“Ab Pakistan ka mustaqbil tay karega Hindustan”
This very much summarises Aditya Dhar’s ambitious sequel to the 2025 blockbuster Dhurandhar. It is the Indian intelligence agency, led by Ajay Sanyal (R. Madhavan), who is deciding the fate of Pakistan — through his trusted spy Jaskirat Singh Rangi, alias Hamza Ali Mazari.
From finishing off terrorist modules to deciding the winning side in Pakistani national elections, Hamza, who has taken over the reins of Lyari after the death of Rehman Dakait (Akshaye Khanna) now calls the shots.
Sounds good, right?
Actually, it’s not.
Dhurandhar: The Revenge has more gore, more violence and brazen propaganda. But it lacks the finesse that Dhurandhar at least could boast of. After spending over four hours in theatres, I was left wondering, was waking up at 5.30am, to catch a 6am show, really worth it? The answer is a straight NO.
Dhar, here, makes no pretense of his intentions. He is not interested in telling the redemption story of a spy who sacrificed his normal life in the service of the nation. The intent, from the word go, is to drive home the message that India, oops Bharat, has changed post 2014. And now, we enter into our enemies’ homes and wreck them from within.
Needless to say, all this is because of the political leadership of the country, and their trusted IB chief Doval, oops Sanyal.
Dhurandhar 2 begins with a flashback. It is the year 2002. We get a glimpse into Hamza’s past — as Jaskirat, a young man from Punjab, aspiring to join the armed forces.
However, as his family becomes the victim of politics in his village, Jaskirat chooses the path of violence and ends up on the radar of Sanyal, who is recruiting spies for his Operation Dhurandhar (to infiltrate into Pakistan and wreck the nation from within).
It is funny that Dhar, who makes sly references at how bad the political opponents of BJP (rather Modi) are, falls short of naming who was in power in Punjab in 2002 — the Shiromani Akali Dal in alliance with the BJP — and responsible for the destruction of Jaskirat’s family. Double standards, much?
And these double standards pretty much continue for the rest of the narrative. Stereotypes are reinforced — Muslims burn a Sikh alive alive over blasphemy rumours, the Pakistani ISI chief threatens to force every Hindu man recite the kalma and sell Hindu women in brothels. There’s a corrupt Indian Muslim gangster who works in tandem with the ISI. Fresh addition? Khalistani separatists.
At one point, I was half expecting Sanyal to blame George Soros for all woes facing India, oops Bharat.
Dhar also takes it upon himself to absolve the current ruling dispensation in India of all the controversial decisions.
There’s a whole chapter (yes, Dhurandhar 2 is also divided into chapters like the first part) dedicated to how demonetisation was a much-needed step to save India, oops Bharat, from counterfeit currency. Extensive footage of Modi declaring demonetisation on November 8, 2006, plays on the screen as Hamza sets fire to a godown full of fake Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.
If only Dhar had bothered to refer to the Union government’s data suggesting both cash circulation, and counterfeit currency seizures have increased in India post demonetisation.
And this isn’t even the tip of the brazen propaganda that Dhar peddles in his film. We all remember how Sanyal and his assistant were wishing for a “government in Uttar Pradesh that puts national interest as top priority” in the original film. Here, it is alleged that fake notes were being channelised into India because the ISI wanted the then ruling party in UP (Samajwadi Party hasn’t been explicitly named) to win again. However, demonetisation spoiled the ISI’s plan and led to the formation of an “honest” government (read Yogi Adityanath’s government).
And how can a propaganda film be complete without the favourite punching bag, Dawood Ibrahim! The much-anticipated Bade Saab makes an appearance in the film — and no, he is not played either by Salman Khan or Emraan Hashmi. Does Hamza kill the most wanted terrorist of India? Let’s just say, the 2012 spy thriller Phantom had a more exciting fate for Dawood than Dhar did.
One could sit through all this, for 229 minutes, had Dhar showed even half the technical finesse Dhurandhar had. The entire narrative hinges on lucky coincidences that somehow favour Hamza in tricky situations. The VFX is tacky. The background score — one of the high points of the original — feels out of sync this time. The remix-of-old-Bollywood-hits formula fails to make a mark.
And the action is unnecessarily gory. It almost feels like the makers derive a voyueristic pleasure from all the violence. At the very beginning, Sanyal tells Jaskirat, “We are men. Our job is to fight”. And boy, do they fight. One is left wondering how these scenes got past the censor board!
What’s worse is that the audience actually cheers for this. Everytime some body part got ripped off or blown up, thunderous applause filled the theatre where I was watching the film. Everytime a Muslim man is dehumanised, there’s laughter. Everytime Sanyal appears on screen to praise his bosses, there’s whistles.
And that’s why I could only think of Satyajit Ray’s oft-quoted musing on the Indian audience’s nature, while leaving the theatre. They are fairly backward. Which is why films like Dhurandhar get made, dominate screens, and laugh all the way at the box office.
Can I have my cinema back, please?