Dhurandhar Review: A Techno-Jingo Gorefest

In her December 5, 2025 review for Scroll.in, Nandini Ramnath describes Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar as a two-part revenge saga in which graphic violence becomes the response to attacks on India. Her phrase “techno-jingo gorefest” is a critical judgment, not a neutral genre label: Ramnath argues that the film’s revenge story aligns with a hard-line security outlook.

What is Dhurandhar about?

Ramnath describes the 2025 film as following Hamza, an Indian agent played by Ranveer Singh, who goes undercover in Karachi’s criminal network. The story begins in the aftermath of the 1999 IC-814 hijacking and draws on news footage and real audio recordings connected to the 2001 Parliament attack and the 2008 Mumbai attacks, according to the review. These are elements of the film as Ramnath reports them, rather than independent verification of the historical material.

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The review identifies Dhurandhar as the first part of a two-part saga and reports a runtime of 214 minutes. Its central arc is Hamza’s ascent through the underworld, with the mission framed as a vendetta.

Why does Ramnath call it a “techno-jingo gorefest”?

Ramnath’s argument is that the violence is more than a stylistic flourish: in her reading, the screenplay presents it as the chosen strategy for answering Pakistan-sponsored attacks on India. She also places the revenge premise alongside the Indian government’s security posture. Those are the critic’s interpretations, not stated intentions from the filmmakers or independently established claims about government policy.

The review describes torture and killings in graphic terms, including brains being blown apart, wires driven into skin, and people hung from ceiling fans. Ramnath’s larger point is that this brutality is integrated into the film’s political and emotional framing, rather than functioning only as spectacle.

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How does the film’s craft and cast fare?

Performances

Ramnath finds Akshaye Khanna effective as Rehman Dakait and says Sanjay Dutt is well suited to Choudhury Aslam. She also singles out Rakesh Bedi’s Jameel as a lively comic presence. By contrast, she argues that Ranveer Singh’s Hamza rarely comes to life, even as the character carries out violence.

Length and story

The review calls the film’s long, bloody rise through Karachi’s underworld familiar material, and considers the 214-minute runtime a strain. Ramnath compares its undercover-spy storytelling unfavorably with D-Day (2013); that comparison is her critical judgment.

Soundtrack and screen violence

Ramnath notes the soundtrack’s use of catchy old Hindi film tunes, which gives the film’s violence an incongruous musical energy. She invokes Rakta Charitra (2010) and Kill (2023) as reference points for screen violence. Her concluding description captures the review’s overall mix of praise for the tunes and criticism of the film’s politics and brutality: “The soundtrack of Dhurandhar is replete with catchy old Hindi film tunes, making it a unique techno-jingo gorefest.”

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Who stars in Dhurandhar?

The principal cast named in Ramnath’s review includes Ranveer Singh, Akshaye Khanna, Arjun Rampal, R. Madhavan, Sanjay Dutt, Sara Arjun, and Rakesh Bedi. The film is directed by Aditya Dhar.

Read the full review

Read Nandini Ramnath’s review of Dhurandhar on Scroll.in, published December 5, 2025.

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