Author and columnist Shobhaa De has weighed in on the ongoing discourse around Dhurandhar, sharing an unfiltered, off-the-cuff review of the Aditya Dhar directorial after watching it in theatres.
What's Happening
- Calling the film "brilliant" and "epic," De dismissed the surrounding political controversy and urged audiences to view the film purely as cinema.
- Sharing her thoughts, Shobhaa De clarified that her reaction was entirely spontaneous and free of any agenda.
- She said, "I've come back after watching Dhurandhar, and this is an off-the-cuff review - absolutely without any kind of narrative, script, nothing. Just spontaneous responses to a film."
- She added that she wouldn't mind revisiting the film despite its long runtime. "I don't mind watching it all over again. Yes, three and a half hours of it. I didn't want to miss a moment," she said.
- Addressing the political debates surrounding the film, De expressed her confusion over the outrage.
- "Honestly, I do not understand what the controversy is about - the right wing and the left wing. Why can't you just watch a movie for what it is, a movie, and remember the effort that goes into making a monumental, epic film of this kind?" she said.
- Calling the politicisation of the film "nonsense," De remarked, "Forget all that. Forget the politics of it. It's utter nonsense - manipulative and awful." She also stated that criticism or backlash would not influence her opinion.
- "If there are critics who are losing their jobs over this, and if there are people who want to send a death squad to my door, I really don't care," she said.
- Emphasising that she watched the film without any ideological lens, De added, "I watched it as a viewer with absolutely zero political bias. It's not about politics. It's about a story - perhaps fictionalised. The person on whose life it is based must have been a super, super, super-duper hero. I will not name the person, but let me tell you just this much - it is brilliant. It is epic."
- Praising Ranveer Singh's performance, De highlighted the restraint shown by the actor. "As Ranveer says - come on, come on - the restraint, how controlled. When he could so easily have strutted, done the whole swag thing, put in a song for himself, done some hook step, romanced the girl," she said.
- While she acknowledged the female character's role, De admitted she wasn't particularly invested in the romantic angle. "Frankly, I didn't much care for the girl. That's my very personal opinion. She was strategically important, but not really a romantic, romantic interest," she shared.
- De further added, "Ranveer, I thought, chewed up the entire film."
Shobhaa De On Akshaye Khanna's Performance
Commenting on Akshaye Khanna's performance, Shobhaa said, "I liked Akshaye a lot. I can't say I went nuts over his performance. He is a superb actor, but because of the overkill - that one song, that one step and all of that - maybe I expected much more than what I actually got."
She credited the film's success to its director and music. "The star of the film - yes, the director, of course, because without his vision, there'd be no film. But also the music," De said, describing it as "orchestrated, choreographed violence set to Bhangra beats, operatic scores, favourite old qawwalis and love songs - and even 'Monica, Oh My Darling'."
Signing off with an emphatic endorsement, Shobhaa De concluded, "Yes, 'Oh My Darling.' I love Dhurandhar. Go watch it. Buy it from me."
Background
Dhurandhar continues its dream run with total earnings of Rs 351 crore so far.
Released on December 5, Dhurandhar features Ranveer Singh, Akshaye Khanna, Arjun Rampal, R Madhavan, Sara Arjun, Sanjay Dutt and Rakesh Bedi. The makers have confirmed that Dhurandhar 2 will hit cinemas on March 19, 2026.