Film: Dhurandhar
Rating: 2.5/5
Cast: Ranveer Singh, Sanjay Dutt, Akshaye Khanna, R. Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, Sara Arjun, Rakesh Bedi, Saumya Tandon, Danish Pandor and others
Cinematography: Vikash Nowlakha
Editing: Shivkumar V. Panicker
Music: Shashwat Sachdev
Producers: Aditya Dhar, Lokesh Dhar, Jyoti Deshpande
Director: Aditya Dhar
Release Date: 5 Dec 2025
The trailer of Dhurandhar created strong curiosity because it is set against the infiltration of Indian intelligence into Pakistan and the operation methods involved. R. Madhavan plays a role reminiscent of Ajit Doval, which added more intrigue. Many viewers also tried to decode which real life figure Ranveer Singh might be portraying.
Let us now look at the story.
Story
The film begins with the 1999's flight hijack episode at Kandahar. Ajay Sanyal (Madhavan) appears as the IB chief who negotiates with the hijackers and helps save the passengers. The narrative quickly moves to the 2001 Parliament attack. As incidents continue to challenge Indian security agencies, Ajay Sanyal proposes Operation Dhurandhar, and the Prime Minister gives his approval.
The idea is to infiltrate Pakistan with Indian spies and gather information about terror plans. Hamza (Ranveer Singh), enters Pakistan through Afghanistan and joins the Lyari mafia headed by Rehman Dakait (Akshaye Khanna). He also comes across Major Iqbal from the ISI (Arjun Rampal), who is shown planning the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
During his stay in Lyari, Hamza falls in love with the daughter (Sara Arjun) of local politician Jameel (Rakesh Bedi) respectively. The film then follows how Hamza infiltrates, gains trust, completes parts of his mission and where he fails.
Performances:
Ranveer Singh delivers a strong performance as Hamza. He gets several moments to emote and handles them effectively. His only drawback is that he sometimes looks older than required.
Sara Arjun appears too young opposite Ranveer Singh, although she performs her part adequately. After her appearance in Ponniyan Selvan as Young Nandini, she caught national interest and now played beside Ranveer Singh.
Akshaye Khanna impresses with his screen presence. After his role as Aurangzeb in Chhava, he excels again here as Rehman Dakait.
Arjun Rampal fits perfectly as Major Iqbal and brings a menacing aura.
Rakesh Bedi is fine as the local leader and adds a mild comic touch.
R. Madhavan stands out with excellent method acting as Ajay Sanyal.
Sanjay Dutt is routine and looks similar to many of his recent roles as SP Chaudhary Aslam.
Technical Excellence
Shashwat Sachdev's background music is engaging and adequate. The songs do not leave much impact. Cinematography is of high quality and visually impressive. Editing could have been sharper. Production values, makeup, art work and locations convincingly portray Pakistan.
Highlights
Performances
Core idea of the film
Drawbacks
Long duration
Unnecessary elevations
Excessive violence
Lack of adrenaline or patriotic high
Analysis
The idea and plot are strong. However, the casting choices for Pakistani characters and the heroic elevations given to them reduce the impact for audiences who expected full scale patriotic intensity. Viewers come in expecting adrenaline filled moments, clever infiltration strategies, tense mind games and triumphant victories over hostile forces. Dhurandhar does not fully fullfill these expectations.
The narrative slows down due to an unnecessary and forced love story. Fiction is acceptable but it should not become a friction to audience engagement.
The identity reveal of the protagonist toward the end lacks conviction. For most of the film, viewers assume he is an army officer with a fake identity, but that is not the case. To know his backstory, the audience must wait for the sequel expected in March 2026.
Despite its flaws, the film offers moments that showcase the intelligence personnel who protect the nation. Some violent scenes are impactful and the performances are strong. Production values are also commendable. What the film lacks is realism.
The overall mood is covered by cinematic elements rather than delivering focused patriotism or mission driven intensity similar to Zero Dark Thirty or URI.
The length of the film is a major problem. A reduction of at least thirty minutes would have helped and keeping the runtime not more than three hours would have been ideal.
The beginning is compelling and moves quickly. Once the mission begins, the film becomes slower until the interval, which arrives nearly two hours after the start. The second half also moves slowly and becomes predictable in parts.
The characters resemble real life figures but the imagined drama behind major events, including 26/11, does not emotionally connect with viewers. The protagonist being shown as a witness to crucial developments is a creative idea but the emotion does not translate well.
Overall, Dhurandhar is a long film that requires patience. It feels like an OTT series written in chapters and later adapted into a film with added songs and a forced love track. The idea is interesting but the execution and the elevations given to Pakistani characters for the sake of casting big actors limit the expected excitement. The hints about the protagonist's past do not build enough interest to wait eagerly for the next part. In one line Dhurandhar falls short of expectations and feels stretched in duration.
Bottomline: Not a wonder
