Movie Review: 'Dhurandhar: The Revenge'

Cast: Ranveer Singh, Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, Sanjay Dutt, Sara Arjun and others

Music: Shashwat Sachdev

Cinematography: Vikas Naulakha

Producers: Aditya Dhar, Lokesh Dhar, Jyoti Deshpande

Writing & Direction: Aditya Dhar

Last year on December 5th, Dhurandhar Part 1 came without any expectations and shattered all the records by clocking more than ₹1400 crores from the worldwide box office. However, after abruptly ending Part 1, director Aditya Dhar announced that the second part would hit cinemas in 3 months, and today, Dhurandhar: The Revenge has hit cinemas. Let’s have a look at how the story went forward and if the film impressed the audience like its predecessor or not.

Story:

Rechristened as Hamza Ali Majari, Indian agent Jaskirat Singh Rangi becomes a crucial man in the Lyari region of Karachi. After killing Rahman Dakait, he makes sure that other contenders for the seat of Lyari get eliminated. After becoming the King of Lyari, he takes revenge for the 26/11 attacks and kills the terrorists associated with the terror incidents in India. What are the hurdles and challenges he faced in this process, and did he end up all the terrorists and return to India or not form the rest of the story.

Narrative-Analysis:

If there’s no depth in the movie, surely one cannot fathom sitting for two hours in theatres, but if there’s proper content, people will sit for more than 3 hours. After movies like Rangasthalam, Arjun Reddy, Animal and Pushpa 2 proved that, now Dhurandhar has proven that people will sit for more than 4 hours too. Even in Dhurandhar 2, not even a single minute will be boring for the audience, and they don’t even sneak out of theatres even during ending credit-rolls. Despite having extreme violence and repeated allegations that it’s a propaganda movie, the audience who sit in Dhurandhar 2 feel more than the hype, as the film sits a couple of notches higher than Dhurandhar’s first part.

The advantage Dhurandhar 1 had was that the audience entered the cinemas without any expectations, and that’s why everything added up. After watching umpteen films in the Indian spy universe that go with similar tropes and narrative, Dhurandhar proved that a real spy actually looks like this. The film explained how a covert operation works out, and that thrilled the audience. However, as the Dhurandhar world was introduced to the audience, and after watching a lot of the story in Part 1, it will be tough to reach the expectations. Also, with a super elevated character like Rahman Dakait killed, engaging the audience will be a challenge. However, Aditya Dhar carved out a brilliant narrative that would breach all expectations.

After showing how an Indian agent entered into Pakistan and tightened his grip on Lyari, Karachi, and killing the city’s leading guy, Rahman Dakait in the first part, Aditya Dhar has shown how an innocent Jaskirat Singh Ranghi actually became such a deadly spy, in the second part. How he altered Pakistani politics and how he killed the terrorists is the rest of the story. While this sounds like a simple line, the way Aditya Dhar narrated it on the screen is stunning. Without letting our focus divert into some loopholes, his screenplay magic keeps us on the tenterhooks. When the proceedings get slower, he introduces Dawood Ibrahim as the Bade Saheb, and that gives new momentum to the film. Various episodes, like Hamza meeting Dawood and Hamza ascending the throne of Lyari, were all quite interesting. At the same time, the interval episode of Hamza meeting his drug-dealer childhood friend and handling him is a thrilling one.

In the second half of this Part 2 movie, the elevations as well as emotions have worked out well. Keeping the political angle aside, the demonetisation episode gives goosebumps. Even a phone call episode from Ajay Sanyal (Madhavan) gives a similar feeling. There are a lot of highlights in the movie, but at the same time, there are some bumps too. One would feel the lack of a proper villain in Part 2 due to Rahman Dakait’s absence. While there will be objections regarding the actions shown in the film, including the propaganda angle, some questions, like if one person can do this inside Pakistan, is what haunts us. Despite all this, Aditya Dhar succeeded in getting us hooked to the screen for four hours.

Performances:

Ranveer Singh literally poured blood and sweat in the role of Hamza Ali and Jaskirat Singh Rangi. This is his career-best performance, which he might not get to do again. Amazing with his acting prowess, screen presence, body language, and method acting, Ranveer scored a hundred per cent all the times. There are many episodes in the movie that showcase his powerful acting talents, which we cannot imagine someone else in his role. Despite having a short role in Part 2, Sara Arjun is impressive, and in just a couple of scenes, her intense acting stunned. Sanjay Dutt’s swag and powerful presence, along with comedy timing, are entertaining. Arjun Rampal impressed as Major Iqbal, though it’s not like Rahman Dakait character. Rakesh Bedi as Pakistani Minister Jameel, once again stunned. And Madhavan’s Ajit Doval-inspired Ajay Sanyal character is quite engaging.

Technicalities:

Technically, Dhurandhar Part 2 is on a next level as composer Sashwat Sachdev gave huge momentum to the movie with his amazing background score, which played a key role in the proceedings of the movie. Also, his songs are quite enthralling. Vikas Noulakha’s cinematography is also stunning with his choice of shots, stylised visuals and colour themes. He created a feeling as if we were in Lyari, Karachi, only. The production values are also top-notch. Director Aditya Dhar has done an amazing job in terms of writing, creating a world and weaving a story around some known information. The way he presented the scenes and his way of conceiving ideas are impressive. For years to come, he will be remembered as the director of Dhurandhar in Indian cinema, and his impact will be remembered for a long time.

Finally: Dhurandhar: The Rampage

Rating: 3.25/5