Dhurandhar: The Revenge Review

Aditya Dhar is a brilliant filmmaker. There is no two opinions about it. He proved himself with the hugely successful ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’ and then scored a bigger and better success with the first part of ‘Dhurandhar’. The fact that Dhurandhar collected more than a thousand crores at the box office by releasing in only one language, and that too without a theatrical release in the Middle East, speaks to the impact it had on filmgoers across the country and overseas. The first part of the franchise was released in theatres in December last year and went on to become a cultural phenomenon and it is one of those rare films in this generation which got more than two months of theatrical run with very good occupancies not just in India but overseas as well. After the sensational response to the first part, Aditya Dhar, Ranveer Singh and came up with the part two of the franchise with the title ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’ in just about three months after the release of part one and this time, the makers decided to release the film in theatres, not just in Hindi but in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam as well. With huge anticipation and expectations from the audience, the film was released in theatres today. Was the director, Aditya Dhar, able to reach the sky-high expectations of the audience? Does ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’s’ content have the potential to become yet another thousand crores grosser at the box office? Did, Ranveer Singh, impress the audience yet again with his stellar performance? Let’s figure it out with a detailed analysis.

What is it about?

‘Dhurandhar – The Revenge’ picks up where the first part left off. In the first part, we saw how Jaskirat Singh Rangi (Ranveer Singh) infiltrated the Baloch gang in Lyari under the alias ‘Hamza Ali Mazari’ and established himself as a key member of the gang. In ‘The Revenge’, we get to see his backstory, how he became the leader of the Baloch gang in Lyari, what challenges Hamza faced after the death of Rehman Dakait (Akshaye Khanna), whether Yalina Jamali (Sara Arjun) uncovered Hamza’s true identity, and how Jaskirat, eliminated his targets one by one. It also explores what transpired when Major Iqbal (Arjun Rampal) discovered Hamza’s real identity as an Indian spy. Furthermore, it reveals how intelligence gathered from Jaskirat contributed to India’s decision to demonetise in 2016.

Performances:

Ranveer Singh’s performance in the role of Jaskirat Singh Rangi Aka Hamza Ali Mazari, is mindblowing. As a Spy who deals with deadly enemies day in and day out, as a loving son who is staying away from his family and as a husband who hid the most important fact about himself from his wife, Ranveer Singh delivered a performance which will be remembered for a long time. He is sure to get a lot of awards, including the national award for the best performance in a lead role, in the coming days.

R. Madhavan in the role of Ajay Sanyal is exceptional. The director came up with two brilliantly written sequences for Madhavan’s role and he left a very strong impact in both sequences with his performance and screen presence. Rakesh Bedi is the show stealer yet again. His ability to generate fun with his impeccable dialogue delivery and comedy timing, was a treat to watch. Just like the first part, both Arjun Rampal and Sanjay Dutt, did complete justice to their roles. Sara Arjun got a very limited role this time around. She delivered a good performance in two crucial emotional sequences.

Dhurandhar: The Revenge, is one of the rare films where every actor performed well to the best of their ability. The film had at least twenty crucial characters. And, every actor who did all those twenty characters, did a commendable job with their performances.

Technicalities:

Music, sound design, action choreography, art design, editing and every involved technical department, delivered first-rate output to the film. The two films in the Dhurandhar franchise are inarguably the best in recent times in India, when it comes to technical brilliance. These two films will be talked about for a long time not just for their content but also for their superior technical values.

Shashwat Sachdev created a sensation with his music for the first part and for the second part, he came up with equally commendable music. Throughout the film, he elevated quite a few sequences with his electrifying background score. The songs in the film are good but they did not create as much of an impact as the songs in the first part. Most of the songs in the film were situstional and they were placed without impacting the pace and mood of the film.

Cinematography by Vikash Nowlakha is first-rate. The shot division and the way he captured the visuals through his camera were stunning. Shivkumar V. Panicker’s work as editor stands as one of the finest editing works for an indian film in recent times. Apart from a couple of places, he made sure the pace of the film never dipped throughout the film. Kudos to the production design team for coming up with very realistic set pieces. A few of the sets used in the film appeared almost like real locations. Production values by Jio Studios and B62 Studios were top-notch. It looked like the production team approved all the required resources to bring the director’s vision to the screen. Let’s talk about the director, Aditya Dhar’s work in detail in the analysis section.

Positives:

1.⁠ ⁠Very Engaging Drama
2.⁠ ⁠Technical Brilliance
3.⁠ ⁠Top Notch Story Telling
4.⁠ ⁠Ranveer Singh’s Performance
5.⁠ ⁠Payoff’s For Ajay Sanyal’s Character
6.⁠ ⁠Twist In The Climax
7.⁠ ⁠Music
8.⁠ ⁠Action Choreography

Negatives:

1.⁠ ⁠Excessive Bloodshed
2.⁠ ⁠Convenient Screenplay At A Few Places

Analysis:

You may agree with its politics or not but one thing you cannot deny is the conviction and perfection with which ‘Dhurandhar’, was made by Aditya Dhar and team. It is because of the conviction in storytelling and technical brilliance that every section of the audience irrespective of their political beliefs, appreciated the film. Just like the first film, the second film in the, Dhurandhar’ franchise, ‘Dhurandhar – The Revenge’, is also made with utmost conviction and additionally, this time the writer and the director, blended the film with very engaging drama and very well written pay-off’s to the crucial characters. Even with a runtime of around four hours, the film never makes you feel restless. Especially, the last hour of the film commands immense repeat value. In the last hour of the film, at least four to five times, the entire audience in the theatre, cheered and screamed out loud out of excitement.

Yes, the first part was good but in that film, the director focused more on, Rehman Dakait’s, character and on giving adrenaline-pumping moments at regular intervals. In the second part, the focus shifted to the character of Jaskirat Singh Rangi Aka Hamza Ali Mazari. The emotional turmoil the character goes through was written with a lot of depth it helped in establishing a very strong connection with the lead character. The emotional depth in the lead character’s arc, multiplied the impact when he eventually started taking ‘The Revenge’. It was a master stroke by the director to open the film with the chapter ‘A Burnt Memory’. A superb action episode followed by the backstory of Jaskirat Singh Rangi, instantly grabbed the attention of the audience into the proceedings and set the mood perfectly. Apart from the backstory, the emotional drama in the sequence where Yalina Jamali(Sara Arjun) gets to know about the real identity of Hamza, worked out very well. The dialogues written for this sequence and the way both actors performed, deserve a special mention. Also, the drama around Major Iqbal(Arjun Rampal) and his father, worked out well in establishing the reason for Iqbal’s hatred towards India.

The action episode at the start of the film, the pre-interval sequence, post interval confrontation sequence between Hamza and Pinda, the episode where Hamza attempts to kill Bade Sahab Aka Dawood Ibrahim, mind games between Hamza and SP Chaudhary Aslam in the second half, the pay-off sequence for the Ajay Sanyal’s unfinished dialogue in Kandahar Hijacked flight, the face-off action episode between Hamza and Major Iqbal, the phone conversation episode between Ajay Sanyal and Lieutenant general (Pakistan), Shamshad Khan and the twist in the pre-climax – All these aforementioned sequences worked out big-time in the favour of the film. Every one of these episodes, made the audience in the theatre whistle, clap and scream. Especially, for the twist during the climax, the entire audience in the auditorium erupted.

The four-hour duration of the film was divided into seven chapters with each chapter unfolding the different phases of Hamza’s mission. Out of the seven chapters, five chapters(i.e. A Burnt Memory, Ghosts from the Past, Trial by Fire, The Revenge and Dhurandhar), worked out very well without any complaints. The writing and execution of all five chapters, were almost flawless. The remaining two chapters(i.e. Lucifer and Unknown Men), were also good but the screenplay appeared a bit too convenient during these two episodes. It all looked so easy without any trouble for Hamza to execute his plans, during these two episodes. Yes, the film was given A/18+ rating but the excessive gore and bloodshed at a few places in the film will make even the adults a bit uncomfortable.

Overall, the director, Aditya Dhar, lived up to all the expectations with ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’. There are many episodes in the film that give you adrenaline and make you feel immensely satisfied. It is a film that is made with utmost conviction and is sure to be watched at a packed theatre. Yes, it is almost four hours long but barring a very few episodes where the pace dropped a bit, the rest of the film is immensely engaging and entertaining.

Final Verdict: Go.. Watch It!

Rating: 3.5/5