HYDERABAD: At a time when most films struggle to go beyond a week or two in their theatrical run, Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar has done the seemingly impossible. After earning more than `200 crore in its first week, the film outdid those figures in week two. For small films that sometimes pick up gradually, it’s a great accomplishment. For a big money-grosser like Dhurandhar, it is almost like spotting a shooting star.
The film centred on an Indian intelligence operative (Ranveer Singh as Hamza Ali Mazari), who infiltrates Pakistan’s underworld, has been receiving rave reviews from celebs and fans, even if quite a few critics haven’t taken a shine to it. And the juggernaut is showing no signs of slowing down.
After breaching the Rs 500 crore mark in 10 days, Dhurandhar has earned over Rs 700 crore globally, and is well on track to enter the Rs 1,000 crore club. In its run so far, the film has comfortably crossed the domestic collections of landmark films like SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali, Rajinikanth’s 2.0, Aamir Khan’s Dangal, and Prabhas’ Salaar.
There is a case to be made about the blurring lines between fact and fiction in Dhurandhar, with the disclaimer saying it is a work of fiction, but it includes audio and visuals from real-life incidents.
On the surface, Dhurandhar probably works like a conventional gangster drama, and the apolitical audience members are enjoying it superficially.
On the other hand, it frequently scrapes on our real wounds made by turbulent ties with Pakistan. This illusion is what has made the film and its responses a major talking point.
Link with identity
Dhurandhar clings to the popular ideas of patriotism, slyly encouraging autocracy. That explains the brutal ‘pushback’ against the critics who panned it. When a movie is so linked with identity, any critique of the film appears like an attack on identity itself. Should we be so insecure about our identity that we allow a film to define it? Even these lines are blurring. Dhurandhar is just the tip of that iceberg.