Director/Writer: Aditya Dhar
Cast: Ranveer Singh, Sanjay Dutt, Akshaye Khanna, R. Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, Sara Arjun, Rakesh Bedi
Duration: 196 Minutes
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Rating: 4.5
One cannot deny the brilliance of Aditya Dhar as a filmmaker and writer, his latest creation Dhurandhar is not just a film, it’s a bold statement which will change the course of storytelling in Indian cinema, his latest spy thriller is packed with so much thrill, chills, twists, and mind-games that one needs to watch it twice to get the full gravity and depth of nuanced storytelling and performances.
Touted as the biggest and boldest event of 2025, and rightfully the film is a perfect blend of skill, scale, performance, emotions and stellar music, it is an experience which breaks the espionage thrillers tradition. The makers tell a story that has the feelings, complexity, strategies, suspense, and scale, which will be etched on our minds for a long time.
The film draws inspiration from terrorist attacks on India soil, the IC-814 hijacking, 2001 Parliament attack, Mumbai attack, and more, causing untold unrest, horror and loss of lives, and this is where Dhar created this masterpiece which is a true blue blood example of India fighting back. After these attacks, Madhavan as IB Chief Ajay Sanyal, burning with desire to hit back in the most brutal and smart way, crafts a plan to destroy these terrorist groups from the inside. He is all mighty and powerful but calm, reasonable and a brilliant task master. His dialogues are definitely going to get whistles in the cinema halls.
Madhavan’s mole, Ranveer Singh as Hamza, giving his career best performance. He is raw, gritty, and powerful to the point of explosion, you can actually see the gleam in his eyes. Hamza is at the same time hurt, unstable, and attractively charismatic. He goes from a calm and collected operative to a rage filled powerhouse, who is lethal, cold, and merciless, he is just too impressive to watch. Ranveer rules the screen, with his hardcore action avatar.
Apart from Ranveer and Madhavan, the ensemble cast is equally potent and charismatic – Akshaye Khanna as Rehman Dakait, is scary, smart, and deadly, a force of untold evil and ferocity. Sanjay Dutt is a fearless SP Chaudhary Aslam, aka The Jinn, who is able to impress the audience with pure and raw gravitas. The silent, threatening presence of Major Iqbal, played by Arjun Rampal, is one of the reasons behind the increase in tension and his performance is brilliant, while newbie Sara Arjun wins people’s hearts through her lovely and controlled performance. Each actor accepts and fully incorporates their role, thus creating an electrifying and engrossing cinematic atmosphere.
Despite a 196 minute runtime, the film doesn’t drops its tempo or turn into monotonous at all. Dhar keeps his pace hard-hitting, ensuring that every scene and sequence depicts an action or event of the movie.
The background music is always there as a support, urging the movie forward and making sure that it is not a dull moment. The film’s music is one of its most solid supports, arguably the album of the year or even of the decade, thus it serves to heighten the tension, to underscore the revelations, and to turn the climaxes into full-blown cinematic thunders.
The film is not as violent as people might believe, apart from few explicitly violent scene, each is well explained within the story. The tension that is felt the most is from the character development, the emotional involvement, and the political drama that is the plot.
The first half is very careful in constructing the world and its characters, thus the interval delivers nothing less than pure goosebumps. After the break, conspiracies become deeper, the power shifts from one hand to another, and Hamza through strategy, betrayal, and even a calculated marriage orchestrates the mafia underworld thus making an ideal preparation for the bombastic Part Two coming Eid 2026.
Jyoti Deshpande, Lokesh Dhar, and Aditya Dhar together with B62 Studios and Jio Studios have created not only a world that is huge but also very real and richly textured in the terms of cinema. Their readiness for big-scale production, daring storytelling, tough action, and the wonderful ensemble cast is the light that shines in every frame thus lifting Indian genre cinema to a brand-new level.
Dhurandhar is a genre-defining, mind-blowing spectacle that combines ferocious execution, meticulous craft, and unforgettable cinematic impact. With Aditya Dhar’s best direction and Ranveer Singh’s career-defining performance, it is one of the boldest and most compelling thrillers of the year.
The pieces are in motion, the stakes are high, and the wait for Part Two is electrifying—completely justified by the story, performances, and sheer cinematic ambition.
