December 7, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Aditya Dhar
Hindi with subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in India and in Pakistan, from 1999 to 2009, the action film “Dhurandhar” (loosely inspired by true events) features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: An Indian man goes undercover to infiltrate a Pakistani terrorist group.
Culture Audience: “Dhurandhar” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and people who like to watch long and extremely violent action movies that don’t do anything unique or creative.
“Dhurandhar” is an over-hyped and soullessly violent cesspool of action movie clichés about a “hero” going undercover to take down a terrorist group. The flimsy story and mediocre acting do not justify the movie’s bloated 214-minute runtime. It’s just another stereotypical action flick about the protagonist battling against vengeful crime bosses and corrupt politicians.
Written and directed by Aditya Dhar (who is also one of the movie’s producers), “Dhurandhar” (which means “stalwart” in Hindi) takes place in India and in Pakistan, from 1999 to 2009. This 10-year time span is just an excuse to drag out the movie, which just repeats the same types of conflicts and scenarios, but just in different settings. After a while, it becomes tedious to watch.
“Dhurandhar” has eight chapters, all told in chronological order. The titles of these chapters (such as “The Price of Peace,” “Stranger in the Land of Shadows,” “The Bastard King of Lyari,” “Bullets and Roses,” “The Jinn,” “The Devil’s Guardian,” “The Butterfly Effect” and “Et Tu Brutus”) are more interesting than what’s shown on screen. The movie recreates several real-life terrorist attacks as the basis for many of the action scenes. But because the movie’s action looks so phony and staged, “Dhurandhar” is not as suspenseful as it could be.
Observant viewers will notice that the names of the real-life Pakistani terrorists have not been changed for the movie, but the real-life Indian government officials who were involved in operations against this terrorists have their names changed in the “Dhurandhar.” All of the movie’s characters have cardboard personalities, with the cast members giving very trite portrayals of what could have been interesting characters, if the dialogue hadn’t been so boring and basic.
The movie begins on December 30, 1999. India’s Intelligence Bureau chief Ajay Sanyal (played by R. Madhavan) negotiates the release of hostages on Indian Airline Flight 814, also known as IC 814, a terrorist attack that happened in real life. The character of Ajay Sanyal is based on the real-life Ajit Doval, a former spy for the Indian government. The plane, which has mostly Indians as passengers, has landed in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The five hijackers, led by Pakistani national/Taliban member Zahoor Mistry (played by Vivek Sinha), are demanding $10 million (in U.S. dollars) and the release of three imprisoned Pakistani terrorists, including Zahoor’s brother.
In real life, there were 182 people (179 passengers and 11 crew members) on the plane. The hostage crisis ended on December 31, 1999, with one hostage dead and the hijackers getting what they wanted and escaping. The escaped hijackers are suspected of being part of subsequent Taliban terrorist attacks. Two men (who weren’t among the escaped hijackers) were later convicted of helping plan the hijacking.
In the movie ” Dhurandhar,” the escape of these hijackers is largely blamed on Ajay. He masterminds Operation Dhurandhar, an undercover sting intended to take down the hijackers’ Taliban terrorist group, which is based in Lyari, Pakistan. Devavrat Kapoor (played by Akash Khurana), India’s minister of external affairs (a character based on the real-life Jaswant Singh) likes this idea. But because the hijackers escaped, Ajay’s Operation Dhurandhar plan is rejected by Research & Analysis Wing chief S.S. Bhullar (played by Vikrant Khoul), who doesn’t trust Ajay’s judgment. S.S. Bhullar is based on the real-life A.S. Dulat.
But after Taliban terrorists attack the Indian Parliament building on December 13, 2001 (a tragedy that left 14 people dead, including five terrorists), S.S. Bhullar changes his mind and gives the go-ahead to Operation Dhurandhar. Hamza Ali Mazari (played by Ranveer Singh), a “strong, silent type,” is the agent chosen to be the main undercover operative for this mission. It’s mentioned in the movie that Hamza is a Baloch (a nomad of Iranian heritage) who has no family, so his personal background is very murky. It just makes Hamza look like the underdeveloped character that he is.
Hamza is supposed to be 20 years old at the start of this mission, which is why in the beginning of the movie, people keep referring to him as being a “boy.” But in no part of the movie does Hamza look like he’s in his 20s. Filming of “Dhurandhar” took place in 2024 and 2025, when Singh was 39 and 40 years old. He looks to be in this age range for the entire movie. It’s why it’s hard to suspend disbelief when Hamza is taken in as a trusted “son” ally by a villain who doesn’t look much older than Hamza.
Hamza’s undercover mission starts in 2004, when he is sent to Liyari. Hamza becomes a “street urchin,” who has trouble finding a job but it establishes his “undercover” identity as someone who might be willing to do anything for money. Hamza tries to gets a job as a waiter at an outdoor juice shop whose customers include the members of the targeted terrorist group, but the juice shop owner Mohammed Aalam (played by Gaurav Gera) rejects Hamza.
Mohammad changes his mind and gives Hamza the job only after feeling sorry for Hamza, who is injured from getting beat up on the street by some thugs. Mohammad helps Hamza recover from his injuries and has Hamza working as a waiter in the shop. Hamza is a good employee but a terrible spy who can’t keep secrets, because he confesses to Mohammad what his true mission is.
Hamza tells Mohammad that he doesn’t just want to “step into Pakistan but to dominate the whole jungle.” This is the type of cringeworthy dialogue that pollute the movie. Mohammad tells Hamza that the terrorists in Liyari are part of a hard-to-infiltrate gang led by a crime boss named Rehman Dakait (played by Akshaye Khanna), who is based on the real-like Pakistani gangster of the same name. Hamza’s plan is to eavesdrop on conversations when the terrorists spend time at the juice shop as customers.
Babu Dakait (played by Asif Ali Haider Khan) is the leader of a Pathan gang that is a bitter rival to Rehman’s gang. Rehman (whose name was originally Rehman Baloch) is rumored to be Babu’s illegitimate son. Rehman’s other family members are his wife Ulfat (played by Saumya Tandon; their sons Naieem Baloch (played by Hitul Pujara) and Faizal Baloch (played by Azinkya Mishra); and Rehman’s cousin Uzair Baloch (played by Danish Pandor), who is Rehman’s second-in-command. Naieem is about 15 or16 years old, while Faizal is about 8 or 9 years old.
Hamza finds out that Babu has ordered his gang to murder Naieem at a wedding attended by several members of this family. It just so happens that Mohammad and Hamza are hired to be the part of the catering staff at the wedding. The inevitable shootout massacre happens. Hamza tries to save Naieem, but Naieem dies from gunshot wounds. However, Hamza was able to protect Faizal, who survives the massacre.
Rehman is grateful to Hamza and offers Hamza a financial reward, which Hamza refuses. Instead, Hamza accepts Rehman’s other gift offer: a gun. It’s a way for Hamza to gain the trust of the family and to show how much he likes guns. Uzair thinks that Hamza would make a great addition to Rehman’s gang. Rehman agrees and invites Hamza to join the gang.
As part of the gang, Hamza finds out that the gang makes counterfeit guns that are sold on the black market. Hamza convinces Rehman to get revenge on Babu for Naieem’s murder. And so, another predictable thing happens: Hamza and others get into a massive fight with Babu and Babu’s gang. Several people are killed, including Bubo, who is viciously urdered by Hamza.
Meanwhile, Rehman is being eyed as a potential candidate in Pakistani politics. Jameel Jamali (played by Rakesh Bedi), a politician from the Pakistan Awami Party (PAP), is a close ally of Rehman and encourages Rehman to become an elected government official. The characters of Jameel is based on real-life Pakistani politician Nabil Gabol. The movie shows what happens to Rehman’s poltiical career.
Jameel has a daughter named Yalina Jamali (played by Sara Arjun), who becomes Hamza’s love interest. Yalina is one of the few women in the movie who have a significant speaking role, but that’s not saying much because it’s a predictable and shallow role of playing the worried girlfriend or wife at home. All of the female characters in “Dhurandhar” don’t do much except be in the background or get anxious about all the death and destruction caused by the men in their lives.
Lots of bloody fist fights, shootouts, explosions, torture scenes, and murders accumulate in the movie, which doesn’t move the story forward very well but just repeat the same types of set-ups that lead to another big battle. One of the bizarre aspects of this movie is more than once, Hamza is responsible for someone on the “enemy’s side” getting fatal injuries, but then he tries to save that person from dying. It’s supposed to make Hamza look like he has empathy, but it just makes this character look hypocritcal and fake, considering all the vicious abuse and murder he inflicts throughout the film.
Just because a movie is more than three-and-a-half hours long, has visually striking cinematography, and has a bigger budget than most films does not mean the movie is automatically a great epic. The story in “Dhurandhar” could’ve been told in half of its runtime, and it still wouldn’t make the movie good, but at least viewers would’ve been robbed of less of their time. It should come as no surprise that the end of “Dhurandhar” announces that a “Revenge” sequel is due out in March 2026. This sequel will no doubt recycle the plot of the first “Dhurandhar” movie but just have different villains and the same unimaginative over-glorification of violence.
Moviegoers Entertainment/Jio Studios released “Dhurandhar” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on December 5, 2025.
