While Yash Chopra is synonymous with melodramas, Karan Johar with romantic dramas and Anurag Kashyap with black comedies, Aditya Dhar has created his own brand of spy films inspired by real-life events. His first, Uri: The surgical strike (2019) was inspired by the terrorist attack on Uri – a small town in Kashmir – in 2016 by Jaish-e-Mohammed militants active in Pakistan. His second, Dhurandhar, appears to be inspired by every attack Pakistani terrorists have ever planned and carried out in India. However, Dhar has liberally fictionalized the very real terrorist attacks and cleverly inserted real-life footage 2001 attack on Parliament as well as Telephone records Make no mistake, this story is completely fictional. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is not coincidental.
R. Madhavan opens the film as Indian National Security Advisor Ajay Sanyal, inspired by IPS officer Ajit Doval, negotiating the safe return of the Indian passengers on board the hijacked plane in Kandahar (based on the IRL hijacking event). Although many lives were saved in this operation, it was widely ridiculed and viewed as a national security failure as three dangerous terrorists were freed from Indian prisons. You can read more about it incident here.
This embarrassing feat follows the attack on Parliament in 2001, which Indian intelligence was completely unable to prevent. What face would the veer sipahis of Bharat Maa show if they were beaten so easily by their neighbors? Then the long deception of Dhurandhar begins!
Dhurandhar Review: The Plot and Characters
Dhurandhar is the name of this fictional but radical operation by the Indian government, which in 2002 sent agents into Pakistan’s numerous terrorist groups to pass information to India. And one of those agents is Ranveer Singh’s Hamza Ali Mazari, whose unusually tall frame, long hair, bright eyes and constant breeding are a perfect fit for a beast, aka India’s ultimate weapon against Pakistani terrorists, aka Deshbhakt. He is aptly introduced with the song ‘Ishq Jalakar – Karwaan’, which portrays him as this man who is not looking for a Karwaan or creed to belong to. He burned his Ishq, which in this case could either be romantic or maybe love for his country? Would you like to know more about who he is, where he comes from and what he was like in India before being recruited for this mission? All this is explained in Dhurandhar Part 2. Yes, not only is this film 3 hours and 32 minutes long (excluding the interval), there is also a second part that will be released on Eid next year. So mark your calendars, or not.
Dhurandhar is the name of this fictional but radical operation by the Indian government, which in 2002 sent agents into Pakistan’s numerous terrorist groups to pass information to India.
Part 1 is set almost entirely in Lyari, Karachi, and focuses on the gang war and its regional politics. According to legend, whoever rules Karachi rules Pakistan. Here we are introduced the kingpins: Akshaye Khanna as Rehman Dakait – an IRL gang leader who founded the Peoples’ Aman Committee Party in Lyari, Rakesh Bedi as political leader Jameel Jamali – loosely based on Nabil Ahmed Gabol, Arjun Rampal as ISI officer Major Iqbal – based on Ilyas Kashmiri and Sanjay Dutt as SP Chaudhary Aslam – based on Chaudhary Aslam Khan Swati. The film is set between 2002 and 2009 and shows the time when Hamza arrives in Lyari and Rehman infiltrates Dakait’s gang until Rehman is killed in a police operation in 2009 – which is again based on the truth.
What works: performances and music
Dhar uses the same chapter-like narrative as Uri for this incredibly long film. Each chapter feels a little longer than the last, keeping us hooked and keeping us turning the pages to find out how it all ties together in the end. All chapters are told chronologically, with the final chapter titled “Et tu Brute” – the chapter in which our brutal Hamza finally betrays Rehman. Akshaye Khanna is incredible in this film. He brings both the emotional and the lust for power into his performance and looks devilishly good doing it.
Dhurandhar film
Although the media has pushed Ranveer Singh to the forefront of promotions, veteran actors Arjun Rampal and Rakesh Bedi clearly outperform him in the scenes where they act together. Another standout performer is Danish Pandor, who plays Rehman Dakait’s cousin Uzair Baloch.
Another driving force in the film – the music! The story may be a bore, but Shashwat Sachdev’s score is not. The film is laced with pumping, energetic beats. However, the only song worth listening to is “Ez-Ez” by Diljit Dosanjh and Hanumankind. The rest of them are either remakes of already successful songs or are forgettable. Parts of “Yeh Hai Ishq Ishq” from the film Barsaat Ki Raat were used in two songs on the album, “Ishq Jalakar – Karwaan” and “Move – Yeh Ishq Ishq” – both equally catchy. You also get a remixed version of “Rumba Ho,” which enhances the single chase scene between the motorcycle and the car. The ‘Dhurandhar Theme Song’ is a rendition of the Punjabi folk song ‘Na De Dil Pardesi Nu’ – which translates to ‘Don’t give your heart to a stranger’ – and sets a cautious tone for the characters and subtly asks the audience not to maintain their sympathies for the strangers, even if they are our neighbours.
What doesn’t work: the attitude
As the characters are introduced one by one, Dhar recreates the political history of Pakistan, but here the resemblance to reality falters and begins to seem unconventional. In the end, the high-speed action sequences shot from above and the excessive use of slow motion show how much patchwork the post-production team had to do. And let’s be honest: broken glass and bloody deaths have become exaggerated. At some point while adding stylistic shots, Dhar forgets to show actual spy work. It almost seems as if the beast that India sent to Lyari was all beauty and brawn and lacked brains.
All this rhetoric, borrowed from the speeches of our Aadarniya Pradhan Mantri ji, serves as proof that the scriptwriter Dhar didn’t need much to come up with the story or the dialogues. The hate propaganda is subtly embedded in the story as all we see are the vile Pakistani terrorists.
The characters look like they came straight out of a C-grade Indian film, hurling “Ma behen ki gaalis” at each other every second. It’s funny because there aren’t that many female characters in the film.
Dhurandhar review: Where are the women?
In the gang war-torn fictional version of Karachi, there is no place for women, only Bharat Maa (which is an abstract concept) and two item song dancers with a sneaky cameo from singer Jasmine Sandlas. For all the slow, serious spy thriller it promises, Dhurandhar couldn’t escape the trope of an item song in the middle.
The film’s heroine, Sara Arjun, plays Yaalina, Jameel Jamali’s daughter and Hamza’s lover, and comes into the film after an hour. The newly 20-year-old, studying, partying and father-hating spoiled brat finds her way out in the honest and kind-hearted Hamza – who is lucky again. She becomes the perfect tool for Hamza to keep an eye on the politician and his corrupt activities. She becomes an important helper in his plan to destroy the Lyari gangs from within. Maybe she’ll play a bigger role in Part 2.
Foreshadowing or premonition
There’s a lot of foreshadowing in the first 10 minutes of the film, which makes the 214 minute running time no longer worth the investment. Most disappointing was the final reveal that Ranveer Singh’s Hamza is an Indian agent, a scene that falls flat since the audience has already known this for three and a half hours. To make up for this lack of clout, Dhar has Ranveer Singh recite these lines in his bestial voice: “Yeh naya Hindustan hai, yeh ghar me ghusega bhi aur maarega bhi” (This is the new India; it will invade your house and beat you up too).
All this rhetoric, borrowed from the speeches of our Aadarniya Pradhan Mantri ji, serves as proof that the scriptwriter Dhar didn’t need much to come up with the story or the dialogues. The hate propaganda is subtly embedded in the story as all we see are the vile Pakistani terrorists and the violence Hamza must use to gain their trust, not to mention that he may be cut from the same cloth.
As they say, truth is stranger than fiction, perhaps even entertaining. There is an invisible line between truth and fiction, and this film straddles that line. But it doesn’t pay attention when it crosses the line, assuming no one is watching, but we do.
Aarthi (she/her) is a young feminist currently living in Jodhpur who enjoys writing about pop culture and art-related topics. In her writings she tries to position herself between self-reflection and social conversation, which leads to the exploration of unconventional ideas. In her free time she travels, writes poetry, and watches films and anime