Why Rasputin Was A Hidden Message In Dhurandhar 2 Israel-ISI Climax

After a six-year gap, Aditya Dhar returned to the director's chair with Dhurandhar and Dhurandhar: The Revenge, two films that have not just dominated the box office but also seeped into everyday conversation.

If the first film set the tone with its layered storytelling and nostalgic music choices, the sequel has doubled down, especially in the way it uses sound to deepen narrative impact.

Among its many talking points and the usage of songs, one moment has stood out: the use of Rasputin by Boney M during the final stretch of the climax. At first glance, it feels quirky, even unexpected. But sit with it for a moment, and the choice reveals itself as anything but random. It is, in fact, one of the film's most layered decisions.

Where Was Rasputin Played In Dhurandhar 2?

(Spoilers Ahead)

The final act of Dhurandhar: The Revenge is tense, brutal, and politically loaded. After killing Major Iqbal, Hamza, played by Ranveer Singh, is captured by the new SP, Omar Haider, portrayed by Aditya Uppal. What follows is a harrowing interrogation, designed to extract sensitive intelligence.

Watching over this is Lt General Shamshad Hassan, the head of ISI, played by Raj Zutshi, a man who appears untouchable. When R Madhavan's IB chief Ajay Sanyal intervenes, asking for Hamza's release, Shamshad initially responds with smug authority. He believes he holds all the cards.

But then comes the shift.

Lt General Shamshad Hassan, played by Raj Zutshi in Dhurandhar 2.

Sanyal sends across a video, one that shows Shamshad secretly trading Pakistan's military intelligence with Israeli officials. In that moment, the power dynamic flips. The man who seemed invincible is exposed.

It is precisely here that Rasputin begins to play. But why was Rasputin chosen? To understand this, we need to take a look at who Rasputin was.

Who Was Rasputin?

Grigori Rasputin, born in 1869 in Siberia, was a peasant who rose to become a powerful mystic and healer within the court of Tsar Nicholas II. He gained the trust of Empress Alexandra by seemingly easing the suffering of her haemophiliac son's pain, and soon became a behind-the-scenes power broker.

Rasputin was a peasant who rose to become a powerful mystic and healer. Photo: X

By the time World War I was underway, Rasputin's influence had grown deeply controversial. He was not officially in power, yet he shaped decisions, influenced appointments, and became a symbol of excess and unchecked authority. 

Rasputin's unchecked power quickly went to his head, as he accepted bribes for political advice, openly flaunted his status, and intensified his notorious habits of heavy drinking, often appearing publicly drunk, and womanising with prostitutes, aristocrats, and even rumoured court ladies.

The Russian nobility saw him as dangerous. Not because he held power openly, but because he wielded it invisibly.

Eventually, a group of aristocrats decided to eliminate him.

The Assassination That Became A Legend

Rasputin's assassination in December 1916 has gone down as one of history's most bizarre and mythologised killings. According to accounts by his killers, led by Prince Felix Yusupov, Rasputin was first fed cakes and wine laced with cyanide. When that failed, he was shot. When that did not seem to kill him, he was shot again, beaten, and finally thrown into the freezing Neva River.

The story, dramatic and almost supernatural, painted Rasputin as "unkillable".

But forensic evidence tells a different, far more clinical, story.

The autopsy conducted by Dr Dmitry Kosorotov found no trace of poison in Rasputin's body. There was also no conclusive evidence that he drowned. Instead, the most decisive injury was a close-range gunshot wound to the forehead, likely the actual cause of death.

In other words, the legend of a man who survived poison, bullets, and drowning was largely constructed by his killers themselves, possibly to dramatise their actions and justify the assassination. But that didn't stop the myth from spreading the greatness of unkillable Rasputin.

Years later, in 1978, Boney M released a disco hit, Rasputin, which recently also became a social media sensation, many decades before it was used in Dhurandhar 2.

Shamshad As A Modern-Day Rasputin In Dhurandhar 2

Shamshad Hassan in Dhurandhar 2 is, in many ways, a cinematic echo of Rasputin.

Like Rasputin, he operates from the shadows, and he is the one pulling the strings. He appears, and he thinks he is untouchable. Until he isn't.

Just as Rasputin ultimately exposed his vulnerability, Sanyal's video does the same to Shamshad. It strips him of his aura. It reduces a powerful man to a compromised one.

The collapse is swift, almost humiliating.

And that is where Rasputin as a track becomes more than just background music.

The lyrics and energy of Rasputin are upbeat, almost celebratory, telling the story of a man who wielded immense influence and lived a life of excess before meeting a violent end.

Playing it over Shamshad's downfall adds a layer of irony. The audience is not just watching a villain lose power; they are witnessing the unravelling of someone who believed himself above all consequence.

Not The First Bollywood Movie To Use Rasputin

This is not the first time Bollywood has used the Rasputin track. The 2012 Bollywood spy thriller Agent Vinod, directed by Sriram Raghavan and starring Saif Ali Khan, had a rendition inspired by Boney M's 1978 disco hit Rasputin, also as a track titled I'll Do the Talking Tonight. This was, however, a partial interpolation of Rasputin, with music by Pritam, who acquired official remake rights from Sony Music.

It draws from the same folk roots as the original, including the Serbian tune "Ruse Kose Curo Imas" and Turkish/Ottoman melody "Katibim" (Uskudar'a Gider Iken). Sung by Neeraj Sridhar, it was released as the film's first single and features a Moscow nightclub sequence where Agent Vinod (Saif Ali Khan) investigates a lead.

Meanwhile, here's I Will Do The Talking Tonight for you to tune into...