Days before the sequel to Ranveer Singh-starrer Dhurandhar hits theatres, film scholar Ira Bhaskar, mother of actress Swara Bhasker, has criticised the blockbuster’s political messaging, describing the film as excessively violent.
Bhaskar recently spoke about the film while appearing on an episode of the YouTube show Karwan e Mohabbat, where she talked about how storytelling in Indian cinema has evolved over the years.
“There are filmmakers, for instance, let me give the example of Dhurandhar, which is earning crores at the box office… This is an example of a film made by a filmmaker who is ideologically convinced by Hindutva and the ideology of Hindutva. A competent filmmaker and a very well-made film. But how is technique to be divorced from content,” Bhasker said.
“It's extremely violent. And its violence is at the service of a belief structure of an ideology that Muslims are very violent people. Pakistan is a very violent nation. You don't see any normal Muslim (person) there. Everyone is a terrorist or a gangster. These kinds of perceptions about Muslims… It's propagating this. It is being reproduced again and again. It's ridiculous because it uses makeup in such a way that the character, the individuals who are playing those parts, look like the original (people). It's a fiction film based on true events, supposedly. And it is selective as all these films are. It'll only selectively choose what to put together in order to serve the ideology,” she added.
Directed by Aditya Dhar, the spy action thriller follows an Indian spy infiltrating Karachi’s criminal and political underworld in Pakistan, weaving together several real-life events involving geopolitical tensions, including the Indian Airlines Flight 814 hijacking in 1999, the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, and the 2008 Mumbai attacks, along with events surrounding Operation Lyari.
After its December 5 release, Dhurandhar went on to make history, becoming the highest-grossing Hindi film of all time. The film collected over Rs 1,300 crore worldwide and became the first Bollywood film to cross Rs 1,000 crore at the domestic box office.
The sequel to Dhurandhar is slated to release on March 19.