Prasanta Paul |
बलिदानं परमं धर्मः
(Balidānaṃ paramaṃ dharmaḥ)
THIS is what is the price tag of a spy or a R&AW agent; no family, no love life, no kin, no dear & near ones. The agent must be aware of a brutal reality; the one and only family is: the country.
In the course of his/her nameless sojourn in life as an undercover spy, the agent will simply carry a faceless existence, shorn of any official record of contribution other than that of an unsung living martyr.
Jaskirat Singh Rangi who becomes Hamza Ali Mazari in the wake of his infiltration in the underworld of Lyari and then catapults himself to the coveted underworld throne, learns it in a hard and harsh way; he, like umpteen others, would continue to live with his shadowy existence till death parts him away.
Well, you have guessed it right; I am referring to a kind of generation of performance put up by Ranbir Singh in the gripping sequel Dhurandhar: The Revenge. An explosive role executed with precision; it was fire to watch him dominate every frame he is in, especially the expression in his face in the climax as Jaskirat opts again for ‘the road not taken’ (to quote Robert Frost).
Half–opened lips of a heart–wrenched Jaskirat coupled with the raging storm in his soul reflected through his eyes raise the finale to a level hardly rendered ever in any Bollywood movie. All this is triggered by his family’s nonchalant response despite his return home more than a decade later. The 3 hour 49–minute–long tale makes its grand denouement, pitfalls and some editing slippages notwithstanding.
In fact, when Bollywood was gasping for fresh air in the wake of ‘relentless storm’ of the ‘Southwood’, both the prequel and sequel of Dhurandhar have reasserted Bollywood’s dominance in the Indian cinema,
The movie pitchforked director Aditya Dhar before a global audience, much to the chagrin of Islamabad. Pakistan, in the 2026 Global Terrorism Index, has topped the list for the first time and the release of Dhurandhar: The Revenge has been so perfectly timed
It has already smashed two world records, outperforming the prequel — the highest Hindi opener of all time in India with net collections crossing more than Rs 500 crore in barely three days in the country as well as abroad.
Celebrated actors in Bollywood as well as in the South call it a box office monster. “What a stunning performance. What range, what depth, what sincerity’” I am tempted to quote Preity Zinta’s post where she showered encomium on the entire team for producing this blockbuster and its roller–coaster ride.
The movie pitchforked director Aditya Dhar before a global audience, much to the chagrin of Islamabad. Pakistan, in the 2026 Global Terrorism Index, has topped the list for the first time and the release of Dhurandhar: The Revenge has been so perfectly timed !
The sheer scale, span of time and the canvas the film has sought to encompass, could easily be termed as ‘owner’s pride, neighbours envy.’ However, some reel reviewers, while praising it as ‘a gripping movie’, criticised it for its ‘uncalled for’ length, hauling the director for not knowing ‘where to stop.’
The most revealing and sensitive portions of the film are when we get to know who Jaskirat Singh Rangi is and what terrible circumstances lead him to assume Rangi aka Hamza Ali Mazari. After putting Rehman Dakait (Akshaye Khanna) in the grave, Indian asset Hamza Ali Mazari takes upon himself the task of striking off more names in his spy diary.
And the immediate aftermath is a raw and bloody gangwar in Lyari town between the Balochs, presently headed by Uzair (Danish Pandor) and Arshad Pappu’s (Ashwin Dhar) Pathan gang.
The scenes of excessive violence and brutality, especially beheading and resorting to soccer practice with the severed head, I feel, could have been avoided or edited properly to avert that jarring effect. In fact, Aditya Dhar would have perfectly sailed out in the testimony to prove his love for the country if these scenes were edited.
This apart, the movie has perfectly portrayed the stealth–and–strike mechanism of a spy thriller, delving deep into the layers of Karachi’s terror underworld and game plans of those dons to destabilise India’s financial prowess.
After Hamza takes over the reins of Lyari and slowly slips into the good book of the kingpins of the terror network embedded in the Pakistani underworld, the narrative becomes gradually clear to the audience about the real intent of the director.
Talking about the film during a news conference, director Aditya Dhar told a questioner point blank, “The people who label it as propaganda, I don’t care about them…because I know where it’s coming from and the Indian audience is very, very smart. They know which film is propaganda and which film’s intent is good…(in my film) the intent is always right…the day the intent is wrong, I’ll stop making films.”
The people who label it as propaganda, I don’t care about them…because I know where it’s coming from and the Indian audience is very, very smart. They know which film is propaganda and which film’s intent is good…(in my film) the intent is always right…the day the intent is wrong, I’ll stop making films
Dhar doesn’t inundate the film with scenes of gang war; he slowly but steadily builds the myth at its high-octane best. Preity Zinta apart, Anupam Kher is perhaps the lone voice so far from Bollywood to praise the D-2; “It is an outstanding film. It’s a film which makes you so proud of your own country,” remarked Anupam Kher.
Arjun Rampal as Major Iqbal was cold and controlled; Rakesh Bedi as Jameel, Gaurav Gera as Md Aslam, Mustafa Ahmed as Rizwan, and Danish Pandor as Uzair Baloch all delivered consummate performances. Sara Arjun as Yalina contributed her own emotional weight and touch. Sanjay Dutt as SP produced another stellar performance.
However, Madhavan as Ajay Sanyal often stole the show on varied occasions; the swagger, the authority, the way he puffed seemed like he was signing death warrants.
Nearly, 34 terrorists have been knocked out between 2020 and 2025 in strange killings in Pakistan territory. And interestingly the latest to join the bandwagon of fallen militants was Lashkar commander Bilal Arif Salafi who was shot and stabbed dead after EID prayers at Muridke HQ on March 22,2026.
Remember, Pulwama was the tipping point. Our home minister had observed then “……if a terrorist escapes to Pakistan, will go into Pakistan and kill them.” But, there has so far been no proof of Indian involvement in these killings!
How much fact & how much fiction in Dhurandhar: The Revenge – it’s for the audience to judge. What surprised me the most was the theatre hall, packed with Gen Z, cheering loudly for demonetisation and busting of Pak terror modules. Just unbelievable.
Durandhar 2 doesn’t even endeavour to be politically correct; of course, it picks a side, speaks it loudly and ensures you tend to like every punch it throws in an unapologetic, hard–hitting manner. ■
Prasanta Paul served Deccan Herald as the Chief of Bureau, Calcutta for nearly two decades before switching to work with various TV channels such as Al-Jazeera, CNN, German TV and CBS. Mr. Paul who accompanied former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on his overseas tour of Singapore and other Asian countries, travelled extensively to Bhutan, Sikkim and Darjeeling besides other Northeastern states.
