I rarely watch Hindi movies in theatre. I guess the last one I saw in theatre was Barfi.

But for Dhurandhar, almost everyone that I knew in my friends circle gave a thumbs up. So, after more than a decade, I saw a Hindi movie. And it was a mixed bag for me.

The opening scene in itself clearly conveyed that the movie is well made. After all these years of watching movies, I have developed a good sense of telling how the movie is going to be based on how it starts.

The good parts

The first half of the movie was just simply good. Such an amazing production quality. Some great performances. Even though the first half itself was pretty long (close to 2 hours), I totally enjoyed it. It was more of a 2-hour “drama” that takes us into the world of how terror is linked and unleashed.

Let’s talk about the production quality. Almost 95% of the movie happens in Pakistan. And wow, the way they recreated Pakistan (though we will never know if Pakistan actually exists the way they show) is simply amazing.

What was even more amazing for me was the way the movie elaborately went to the depths of showing the politics, underworld, intelligence and business communities operate. And how they are interlinked – like any other country in the world! There was some solid research, writing and production. The world building was top notch – showing rival gangs, politicians and businessmen having their agenda, how power is captured from ruling an important town and so on. It was an absolute delight to watch the first half spending so much time into this world.

With respect to the performances themselves, Akshay Khanna stands first. He simply pulled off a great performance with very little to say and so much expressed through eyes and facial expressions.

The same goes with Ranveer Singh too. There is little talking. And more through eyes and subtle smiles. Even when he talks, the words are measured. There is no over the top introduction scene for the hero – he just gets introduced just like that. He is also shown vulnerable in the movie. A hero getting molested? About to get raped? When have seen something like this in a mainstream cinema?

The way the real terror incidents were linked to the movie was also too good. The scene where the real audio between the 26/11 terrorists and their handlers was being played with a red background in the screen had a huge impact in terms of reminding everyone what was unleashed on that day. This is some superb film making where the lines between fiction and reality was blurred.

The parts that didn’t work for me

Let’s talk about the interval break first.

The entire stretch towards the interval was very well made. Ranveer is being shown the results of the work that he carried out. And through that lens, we also get to see the terror that gets unleashed during 26/11. There is a stunning performance from Ranveer and what must have been a very difficult performance for Akshay Khanna and Arjun Rampal to perform a scene where they need to enjoy the terror.

Right after this Arjun Rampal directly tells that they know there is a Spy. And we know that’s the interval moment.

I was totally hooked till this and came out telling my friends with whom I watched along that what a movie it is.

But then, what followed in the second half was a total let down for me.

What would have ideally worked is something like Arjun Rampal character finding out the handler (the owner of the tea shop where Ranveer works) and how Ranveer navigates the whole situation and so on. Instead the movie is fully dragged upon for next 1.5 hours or so.

The entire Sara Arjun character related scenes are such a drag in the whole movie. It looked as if that whole character had to be created for the video evidence of Sara Arjun father and Sanjay Dutt interaction.

The climax action sequence was also a super drag that goes for close to 10 minutes. By the end of it, I was kinda pleading for the Akshay Khanna character to even commit suicide. Add to that, the entire background score was so loud and sounded completely chaotic.

One of my other major challenge is apart from the impact the terror incidents create, there is very little emotional attachment to the movie. We hardly connect with the Ranveer character and root for his success as a spy.

The violence in the action scenes also looked like they were forced upon. I will definitely sound old when I say this, but I will still risk it – it appears that today you cannot have a blockbuster movie that doesn’t have scenes where brain comes out, hands chopped, bodies smashed, etc. I feel that violence is being normalized by all these filmmakers and it’s definitely not healthy.

Final Thoughts

While definitely not a bad movie, I felt Dhurandhar had so much potential that was not utilized well. The movie is easily 30 minutes longer and can have some better writing for the second half. May be the part 2 will have some answers for me.

What I got reminded as I walked out of the theatre was what a genius writer Kamal Hassan was.

Viswaroopam? Kuruthi Punal? Similar genre. I was way better satisfied with them than Dhurandhar.