Dhurandhar movie review: Ranveer Singh and Akshaye Khanna anchor an exhaustingly long yet intense espionage thriller

Aditya Dhar's actioner is saved by star power, intense action, and a powerhouse ensemble cast despite uneven pacing and a 3.5 hour run-time.

Dhurandhar wasone of the most anticipated release this year as it marked an exciting collaboration between Aditya Dhar’s reputation to deliver a meticulously researched, grounded, yet explosive actioner and Ranveer Singh’s chameleonic ability to transform into any character with ease and conviction. And this espionage thriller, despite its exhaustingly lengthy run-time and uneven narration, manages to keep you invested if not thoroughly entertained courtesy of its star power, background music and intense action sequences.

Inspired by true events, Dhurandhar explores the high-stakes world of Indian Intelligence Bureau (IB) covert operations during the tumultuous 2000s, focusing on the mission to infiltrate Pakistan and extract crucial intelligence to avert major terror strikes on home soil. The film opens by establishing the intense climate by quickly referencing the scars of the 1999 Kandahar hijack and the 2001 Parliament attacks, in response to which IB Chief Ajay Sanyal (R. Madhavan) initiates a meticulously laid and long-term plan of deploying an undercover operative at the grassroots level of the enemy country’s terror with the intention of neutralizing its key stakeholders. We are then introduced to our sturdy, long haired and heavy bearded protagonist, Hamza Ali Mazhari (Ranveer Singh) as he commences his grueling mission by infiltrating the volatile neighborhood of Lyari, Karachi.

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The film starts on an intensely intriguing note setting the events and aftermaths that necessitated the initiation of this mission, however takes plenty of time building the world and characters of this high-stakes espionage thriller. We are introduced to all the key stakeholders of the mafia, underworld and political nexus of Pakistan that empowers its bureaucracy to enable their terrorist activities around the world. But, the pacing of the first half remains deeply problematic, undoing the excitement of the portion. While Dhar’s no nonsense approach, raw and gritty storytelling abilities are on full display here, the uneven screenplay and unnecessarily stretched sequences deliver a mixed bag of high points and moments that fall flat making the first half strictly middling. Nonetheless, Shashwat Sachdev’s music elevates every scene and set pieces injecting the film with adrenaline pumping moments. Watch out particularly for the sequence where Akshaye Khanna’s Rehman Dakait, returns to a traditional Balochi welcome to his hometown. His moves coupled with Sachdev’s tunes are a treat to watch and are sure to be a staple at every Indian get together, just like Jamal Kudu of Animal became a rage back in the days.

The film picks pace in the second half where the story finally comes together and delivers an interesting if not an entirely compelling experience in terms of plot developments and character arcs. There is still a lot happening which makes plotlines hard to follow but Dhar’s decision to divide the film in chapters prevents it from getting convoluted. The action, chase sequences and hand to hand combat pieces are gory and at times unsettling to watch however deliver the intentioned impact. The romance between Ranveer Singh’s Humza and Sara Arjun’s Yalina too looks out of place and forced. Akshaye Khanna's Rehman Dakait, the underworld don, Humza joins to reach to the very top of Pakistan’s terror network is probably the biggest highlight of the film. He is commanding, lets his silences speak and is brilliantly layered as the ambitious mafia turned politician of Lyari. Arjun Rampal as ISI’s Major Iqbal too looks menacing as the ultra violent yet sharp witted bureaucrat of the country who rejoices at every speck of innocent blood that sheds in the neighbouring country due to his terror operations. R Madhavan lends impressive support as the IB chief who spearheads the Indian mission, while Sanjay Dutt who essays SP Chaudhry Aslam Khan, keen on cleaning the city from mafia is strictly average. Ranveer Singh doesn’t have much to do in the first half and you have to wait until his character finally explodes and shows his mettle in the post interval. However, his unmatched screen presence and layered yet restrained performance along with the physical transformation he has undergone for the film makes you overlook other flaws of this actioner and look forward to the second part of the film releasing in March next year. 

Overall, Dhrurandhar works only because of its powerful ensemble cast with its 3.5 hour pacing, uneven docu-series type narration reducing the efficacy of the film. 

Dhurandhar is now playing in cinema halls near you!
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