Dhurandhar : Time Soaks in Aditya Dhar’s Cinematic Masterpiece
Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar, starring Ranveer Singh, Akshaye Khanna, Sanjay Dutt, R Madhavan and Arjun Rampal is a box-office powerhouse. This gritty spy thriller blends real-life RAW operations with immersive warfare, setting a new gold standard for Indian cinema. Reviews Prasanta Paul
“Yeh naya Hindustan hai. Yeh ghar mein ghusega bhi, aur maarega bhi.” Dhurandhar ends with a cryptic yet bold suggestion. Yes, I am talking about this multi-starrer that has taken the theatres across India and abroad by storm. Revolving around spy-man Hamza Ali Mazari, played by Ranveer Singh, Dhurandhar is the name of the covert operation Hamza undertakes to ferret out the details of Pakistan’s ISI-sponsored network to destabilise India through a series of various subversive strikes. And then, make a mincemeat of the network.
A past master or a top grade specialist in a particular field is what Dhurandhar actually means. Many have tended to dub it as Aditya Dhar’s magnum opus due to its scale and the vast swath the movie covers during its 214-minute journey in the first part; the second part is due March end next year, Dhar declares at the end. And Dhar has dared to succeed!
Real Life Root
The film draws inspiration from real-life events involving geopolitical tensions and covert operation conducted by RAW (Research & Analytic Wing), especially those associated with Operation Lyari, 2008 Mumbai attacks, crackdown on gangs and criminal syndicates. The sprawling set for Pakistan’s Lyari was recreated in Bangkok by 500 people in 20 days for the movie!
Featuring an impressive ensemble cast, Ranveer Singh, Akshaye Khanna, Sanjay Dutt, R Madhavan and Arjun Rampal, the film has already minted close to Rs 600 crores in box office barely within three weeks of its release; broken nearly a dozen box office records; beaten Puspa 2, Chaava and Stree 2 besides three others on its roller coaster ride. Presently, it is poised to make a grand entry into the Rs 1,000 crore club in worldwide collections very soon and likely to create a Bollywood history. Incidentally, the movie has also become the highest grosser for none other than Ranveer.
Hamza spends many years undercover at the Lyari town in Karachi, gaining everyone’s trust, and sending intel back, which is primarily part I of this two-part film, written by Aditya Dhar himself. True, Ranveer has delivered his career-best performance, effectively demonstrating once again why he is one of the most adorable, serious and dramatic actors in the industry at the moment. Also the biggest talking point is the pairing of the 40-year-old Ranveer and 20-year-old Sara Arjun and the latter hardly disappointed Dhar.
Dhar the Director
However, Dhar with his craft and ability to stitch a tale and a mesmerising portrayal of Rahman Baloch by Akshay has elevated the movie to a level, which many film connoisseurs claim , of a must rewatch cinema.
Critics may disagree; opinions may vary; but to me, if the jugalbandi would not have been there, a huge swathe of the movie would have no doubt been dull and lost its shine. Ironically, the movie has been banned in Pakistan and five other Islamic countries in Central Asia. However, Dhurandhar has reportedly become the most pirated title in Pakistan, crossing over one million downloads and triggering widespread discussion across digital platforms.
The titles– Stranger in the Land of Shadows, The Bastard King of Lyari, Bullets and Roses, The Jinn, The Devil’s Guardian, The Butterfly Effect, and finally Et Tu Brutus– are perhaps an attempt to give the audience a break from expected ennui. Dhar, grandchild of famous lyricist Anand Bakshi, is presently among the few Indian directors who could actually fathom his assignment.
After his blockbuster Uri-The Surgical Strike, he knows what are the key elements in his craft that would keep the audience glued to the big screen. The movie has got insane rewatch value; and the last Indian film to have achieved this quality was ‘Bahubali’. And mind you, it hasn’t happened on its own; a perfect blend of every cinematic attribute from writing, camera work, editing and music besides direction has contributed to this monumental achievement.
For those in conflict with my views and looking for elements of an art film, especially tight editing and minus any commercial masala, recreating a story, we are told, from an incredible real event and then insert a potpouri of made-up stuff without blurring the main focus, is no mean thing.
And notwithstanding some slippages at places,(Akshaye Khanna speaking Hindi mostly without a touch of local Baloch!), judicious use of old and rehashed pop in contrast with the visuals, a method that’s indeed central to portraying modern stylised violence (something what Tarantino had pioneered in Reservoir Dogs) makes the movie unconventional and quite refreshing.
Technical Edge
Apropos of Aditya Dhar’s signature direction, if you have watched ‘Uri’ you would know that it’s making warfare feel so immersive that you almost think you have landed in the battle field actually watching everything. Grippy, engaging, real-time simulated. Well, perhaps it could be an overstatement but his sense of warfare direction gives the same authenticity as that of Spielberg directed Omaha Beach war sequece in Saving Private Ryan. Sounds little too much!
Besides, one subtle cinema tool which he used and which viewers might overlook and not acknowledge the way it should be, is how he made R. Madhavan as Ajay Sanyal break the fourth wall. Simply superb.
Apart from Dipti Naval, Preity Zinta has showered praise for the movie, calling it “a love letter to every patriot…one of the best films I’ve seen in a long time.”
A Star Reborn in Bollywood
Coming to Khanna, the more said, as if the less expressed; often described as the ‘underrated star of Bollywood’, Akshaye has indeed given Ranveer a run for his money. “Came to see Ranveer in Dhurandhar, but left the hall discovering a gem in Akshaye,” wrote one user in Reddit.
From Madhur Bhandarkar, Farha Khan and Vivek Agnihotri to Hritik Roshan and Shraddha Kapoor among others, the film and Akshaye have been drowned with bouquet of encomiums for the ‘maa le mal mal’ performance. After ‘Dil Chahata Hay’, ‘Hungama’ and ‘Chaava’, Akshaye sparkled like a dormant volcano, erupting lava magnificently, forcing the Bollywood directors and leading heroes to reckon the unprecedented potential in him. To quote Wordsworth in a twisted context: I love Ranveer not the less but Akshaye more.
It’s only natural for Akshaye Khanna now to step into the powerful role of Daitya Guru Sukracharya in Prashanth Verma’s upcoming film Mahakali. From intense dramas to grand mythological epics, the momentum just keeps building.
Music in Dhurandhar
A word about the music; “Fa9la is a vibe – you say that to the people – I have a vibe,” says Bahrain-based rapper Hussam Aseem, aka Flipperachi. The song, he tells us, was created as a Khaliji/Indian fusion, and in Arabic, so that a large audience can relate to and vibe to it. Akshaye’s hotness quotient added a separate flavour altogether.
With 12,854,534 views on YouTube, over 2 billion views on TikTok across videos using the hashtag, and 14.3 million streams on Spotify till third week of December, it has quietly become one of India’s most consumed songs at the moment.
Arijit Singh(Gehra Hua), Jasmine Sandlas & Madhumanti Bagchi’s(Shararat) scores have already attained a million views. The title music slowly starts ringing in the background as a precursor to what madness is about to follow. A frame shows Ranveer’s eyes in the mirror looking at Rehman Dakait(played by Akshaye); this is an iconic blend of music-visual.
Don’t blame me if I tend to rank it on equal levels with another such iconic use which Scorsese did in Goodfellas, using Cream’s (a 60’s band) guitar riff while Robert De Niro takes a puff off his cigarette & camera zooms in on his eyes, visually telling there is something very sinister up his mind and would happen very soon.
To sum up: It’s a must-watch saga which Bollywood has been waiting for.
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