Almost a week after its release, I finally watched the much-hyped Dhurandhar. Better late than never, especially when a film insists on occupying 3.5 hours of one’s life, presumably in the national interest.
I broadly agree with Arfa Khanum Sherwani’s analysis and with other suitably ‘unbiased’ reviewers who have identified Dhurandhar for what it is – a propaganda film helmed by Aditya Dharma, who is credited with writing, directing and co-producing this bloated magnum opus. Believing the credits is optional.
One is firmly convinced the story was authored somewhere inside the BJP headquarters, vetted line by line by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself, directed by Amit Shah or his trusted stand-ins, and generously bankrolled by party president J.P. Nadda.
The running time alone gives the game away. No one, after all, dares suggest edits to the Prime Minister’s vision. The audience must suffer in silence.
Approved at the top, endured at the bottom
In a Pakistani television debate, an anchor claimed to possess ‘concrete evidence’ that the screenplay was personally approved by Modi. This would explain why the film’s length was not snipped on the editing table.
Every frame drips with animosity toward innocent Pakistan, which is portrayed – quite unfairly – as the villain. These BJP filmmakers stubbornly fail to grasp a basic moral truth: Pakistan itself is a ‘victim of terrorism’. How then could it possibly export terrorism to India?
Indeed, our enlightened apologists are so alert to Pakistan’s suffering that they open their umbrellas when it rains across the border. Empathy, after all, knows no boundaries.
Poor Pakistan, maligned yet again
No wonder GCC countries have reportedly banned the film. How could Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait permit a movie that casts a peace-loving nation in such a harsh arc light?
The BJP leadership would do well to learn cinema from films such as Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Veer-Zaara, Raazi and Pathaan – models of balance that depict people across the frontier as tender-hearted souls temporarily inconvenienced by geopolitics, never by ideology or institutions.
All terror attacks, explosions and bomb blasts shown in Dhurandhar on Indian soil are, of course, self-inflicted. If any violence appears to originate from across the border, it is invariably the handiwork of ‘non-state actors’.
The Pakistan Army and the ISI remain immaculately clean – busy mopping up blood spilled by terrorists at home and nursing wounds inflicted by forces they are helpless to control. Untouchable actors, really.
Gore, gaslighting and grievance
As Arfa and other conscientious critics have noted, the film is soaked in gore, violence and hatred. Worse, they argue, is the gaslighting – the attempt to pass propaganda off as entertainment, prejudice as patriotism, and excess as excellence.
Then there are truth-tellers like Dhruv Rathee, who have also trained their guns on the film. Perhaps he will discuss Dhurandhar with Rahul Gandhi when the Leader of the Opposition meets him in Germany this week.
That should arm Rahul with fresh ammunition against Modi, Shah and the BJP, and give him a break from his well-worn ‘vote chori’, S.I.R., Adani and Ambani script. Even outrage benefits from a change of track. That a character in the film is called Arshad ‘Pappu’ is, of course, a sheer coincidence.
Rahul could then challenge the ‘BJP filmmakers’ to a debate in a special session of Parliament. One hopes that this time he will not run away from the House in protest, but bravely take on Amit Shah.
Enemies ranked, sensitivities bruised
Madhavan’s character in Dhurandhar declares that ‘the biggest enemy of India is the Indian people’. He may be onto something. The distressing part is when he adds, ‘Pakistan is second’. How insensitive.
How can one say this about an impoverished, peace-loving state struggling to afford daily bread and surviving on alms from the US and global lending agencies? The loans barely suffice to pay generals and army chiefs and subsidise flour for the masses, if anything remains. How, then, could such a country possibly fund and export terrorism?
I am deliberately avoiding a detailed review, as much has already been written about Dhurandhar, and reviews continue to pour in – some praising it (what exactly is there to praise in a propaganda film?), others demolishing it, and rightly so.
Free advice for future nationalist cinema
A sincere word of advice to Modi, Shah and Nadda – the next time you attempt filmmaking, please avoid hurting the sentiments of certain sections of people in India.
True, you may not have targeted any community within the country, but those in Pakistan belong to the same brotherhood. Sentiments, after all, are transferable.
There are many safer genres to explore – love stories, fantasies, science fiction, or action films (provided no Pakistani character is shown as a villain).
You could even attempt a spy thriller in which romance blossoms between a sexy ISI agent and a macho RAW officer. Call it Raw Love. The idea has worked before.
As the film concludes and the titles scroll up, comes the real shocker – Dhurandhar: Part 2 is slated to hit screens on March 19, 2026. The idea should be perished immediately. One film has already caused enough heartburn.
It is apparently acceptable to portray villains with tilaks, performing Devi puja amid incense smoke in dingy rooms, bearing unmistakably Hindu names. But naming characters Hamza, Afzal or Iqbal – even when they are Pakistani – is objectionable. Does this not hurt sentiments and encourage typecasting?
At least in the sequel, Modi ji, consider naming your villains Rahul, Raghav or Ramesh.
As someone has observed, thousands of films portrayed Brahmins as scheming crooks, Thakurs as predatory goons and Baniyas as lecherous charlatans, yet no hatred spread. One film shows Pakistanis as radical terrorists, and suddenly the republic is in peril.
