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Star Cast: Ranveer Singh, Akshaye Khanna, Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Rampal, Rakesh Bedi, R Madhavan, and others
Director: Aditya Dhar
What’s Good: The Entire Spy World created by Aditya Dhar!
What’s Bad: The Length!
Loo Break: Only in intervals, it is too dense to miss plot points!
Watch or Not?: Yes!
Language: Hindi
Available On: Theatrical release
Runtime: 3 hour 32 minutes
User Rating:
Honestly, last month, when the trailer of Dhurandhar arrived, most of us loved it, and I had only one prayer – that let this be meaningful violence, if it has to be this violent! And I think Cinema gods answered those prayers, and the credit goes to Aditya Dhar’s compassion and patience to churn out a spy world that is so elaborate yet very intriguing in Dhurandhar! Is this one of the best works of Ranveer Singh? Well, I don’t think so. Is this one of the best Spy thrillers coming out of Indian Cinema? Definitely Yes! Better than the Spy Universe? Well, in my opinion, yes!
Does this also mean that the film is a masterpiece that needs to be celebrated? Well, Celebrations – definitely yes! Masterpiece – No! But before you decide to watch this one or read the review, let me ask you only one thing – your patience, because this film takes time, just like that child who is a slow learner but shines with the results! Just like that tortoise who goes against the rabbit but finally wins the race!
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The film comes with its set of flaws, and one of its biggest flaws is indeed the length of the film. But if you forgive that and rest your loyalty with this film, it is not going to disappoint you for sure! In fact, the film is so strategically done, that it makes you learn every chapter – probably six or seven to be precise, and I might not be able to give you the count of the chapters because I am exhausted with the length of the film, but I assure you that these lengthy chapters, cunningly make you learn the entire syllabus by heart!
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Dhurandhar takes time to set up its premise, almost 60 minutes to be precise. But it sets the premise very strongly. Ranveer Singh plays a boy planted by Indian intelligence in Pakistan to infiltrate their political and terror system and fight them, being one of their own. Ranveer enters Pakistan as Hamza, and his journey of becoming one of the most important assets of the two most powerful leaders of Karachi becomes the premise of the film.
The entire film is set up in Pakistan, where Arjun Rampal plays an ISI officer, Rakesh Bedi and Akshaye Khanna play powerful political leaders trying to get a grip over Karachi, and Sanjay Dutt plays a very sharp and brutal police officer from Karachi! Amidst all these brutal Pakistani men, Ranveer Singh, a man from India, planted by Indian intelligence, survives, plans, plots, and fights to take hold of Karachi, so that he can protect India.
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Throughout, Dhurandhar maintains its pace, and each and every character introduced in different chapters leads the story in a very strong manner. Right from R Madhavan playing Ajay Sanyal to Akshaye Khanna playing Rehman Dakait. Madhavan and Khanna own the film as the two strong pillars apart from Ranveer Singh, who stretches his arms so that you can count them as the remaining two pillars of this film!
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Ranveer is a chameleon, and by now, it is a junk task to discuss how he blends himself into this character. But here’s the best part of Hamza – he never lets it overshadow any character in the film, and this is where Singh wins for the first time in his career, I suppose. He lets each and every character breathe. In fact, in the initial sixty minutes, I could not even figure out if he is underplaying, or is lost! But he does neither! He just respects what the film and Aditya Dhar demanded – build a Spy world with patience!
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Because, as discussed, the major flaw in the film is its length. It gets exhausting in the first half. More so, when we already had a second part planned, we could have done some edits to make this spy thriller breathable! The second issue with the film is Ranveer Singh’s romance with Sara Arjun! While it has been mentioned in the film that it is inappropriate for a man to date a 19-year-old girl, I am not going there. It is not even about the chemistry! It is the entire plot, which seems totally unwanted for the film! In fact, it could have saved so much time if that could have been edited because honestly, it does not even cut down the tension! More so, Ranveer and Sara’s chemistry looks totally lost!
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Aditya Dhar makes sure to keep in mind two things while putting up this Spy thriller – A. not to misuse violence as an aesthetic, and B. Don’t make it jingoistic or put a patriotic fervor to the film, and he wins big time with his film, which honestly is not even an action biggie! In fact, despite being a Spy thriller, the film operates over mind games, plans, and plots at a very average rate, not giving any unnecessary adrenaline rush as well! The film roams in circles as well while it plans and plots, taking its own sweet time to make a plan that would work in India’s favor!
Amidst all of this, Aditya Dhar also makes sure not to pump and paint the scenes with unnecessary bloody red! And for me, this is such a great sign of a good creator, to not fall in love with his muse! Not once does he get overambitious! Even while he takes time to set up the premise, which he knows might irk the audience, he does not deflect from the main aim – to build up the world he wants to create – one brick at a time, without deviating from the plot with item dances or song sequences, in the name of entertainment!
The background music for the film is also a winner. It keeps setting the tone and easing the tension! While the music album did not serve any purpose independently, it blends well in the background, and it’s so wise of Aditya Dhar to use all the songs in the background, so that they do not let the tension ease and lose grip on the story!
Dhurandhar, despite its flaws, is a really good film. In fact, if you have patience, you will start enjoying it after an hour or so! But yes, you will need that 1 hour patience that is allotted to the premise building done very patiently by Aditya Dhar!
In one of the scenes, when Ranveer loses his calm and character of an imposter threatening to end it all at once, his co-worker, played by a surprising yet impressive Gaurav Gera, tells him, “Inteqaam ki taseer garam hoti hai, pados ka ghar jala to doge, par uski laptein tumhare hi aangan se niklengi.” Explains the Indo-Pakistan situation so well without any loud dialogues or hoots! Impressive!
The film ends with the promise Aditya Dhar made with Uri: The Surgical Strike – “Ye Naya Hindustan Hai, Ghar Mein Ghusega Bhi Aur Maarega Bhi!” That climax and the post-credit scene were a revelation that made the entire 3.30-hour-long wait worth it!
Honestly, Aditya Dhar’s josh is still High, Sir, and the only thing that he did not ask from you as an audience is something I would like to ask on his behalf – Your patience and time! Trust me, you might not regret this one!
PS. Hey Animal 2, if you are listening, please take notes on how to do violence right! Because Ranveer Singh and Aditya Dhar, along with their army, might really deliver a masterclass on how to ‘behave’ violently and function meaningfully!
4 stars!
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