After lot of mulling over, whether I can take in the violence and after Mr.Bee had watched it with his friends, I decided to watch Dhurandhar. Mr.Bee promised that he would warn me at the violent parts, so that I could cringe and grit my teeth, without having to see the gore and blood shed, but only listen to the audio at those parts! (I was THAT set on watching Dhurandhar)
This is a fair warning to all the people who love a good movie, but get the jitters at violence, do watch the movie, to get a general idea of how much our Army is sacrificing for mediocre individuals like us!
Firstly, a person who is skilled about what to do and how to do is called a Dhurandhar!
Now let’s jump into the review….
Released on : 5th December, 2025
Queen Bee watched on : 9th January, 2026
Starring : Ranveer Singh, Akshay Khanna, R.Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, Sanjay Dutt, Gaurav Gera, Rakesh Bedi, Sara Arjun, Manav Gohil and more.
Directed by : Aditya Dhar
Review :
Movie starts with the 1999 Kandahar plane hijack and the killing of one of the passengers. It must have been a harrowing experience to all the passengers on the airplane. (Incidentally, all the Islamic terrorists had used Hindu code names during the hijack.)
We meet R.Madhavan, essaying the role of Ajay Sanyal, chief of National Security, who is patriotic and plans well ahead for the country. Project Dhurandhar is his brain child.
Next comes the 2001 terror attack of the Indian Parliament. The director included real footage of the incident too. I was not prepared for it, I shed a tear or two for the 9 brave hearts, the security personnel who died on that day, foiling the plans of the terrorists. Salute! (Imagine if only the suicide bomber had succeeded in entering the parliament, the damage would have been manifold.)
This incident puts the wheels in motion and the Dhurandhar, Ranveer Singh enters the enemy territory, as Hamza Ali Mazari. The song which introduces him is the best. Can’t get it out of my head! ( Na toh Karvan ki talaash hai….)
I was worried for him. Imagine living among enemies!
Anyway, by making the right moves, Hamza ends up in the close circle of Rehman Dakait (Akshay Khanna). Then there is Jameel Jamali (Rakesh Bedi), a PAP politician who uses Rehman Dakait, as an ally.
Hamza meets Yalina Jamali (Sara Arjun), the 19 year old daughter of Jameel Jamali, who falls for Hamza.
Through these links Hamza manages to get intelligence about the 500 and 1000 rupee note scam. (The information later is passed onto the IB chief Ajay Sanyal.)
The one at the center of this Indian currency scam is Major Iqbal (Arjun Rampal), somehow, he looked creepy from the get go! (Anyone remembers those days in our childhood when people took extra care to check if the 500 note is original or not. Somehow, the information got leaked to even general public, but nothing was done to stop the scam)
The Khanani brothers who were part of the Indian currency scam also join hands with Rehman Dakait, along with Major Iqbal to procure weapons. They plan another terror attack on India, on October 3rd, 2008 with the spearhead being Ajmal Kasab.
Hamza passes on the information to IB chief and the terror plan on October 3rd is foiled. Major Iqbal successfully catches hold of the Indian spy among the terrorists!
The next scene is probably the most haunting scene I have ever watched in a movie. The Indian spy is tortured and I could hardly look at the screen. ( Not even an enemy deserves that torture.)
Inspite of the terror warnings given by Hamza and the other tortured spy, 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks happen!
Hamza’s pain is real. He is living among enemies, doing stuff he normally doesn’t do, watches first hand, how the enemy nation is torturing the Indian spy and still the terror attack couldn’t be averted.
In the next scene, Hamza shows this angst by amputating the fingers, one by one of a mere employee of Rehman Dakait! ( powerful scene indeed)
The movie ends with Hamza marrying Yalina, helping SP Aslam ( Sanjay Dutt) encounter Rehman Dakait.
During the last fight scenes, when Rehman was not easily bowing down to both Hamza and SP, I was like, maar saale ko, khatam kardo…that shows how well Akshay Khanna lived in the role of a violent crime lord.
I know, by now everyone is all praises for Akshay Khanna, but for me, Ranveer Singh is the man! He truly brought out the best and I don’t know how he managed his generally over-the -top personality, contain it and bring out such nuanced performance. He emoted with his eyes and how! I have always known that he is a good actor and he proved himself once again.
Lastly, full credit to the director Aditya Dhar for bringing out such a movie. The 3 hour 34 minute runtime didn’t feel long at all. Everyone were engrossed in the movie. Young India needs to know, learn, adapt and decide it’s own future. Thanks to brave hearts and brave story tellers who inspire us.
P.S:
1. Whoever called this a propaganda movie is nuts.
2. The movie made me numb! Who even gives instructions during a terror attack, step by step! The audio during the 26/11 terror attacks was played and it was shocking how cold terrorists can be.
Army is doing so much for the country, what are we even doing to earn it?
3. I have never watched any movie remotely patriotic. I plan to watch URI and Sam Bahadur soon.
4. On a lighter note, I like the background score, at the scene when Hamza is fighting gang war, flips his long hair in slo-mo, Ramba Ho ho ho….! I wish I had such beautiful, untangled hair!
Music by Shashwat Sachdev is off the charts and awesome. The Arabic rap song Foos Foos by Fa9la is also unforgettable.
Waiting for Dhurandhar 2, on 19th March 2026.
Till the next post, ciao!
