‘Dhurandhar’ movie review: Revenge served cold

In the last few years, Aditya Dhar has emerged as a dhurandhar, an expert who can soft pedal nationalist propaganda with aesthetic execution. After Uri and Article 370, here he turns a potential OTT series into a 212-minute unyielding character study of ‘enemies’.

Addressed to an audience who lost faith in ‘aman in aasha’ with the neighbour after the Kandhar hijack and the Parliament attack of 2001, the film is mounted like a tribute to the exploits of Ajay Sanyal (R Madhavan), who seems to be based on National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. While the disclaimer calls it a fictional exercise, the similarities with real-life characters seem more than coincidental.

It shows Sanyal waiting for a like-minded political leadership to emerge at the Centre and Uttar Pradesh to give him a free hand to dismantle the terror factory in the neighbourhood. What he does get from the senior minister with bushy eyebrows, played by Akash Khurana (inspired by former Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh), is permission to infiltrate the underworld gangs in Karachi’s Lyari area that the Pakistani state apparatus uses to bleed India.

Coming after Operation Sindoor, the film echoes the Uri premise that subtly suggests that the previous government responded passively after the Mumbai attacks of 2008, and that larger threats loom within.

Told through chapters, the characterisation follows the popular dictum of the current dispensation, “we will enter your home to kill.” Aditya draws on real-life Pakistani characters to create a narrative that aligns with his line of thought. The unapologetic portrayal of violence, inserting documentary footage, and relentless use of swear words appear like an effort to create a counterpoint to Anurag Kashyap’s kind of cinema for the adults in the jingoistic space. It could well have been called ‘Gangs of Lyari’ in two parts. The tools are the same, the perspective is contrasting.

On the surface, Sanyal sends Hamza (Ranveer Singh), a terminator undercover with a long beard and brooding visage, to win the trust of the Baloch gang led by Rehman Dakait (Akshaye Khanna). Rehman serves the interests of Jameel Jamali (Rakesh Bedi), an opportunist politician who uses gangsters and police officers for his political interests.

Hamza fuels Rehman’s political aspirations and wins over Jamali’s daughter, creating a wedge between the two pillars. The modus operandi is not new, but the way Akshaye and Rakesh play their parts keeps you hooked to the conflict. In the multi-starrer, Akshaye steals the thunder with his chilling presence and a piercing gaze that fills you with the fear of the devil. Cast against type, Rakesh shows his range as the chameleon who could be comic and vile in the same frame.

The Baloch politics and the pulsating background score by Shashwat Sachdev add layers of anticipation to the proceedings. Bullets find their target when they travel on the husky voice of Usha Uthap’s “Rambha Ho” and Aditya’s biting dialogues. However, Ranveer’s chemistry with young Sara Arjun doesn’t make you skip a beat despite a medley of yesteryears’ hits playing in the background. It may be a requirement of the character, but after a point Ranveer’s bravura and brooding intensity become monotonous in front of Akshaye’s charismatic presence.

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The bigger problem is that Aditya has bitten more than he could chew. Instead of focusing on the crux, he spends too much time introducing his characters and setting the stage for the big names. There is Chaudhary Aslam (Sanjay Dutt), an impulsive police officer who has no love lost for the Balochs. Then there is ISI officer Major Iqbal (Arjun Rampal), the shrewd connecting link between the gangs and the political leadership in Islamabad. To justify their presence, Aditya digresses. In the process, Ranveer remains in the shadows, leaving the audience to miss the wild pace and wicked vibe the trailer promised. Like the popular Hasan Jahangir number of the late 1980s used in the film, there is a lot of “Hawa Hawa”, with a pretence of substance. 

In the run-up to the release, Aditya felicitated young Ojas Gautam for editing the explosive trailer, which generated hype for the film. While the enterprise’s pacing and plot fall short of its own hype, its sustained firepower ensures audiences will await the second part of Operation Dhurandhar.

Dhurandhar is currently running in theatres