Drawn by its massive hype, yesterday I went to a nearby INOX cinema to watch "Dhurandhar" starring Ranveer Singh, Sanjay Dutt, Akshaye Khanna, Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, etc. I was not so impressed by this movie as it contains truckloads of violence and abuses. Thus, it's not a decent movie, the likes of which one can watch alongside his family.
The acting of Akshaye Khanna is good but not that great as what has been hyped about by the media, so far. Not that he has failed to try his best. He has indeed tried hard and succeeded in putting up a very good performance. But the script of the film is full of violence and bad words. He too speaks a lot of abuses. I don't like these things, basically and hence on a personal level, I won't give him much more rating than a 7 out of 10.
As a matter of fact, I found the role of Ranveer Singh much better, until the last hour of the film. In the first 2 and a half hours, he is silent, sober, and decent. But in the last 75 minutes he too turns into a brute, alike other leads. People are saying "इस में अक्षय खन्ना, रणवीर को एक्टिंग के मामले में खा गया!" (Akshaye did far better than Ranveer in terms of his acting!) That's because of the script. It has been written in such a manner that Ranveer's role gets automatically overshadowed by Akshaye's role. Ranveer is supposed to play the second fiddle here, a quiet subdued guy who has to obey whatever his gang-leader/master Rehman Dakait (Akshaye) has to say. He is not supposed to revolt against Akshaye until the end, where he does. He is supposed to remain that subdued, silent person - who is supposed to keep his head down and speak in a low volume, almost every moment his master is present. He has performed that role in a matured, beautiful manner. I am sure, quiet and matured people will find Ranveer's performance too quite good. Only those who are in the age group 18-25, with so-called "hot blood flowing through their veins," will find his performance dull or weak and would rate Akshaye's performance far better than his. This shows how immature and childish social media has behaved in this instance, once again!! 95% of YouTube videos are claiming Akshaye has totally outperformed Ranveer, which is actually not true. They should have mentioned the role of the script that is more powerfully inclined towards Akshaye, the main villain, rather than any one else. It's an injustice to talented actors like Ranveer and Madhavan to under-rate their performance.
Sanjay Dutt looks tired from his face now. His age, 66, is clearly catching up, although his active body is still working. He is still good in his action scenes but that 6-pack stalwart body is gone! What remains is a tired, rather ugly face - which more suits such roles that are brutally violent, abusive and not decent enough to be watched by a family. Over the years, he has been one of my most favorites and hence I would suggest he should either hang his shoes now or do sober, character roles of a nice daddy/uncle/ daadu, instead of speaking 3rd grade gaali (abuses) at the age of 66 on the silver screen. He should follow the example of his great iconic father Sunil Dutt, who had quit violent roles after 60.
Rakesh Bedi is getting widespread laurels for his performance in this film. Yes, I agree to a certain extent. He has played his part nicely, the one of a shrewd, selfish politician. But over the last 44 years, since the release of "Chasme Baddur" his face has become so synonymous with comic roles, that those who have known him thus far, just can not digest this role of his, wherein he utters far more sincere and serious dialogues with a tight, angry face! It's kind of shocking and clearly it doesn't suit him. I would have preferred someone like a Nasiruddin Shah to play that role, instead (Remember Nasir playing a similar role in Aamir Khan's "Sarfarosh" with so much precision?)
Arjun Rampal looks flat in his dialogue delivery and stereotypical. His performance doesn't deserve praise.
Madhavan looks organised and highly educated as Ajay Sanyal, the IB chief. It's a role which he immediately reminds us of Ajit Doval, the current NSA. This guy is full of patriotism. "India First" is his agenda. His cold, calculative & strategic approach solidifies his presence in the movie. Although his 1st bollywood movie "Rehna hai tere Dil me" was not a success, this southern superstar has gradually succeeded in cementing his place in Bollywood after a hard work spread over 2 decades. Congratulations to him!
The background music score is wonderful. Often one hears the tunes of past bollywood songs like "Rambha ho ho ho...", "Ho gao Om, Shanti Om..." etc. being played in the background, which creates a sense of nostalgia amongst lovers of Hindi film music, but at the same time raises questions about copyright infringement, which luckily and surprisingly, this film has not been dragged into until now! The song "Na to karva ki talaash hai..." is beautiful and melodious. Other songs are good too.
The heroine of the film is far younger than the hero Ranveer Singh. Yet, there exists and undeniable chemistry between the two.
Having done a business of more than 400 crores already, this film will benefit the careers and status of Akshaye, Ranveer, Sanjay Dutt, Madhavan, Arjun Rampal and Rakesh Bedi. Sanjay Dutt and Rakesh Bedi are in their 60s and the former needs to rebrand his image now, as mentioned earlier. Else this film industry is cruel enough to sideline a quickly aging man into being obsolete very soon.
Overall I would give this movie a 6.6 out of 10 and not a 10 out of 10 as so many others are giving. That's because of a heavy dose of violence and abuses, which the film offloads on to its observer's mind. It's a film worth watching, but only once.
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NB: Don't forget to read my new novel/story "चाबी" coming soon!
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