’t let Pritam and Geeta be together. The real treat though is Chakraborty’s updated dance number that pays homage to his classic Disco Dancer persona.

Shetty also brings back veteran comedian Johnny Lever as the amnesiac crime boss Puppy who is central to a nonsensical plot involving the theft of an expensive necklace. While Lever is a natural at comedy, he is wasted, just like the rest of the talented cast, in a redundant and rehashed story that suffocates the fun.