Dhurandhar – 1 (2025) – Stylish, Slick, bloated, BORE

Genre: Spy Action Thriller

Platform: Theatrical release

Length – 3 hours 45 minutes

Writer, producer, director: Aditya Dhar

 Plot   A deeply embedded Indian secret agent has become the right hand man of one of the top criminals of the Karachi Underworld gangs. This was the brainchild of an Indian intelligence official Ajay Sanyal, Director of IB, who narrates the incidents from the 1999 Kandahar hijack thru the December 2001 Parliament attack to the Karachi gang wars to the gang supplying the November 2008 Mumbai terror attackers to the final gang war and how the Indian spy was embedded …

It is impossible to separate the politics from the film as this is clear political film making designed to praise the ruling party.

So , let’s try to see the film, within the confines of a formulaic Hindi masala film and how many bits and pieces have been taken from different sources past and present.  Here goes the masala parade:

Masala Number 1. Films based on crime/ gang wars such as Satya (1998) set the template for the gang war film based on the multiple gang wars that took place in Mumbai in the late 1980s/ early 1990s. So was Company (2002), which was all about demolishing one such gang run by an infamous criminal who has supposedly fled to Pakistan. Both films were hits and no viewer went toxic on the internet (there was no internet then/ internet was just coming in – depending on where you were staying in India). No political party was praised. No police officer claimed credit, for the plot or names that bordered on their real names (though Company had Police Commissioner Srinivasan standing in for Police Commissioner Sivanandan).  Then there are the infamous Wasseypur series from Anurag Kashyap which were supposedly based on real criminal gangs in the Hindi speaking hinterlands. This film’s story is however set in Lyari , a Karachi suburb, infamous for its gang wars between different gangs who were backed by political parties. Conclusion: We can be infer/ conclude that this is Sathya  + Gangs of Wasseypur set in Karachi 😊. Why? Where is the politics ? Keep reading.

Masala Number 2 – “Spy elements”. Every since YRF created a “spy universe” which was filled with bombastic action set pieces with half the world being blown up, Indian spy films have followed the same formula of fantastic explosions. However since explosions means dead bodies , we have to show something different. Therefore let us go hyperviolent – thus enters masala number 4 below.

Masala Number 3 – SPOILER ALERT. It is revealed in the film’s end that “The Indian spy” is supposedly a criminal on death row who has been given a choice – death or service to the nation. He chose latter. What an original idea, Sirji. Really? Let’s check some of the movies with “death or service to nation” ideas

• The Dirty Dozen – 1968 – 12 condemned American soldiers given a suicide mission inside Nazi Germany controlled France. If they survive, their crimes will be pardoned and their ranks re-instated and the past charges wiped out. Movie was a hit because it was ultra violent – for its time (eg – Nazi officers trapped in an underground shelter being doused with fuel and set ablaze).
• La Femme Nikita by Luc Besson – French female drug addict on death row, given a choice to serve as a Government executioner or be executed. Guess what she chooses. And what happened to the movie box office status.
  • Copied in English as Point of No Return.
  • Copied in Hindi as Kartoos starring Sanjay Dutt and Manisha Koirala. Guess what happens when the assassin Kartoos (Sanjay Dutt) falls in love with the woman who showers him with love even after knowing what is his day job.
• Luc Besson repeated Nikita with Anna (2019) . This time the assassin was a Russian employed by the SVR (former KGB). Guess what happens.
• So, if the assassin must do his/ her task, there will be tons of dead bodies and explosions and flying bullets and car chases and so on. In short, lots of “action”

Masala Number 4 – Since 1 and 2 have been done and dusted, the movie must be different. How? Add HYPER VIOLENT scenes. These included body parts literally exploding, being dismembered, blown up, dismembered (oh? I said that?), heads rolling away from the body and so on.

Masala Number 5 – Only the Indian hero, is a righteous man. His kills are “righteous” kills while all the other Pakistani men kill each other in ever increasingly violent ways. Why? because they are Pakistanis.

Masala Number 6 – if you must have audience pull, these must be “based on true events’. Thus, you have Ajay Sanyal , a deep frowning bureaucrat who also happens to be head of the Indian IB, frowning and frowning and frowning. (Surprising he wasn’t named Chinta Money– you will see why.) From the time of the Kandahar hijack thru the Parliament attack, he has been frowning and has found a bright plan to send a deep cover agent inside Pakistan who will tear the Pakistani civil society apart through the gang wars that he will initiate. Mr. Frown gets intelligence from his agent that fake Indian notes are being printed but decides to sit on the intel as he says the government of the day is hand in glove with anti-nationals. Such a patriot Mr. Chinta. Rather than pass it on, he sits on it and even says “good days and times will come”. Ho Ho. He anticipated the good times so far ahead. Real intelligent man , which is why he is head of the intelligence agency.

Masala Number 7 – true events. Hey. Didn’t we just discuss that? what? the Mumbai terror attack recordings are shown in between the film? Why? Because the hero is watching the attacks live and is aghast, as he had handed over the guns to the terrorists. So whatever follows in the film before and after that scene, is the whole truth and nothing but the truth – never mind the above masalas.

Masala Number 8 – Politics and Politicians. Hey. Remember this is a crime film? Hello? What? Politicians control criminals?

• Pakistani Politicians – they are all sleazeballs. They control the Lyari gang and one of them keeps saying “whoever controls Lyari, controls Karachi and thus Pakistan”. I was wondering about an Indian equivalent but couldn’t find one. (umm – whoever controls Dharavi controls Mumbai and the nation? Doesn’t have that punch.)
• Indian Politicians – Chinta Money knows they are all anti national. Except one. So, he waits. Not a single Indian politician is straight. How do we know? he keeps saying “they are all corrupt and no action will be taken against them”. His definition of being a true pro-national / patriot is to sit on all the intel he gets than share it with his superiors.

Masala Number 9 – Indian Spies – Hmm. Mr. Frown is the only true Indian Spy. So too is his discovery the Dhurandar of the title. Dhurandar can put Tom Cruise to shame with his multiple skills on guns, motor cycle driving, car driving.  Other Indian spies from other agencies, like RAW, only pass the buck like the typical babus that they are even if they wear suits to office. Only these two are real ‘spies’.

Masala Number 10 – The ending is …

BHAI BAHUT GO GAYA. AB PAO BHAJI BANAO

So. Take a cook, add all these masalas, add some more mirch masala, more masala, more masala, more political statements, and grandstanding, cook it up and serve.

Lo and Behold : you have Dhurandar.

My personal feelings while watching this stylish super masala pao bhaaji:

1. I was bored in half an hour.
2. At some places I was laughing at the simply outrageous statements from Mr. Frown.
3. This is just a MI style Sathya set in Karachi with hyper violent scenes and a dhinchak background music.
4. It should be taken as the New Gunda but I suspect that I will receive lot of hate posts for even suggesting that something can be better than Gunda . It even has one line when Sanjay Dutt says “isko bol pakadke rakh, nahi to khoon beh jaayage“.  This is when I laughed aloud in the theater as I was reminded of Lambu Aatta’s “dumko pakad ke rakh bhai, pakadke rakh; chodna nai” :)
5. Performances – Once Shahrukh Khan was criticized / self criticized that he was a “one expression actor”. That is modern acting. Everyone has one expression. Frown. Frown. Terrible Frown. Super Terrible Frown. Blank. Only Rakesh Bedi has a semblance of a performance as the sleazy politician who blows with the wind and keeps changing his colors to favour one gang or the other and finally the cop whom he had suspended. But I suspect he is just being Rakesh Bedi.
6. The production design is superb. The Lyari sets were supposedy recreated in Bangkok.

Final conclusion: A case of maximal style over minimal but deliberately provocative content.

Script – 1 out of 5

Story – 1 out of 5

Direction – 4 out of 5

Photography – 3 out of 5

Total – 2.3 out of 5

PS: Since Chinta Money is still around , let’s have a friendly bet. Part 2 of the movie will end in 2014 when Chinta Money’s intelligence and crystal ball gazing will finally come true.