Uri: The Surgical Strike helmer Aditya Dhar returns to familiar terrain with Dhurandhar, an espionage drama that looks and feels sleek, but slacks due to the pace of a 10-episode OTT series stitched into one exhausting 214-minute feature.
The plot is ambitious on paper: after a series of terror attacks — starting with the 1999 IC-814 hijack, followed by the 2001 Parliament attack — the Indian intelligence comes up with a novel espionage plan: plant Indian agents in the Pakistani mafia circles to extract information, and weaken the establishment from within.
The opening sequence sets the stage. Dhar knows how to mount a spectacle, and the film begins with a tightly constructed terrorist attack sequence that gets your attention easily. R. Madhavan is introduced as Sanyal, the IB chief with grand plans but constricted by petty politics. After a long delay, he gets his pet project ‘Dhurandhar’ running.
His pawn in Pakistan? Hamza Ali Mazhari. That’s Ranveer Singh with long, silky locks that can make even Deepika Padukone jealous. He slowly integrates himself into the gang of the notorious mafia leader Rehman Dakait (Akshaye Khanna). You expect the plot to take off from here, but Dhar has other plans.
For the first hour, and more, Dhurandhar introduces a parade of characters, subplots, historical incidents, agencies, all chopped into chapters that make you wonder whether Dhar originally conceived this as a series. Three chapters down, the story still hasn’t started moving. The plot keeps circling its own runway, revving the engines but never taking off.
Although Hamza is at the heart of the story, Ranveer, otherwise known for explosive energy on screen, appears strangely subdued. His arc feels like one thread among several dozen competing for attention.
The meandering pace isn’t the only issue. The film borrows deeply, and visibly, from the grammar of contemporary Indian crime-and-espionage web series. The power play between gangsters, informants, agencies, and politicians reminds you of Mirzapur, Bard of Blood, Family Man, and half a dozen other shows across platforms.
The only major differentiator is scale, but that alone cannot justify a feature-length treatment.
Dhar, of course, tries to infuse stylistic flair into his storytelling. The background score swings between gritty beats and unexpected retro picks. He stages an elaborate action sequence to Ramba Ho, and another chase sequence to Piya Tu. Yet, style cannot conceal the glaring structural problem: the story simply does not move with the momentum a thriller demands.
Then there is the political messaging. Dhar sprinkles his usual generous helpings of pro-government propaganda. At one point, R. Madhavan’s Ajay Sanyal (clearly based on Ajit Doval) says, “waiting for a government that will actually take action” and “humara bhi waqt aayega” — Dhurandhar is set during the Vajpayee and UPA years, and obviously Sanyal is hinting at Modi coming to power in the near future.
The film also bends over backwards to absolve Sanyal (Doval?) for intel failures: the Kandahar hijack debacle? Blamed on hostage-family pressure. Intelligence lapses during 26/11? Juniors didn’t take warnings seriously, apparently.
When the second half arrives — after two hours — you hope the narrative will tighten. Instead, it sprawls further. More players. More backstories. More build-up. Arjun Rampal’s ISI chief Major Iqbal is introduced as ‘Angel of Death’, but except one grotesque torture scene, he hardly gets to sink in his teeth into the scheme of things. And Sanjay Dutt’s Chaudhry Aslam Khan, a Karachi cop hunting for Rehman, looks as tired and bored as the audience after sitting through this film.
The tragedy of Dhurandhar is not that it lacks potential. India-Pakistan covert operations offer fertile ground for gripping storytelling. The cast is stacked with performers who know how to command the screen. But here it becomes an endurance test. By the time the climax arrives — another overstretched action set piece — you are not invested enough to care about it.
And that is the fundamental issue: Dhurandhar is structured like a limited series, but forced to become a two-part feature film.