A murder mystery comedy, the film follows multiple imposters who claim to be the son of a recently deceased billionaire as they compete for his fortune while aboard a luxury cruise ship.
Released on 6 June 2025, the film features two distinct versions, each showcasing a different climax sequence: Housefull 5A and Housefull 5B.[8] The film became semi hit at the box office.[9][10][11]
Plot
On his 100th birthday, billionaire tycoon Ranjeet Dobriyal hosts a lavish party on a luxury cruise ship, accompanied by his son Dev, adopted son Shiraz, loyal bodyguard Batuk, CFO Maya, COO Bedi, the ship’s captain Sameer, and other guests. Before the day of departure however, Ranjeet suddenly dies of a heart attack. Fearing the news will cause Ranjeet Group’s stock to plummet, Dev and the board decide to keep his death a secret. Ranjeet’s lawyer Lucy activates his holographic will, revealing that his entire £69 billion fortune is left to his son Jolly from his first marriage to Shakuntala Devi. The will contains unusual clues about Jolly’s identity; he is left-handed, married to a foreigner, and has a very distinctive scar on his butt.
The next day, three men—Jalabuddin, Jalbushan, and Julius—arrive with their respective wives, Zara, Sasikala, and Kaanchi, each claiming to be Jolly and proudly providing identical proof. Unable to determine the true heir, Dev suggests a DNA test, with the results promised the following morning. In the meantime, passengers and guests let loose for a wild night. Chaos erupts when the ship’s clown, Aakhri Pasta, attempts to drug Batuk by spiking his drink, but the drink is accidentally mixed into the communal punch, drugging the entire party, and the night descends into total mayhem.
The next morning, the three men wake up in the wrong cabins, with the wrong wives, and no memory of the previous night. Confusion turns into horror when the doctor assigned to perform the DNA test is found murdered. Suspicion falls on the three men and their wives, and Dev orders them all locked in the ship’s jail until Interpol arrives. In jail, the men confess to each other that they are all impostors and none of the women are their real wives; Julius is a private detective who was hired by Ranjeet to find the real Jolly, and he decided to pose as Jolly, however Jalabuddin and Jalbushan caught on to the plan due to them unknowingly hiring each other's girlfriends; Kaanchi actually belongs to Jalabuddin, Zara to Jalbushan, and Sasikala to Julius.
While Batuk naps by the cell door, they snatch his keys and escape. The men attempt to dispose of Ranjeet's body while the women crawl through air vents to destroy DNA evidence. While in the lab—turned morgue—the wives witness Bedi coming in and acting suspiciously. He rummages through the dead doctor’s pockets, wipes his fingerprints from the door handles, and exits hastily. Convinced he’s the killer, the women secretly record him on their phones. Meanwhile, the men carry Ranjeet’s body to another room and hide the body in a wardrobe, but it accidentally gets swapped with Bedi’s corpse, shot in the head hidden in the same wardrobe.
Baba and Bhiddu, two suspended London police officers, arrive hoping to solve the murder to regain their positions. They find clues pointing toward the real killer, but before they can act, Sameer is murdered, and the allegation falls onto Baba and Bhiddu, who are imprisoned. Their former boss, Interpol officer Daghdu arrives, shares investigation files with suspects, and promises to reveal the killer the next day. That night, a masked assailant sneaks into Daghdu’s cabin to stab him, only to plunge the knife into a decoy dummy. Daghdu and Julius spring out from hiding to confront the assailant.
The film features two alternate endings revealing different killers:
Housefull 5A Ending: The masked attacker is revealed to be Dev, who claims he is innocent. But when a second masked figure arrives, stabs Dev and flees, the truth emerges: Dev staged the stabbing as part of his scheme. While Daghdu fights Dev, Julius, along with the others, and Baba and Bhiddu, who Daghdu released from jail prior, chase the other killer into the ship's engine room, who is revealed to Jalbushan. He, along with Dev, whom he joined hands with, orchestrated the entire inheritance fraud to gain Ranjeet's fortune. The doctor was killed after he had spotted Dev swapping the DNA samples, Bedi was killed when he found evidence on the doctor's body that pointed to him and confronted him, and Sameer was killed for having witnessed the crime.
Housefull 5B Ending: The same killer, Jalbushan, is caught, but the true mastermind instead is Maya, the cunning CFO. Strangled by gambling debts, Maya plotted the murders to funnel Ranjeet’s fortune into her hands.
As chaos engulfs the engine room, the real Jolly; Jalal, finally arrives. Jalal declares he doesn’t need his father’s fortune, as he himself owns a £169 million fortune. He offers to split the £69 billion inheritance among everyone present. The film closes as Julius weds Sasikala, Jalabuddin marries Kaanchi, Dev/Maya and Jalbushan are arrested, Zara marries Jalal, and Baba and Bhiddu are reinstated as cops by Daghdu.
The film was announced on 30 June 2023 by Akshay Kumar.[13] The cast was confirmed in early September 2024.[14] Filming began in September 2024 and wrapped up in December 2024.[15] "The cast filmed on a cruise ship for 40 days, sailing from Newcastle to Spain, Normandy, Honfleur, and back to Plymouth.[16] Additional reports confirmed that the cruise ship filming schedule added a unique production element, with elaborate action and dance sequences shot at sea.[17] The film was shot in multiple international locations and was one of the most expensive instalments in the franchise.[18]
The first single titled "Laal Pari" was released on 3 May 2025.[19] The second single titled "Dil E Nadaan" was released on 15 May 2025.[20] The third single titled "Qayamat" was released on 24 May 2025.[21] The fourth single titled "The Phoogdi Dance" was released on 31 May 2025.[22]
On 1 June 2025, a promotional event was held at Season mall in Pune.[23][24]
The event attracted a massive crowd, with fans cheering for the cast and participating in fun games and dance performances.[25] A viral video from the event showed Akshay Kumar dancing fugdi with Nana Patekar, adding a regional touch to the promotion.[26] The Pune promotion marked the beginning of a multi-city tour ahead of the film's theatrical release.
Release
Theatrical
Earlier set to release on Diwali 2024,[13] the film was postponed and was later released worldwide on 6 June 2025.[27][28]
The film was released in two versions, titled Housefull 5A and Housefull 5B, each featuring a different climax and murderer. This dual-ending format was conceived by Nadiadwala, who has envisioned the concept for 30 years. Both versions received U/A certification from the Central Board of Film Certification after certain edits were made to scenes and dialogues.[29][30][31]
Home media
The film began streaming on Amazon Prime Video from 1 August 2025.[32] The satellite rights were acquired by Star Gold, where it is scheduled to premier on October 11, 2025.[citation needed]
Controversies
Objectification of Women
The film faced criticism for its alleged objectification of women. Responding to the criticism, Mansukhani said the film was "driven by women" and argued that calling it sexist was a biased view.[33][34]
"Laal Pari" copyright claim
The film's teaser was on the occasion of 15th anniversary of franchise later, on 9 May 2025 the film's teaser was unexpectedly removed from YouTube due to a copyright claim by Mofusion Studios over the song "Laal Pari", disrupting the promotional campaign. Producer Sajid Nadiadwala subsequently presented a written declaration from Yo Yo Honey Singh confirming his exclusive rights to the track and issued a legal notice, leading to the teaser's reinstatement on the platform shortly thereafter.[35][36]
Housefull 5 received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics. The film faced criticism over its maltreatment and sexual objectification of the lead actresses' characters.[37][33]On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 13% of 16 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.8/10.[38]
Bollywood Hungama gave the film 3.5/5, writing, "The movie is a paisa-vasool killer comedy that works due to the performances of the lead cast, subject, humour quotient, unpredictable climax, franchise value and unabashed madness.
Nana Patekar stands out in a brief appearance, while Shreyas Talpade is underused."[39] Risabh Suri of the Hindustan Times rated the film 3/5 stars and highlighted "The film struggles to maintain energy, relying too heavily on Akshay's charm rather than strong material.
Overall, Housefull 5 feels like being stuck on a cruise with a few comic veterans, and a funny script that forgot to board the ship."[40] Lachmi Deb Roy of Firstpost rated the film 2.5/5 stars and opined "Housefull 5 is a bit of an overstretch and sometimes you can find it mindless too, but with Abhishek Bachchan’s stunning performance and Chitrangada Singh’s swag, I promise you will have a ‘jolly’ good time. And how can we forget Nana Patekar who adds a dash of thrill to this film."[41]
Renuka Vyavahare of The Times of India rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "What surprises you is the utter lack of humour, even dirty humour if we may say so in the script and sheer wastage of a zillion actors who are known for their comic timing."[42] Devesh Sharma of the Filmfare rated the film 2.5/5 stars and opined "Housefull 5 is an over-the-top comedy set on a cruise. It relies on a set of physical gags to get in the laughs."[43]
Jaya Dwivedie of India TV rated the film 2.5/5 and wrote "Housefull 5 starts with a good idea and makes the audience laugh a lot in the first half but loses its shine as it moves towards the interval. The excitement created in the first half about the murder mystery does not last till the end; the focus is lost, but the effective climax will not let your money go to waste."[44] Vineeta Kumar of India Today rated the film 2/5 stars and wrote "In the Akshay Kumar-starrer, the real comedian, Johnny Lever, takes a backseat while the cruise sails full speed ahead in a tide of obscene jokes and crass humour. If this is what Bollywood thinks comedy is, we might need a national sense of humour check."[45]
Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rated the film 1.5 out of 5 stars, saying, "The film is madcap all right but its pull-no-punches and respect-no-limits humour works against its own well-being. If only Housefull 5 wasn't so full of unalloyed bilge, it would not have come across as the kind of unbridled celebration of the ludicrous that it does."[46]Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express rated the film 1/5 stars and opined "Compared to the previous Housefulls, this one has a slightly fuller house, but because no one expects anything else, it’s pretty much like the older ones."[47]
Anuj Kumar of The Hindu reviewed the film and summarised "Sporadically funny and unapologetically corny, Sajid Nadiadwala’s fifth instalment of the franchise flirts with disaster. As always, the film is high on the glamour quotient, creating some thinly veiled sexual humour. The strand of suspense thriller is more potent, but the comic element does not serve it effectively."[48] Rahul Desai of The Hollywood Reporter India criticised the film for turning itself into a male gaze. He summarises "Not even Akshay Kumar’s comic timing and a twin-ending gimmick can rescue 'Housefull 5' from itself."[49]
Box office
Housefull 5 earned ₹24.35 crore at the domestic box office on its opening day, followed by ₹91.83 crore over its opening weekend, and ₹133.58 crore in its first week. As of 7July2025[update], the film has grossed ₹191.63 crore in India and ₹51.47 crore in overseas markets, for a worldwide total of ₹242.80 crore.[3]
According to Box Office India, Housefull 5 received an average verdict at the box office.[50]
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