Dhurandhar reviews and box office - Page 108

Will try to watch next week 🤞

https://x.com/i/status/2001491316031840281

Just responding to the gentleman-love part... it's something Ranveer would endorse, so, to me, I would be v e r y astonished about him doing a certain kind of (negative) 'macho' behaviour... Ranveer's thinking about respecting a woman is very much in what we know from SRK (with teasing being okay... a bit naughty, too).

Quite happy to encounter you in certain threads about Dhurandhar/Ranveer, btw.

If one knows how psychopaths (and power-hungry people) function one could never be sympathetic to certain characters in Dhurandhar. At least, I'm not (and won't be)... people are able to can love their very 'own' and indulge them but they can turn around and make kill hundreds they 'don't know' completely obliterating that they are humans with families, too.

We humans can be extremely 'good' and extremely 'evil'... the embodiment of the beneficial and the destructive forces of the Universe... it's always a matter of choice, imo.

https://x.com/i/status/2001865319309296113

Originally posted by: Clochette

Just responding to the gentleman-love part... it's something Ranveer would endorse, so, to me, I would be v e r y astonished about him doing a certain kind of (negative) 'macho' behaviour... Ranveer's thinking about respecting a woman is very much in what we know from SRK (with teasing being okay... a bit naughty, too).

Quite happy to encounter you in certain threads about Dhurandhar/Ranveer, btw.

@bold - Thank you , the feeling is mutual.

I believe Ranveer is truly lucky and incredibly smart to both be approached for Dhurandhar and accept it despite knowing what reactions it would kick off.

He’s doing something that most heroes these days are trying to do - play a macho man role. I remember a couple of years ago Sanjay Dutt, ironically his costar in this movie, had complained that men are disappearing from movies and only boys are seen because there were no movies made that celebrated a hero like say one did with Sunny Deol in Gadar or Damini. You know it’s unrealistic that he can beat 50 people at once but it inspired men to be strong and fight for those they love - be it their motherland, mothers, sisters, wives or even a random lady seeking their protection.

Which is true. Action movies did continue but they became more massy in execution with more focus on absurd comedy than making the villain threatening. Then there would be that one climax scene where the hero would beat him and that was it. The stakes weren’t lowered, they were buried underground.

Then a couple of years ago this trend started reversing; we started seeing every popular male actor worth their salt trying to play a role that projected their versatility and capability as an action hero too.

In most of those movies, the plot really didn’t make a lot of sense. It was trying to glorify the hero and so they went for these grand staged action pieces which were trying too hard to look cool but just didn’t work.

Then there are movies that did well; their plots might have worked as well and so did their action pieces but they still lacked in two critical aspects. The depiction of masculinity was seen as some flawed, vitriolic thing and relationships were made fundamentally toxic.

It was as if an action hero couldn’t be a decent person to at least those he loves, and above all a committed man who doesn’t have to sleep around to prove his worth or how he’s a man’s man. His appeal was defined by how many women were willing to throw themselves at him and how many he accepted in his bed, then discarded as if they’re no more than used tissue papers.

That’s where Ranveer has truly scored and why even women love this movie. Hamza is capable of extreme violence and gore, we see him literally burning a man alive without a shred of remorse or care… and yet he never once treats Yalina without anything other than the utmost respect and love. Even when they argue, as she gets scared of him, he never raises his voice at her let alone his hand and moreover he doesn’t even look at another girl throughout the movie, let alone go sleeping around Lyari. We never even see him try anything with the only other female character in the movie he’s seen with - Ulfat. He’s committed to Yalina completely. Even at the rave party, he never tries to dance with another girl to get her attention to make her jealous or at his own wedding join the group of dancers entertaining his guest even for a single step. He hardly notices them.

So Ranveer didn’t just land the massy action hero role, he got one where the hero’s masculinity is not vitriolic and his relationship is certainly not toxic. He doesn’t have to be an asshole to appear cool and confident either while underneath he’s a walking, talking disaster who is either a psychiatrist’s worst nightmare or deepest, most messed up dream come true with a list of issues that might fill volumes.

His Jaskirat/Hamza definitely have issues, he is violent, he is aggressive and he’s dangerous but he’s also not someone who needs to prove his strength by putting down women or using them like tissues. Despite being capable of being incredibly monstrous, if I may say that word; he remains very much a gentleman with Yalina. She probably is one of the few people with whom he behaves in a manner which allows him to feel human.

In a way this movie also challenges the growing, modern template of the movies which made sure the more violent a guy, the more powerful he is; the worse he has to treat his love interest and she has to have absolutely no sense of self respect whatsoever to want to be with a guy like that.

Hamza remains loyal, respectful and loving towards Yalina despite killing people with his bare hands, despite plotting the murder of his own mentor and playing her dad to get his approval to marry her to further his own goals that go much beyond even Jamali’s limited ambition and understanding.

Dhar has singlehandedly challenged and upended so many trends in Bollywood in this one movie that it’s mind boggling.

Mark my words, this movie and its sequel will be legit taught in Film Schools in India and perhaps even abroad in the future. It’s not just a fantastic spy thriller but it will also serve as a textbook guide on how to write powerful male characters without making them massive hate-worthy assholes!

Originally posted by: NathuPaapi

I've been desperately wanting to see this film after reading such rave reviews par abhi ho nahi paa raha

https://x.com/i/status/2001660663387553902

who wrote this ? wow just wow

Originally posted by: snatch

who wrote this ? wow just wow

Not a well known person i guess, but the review was amazingly well written.

So many of my acquaintances have already posted on WA about watching Dhurandhar that I'm feeling Fomo now

https://x.com/i/status/2002010981497815394

To read your thoughts is very interesting...I can agree with most of what you write...but there is something that I can't praise and also won't elaborate here: the purpose of the movie.

However I agree with all the art that went into making this movie... for a final 'judgement' of Ranveers role, I'll wait for the 2nd part

Originally posted by: Clochette

To read your thoughts is very interesting...I can agree with most of what you write...but there is something that I can't praise and also won't elaborate here: the purpose of the movie.

However I agree with all the art that went into making this movie... for a final 'judgement' of Ranveers role, I'll wait for the 2nd part

Personally I think the one of the most commendable things that’s worth praising regarding this movie is the purpose behind it.

Now that purpose could be considered as a lot of things depending upon the person in question and changes accordingly. To me, as an Indian citizen, this felt like an ode, a gesture of acknowledgment, appreciation and gratitude to the countless, nameless and faceless extremely brave and courageous people serving this nation and protecting us.

We may never meet them, know them, understand their struggles and thank them, but the least we can do is acknowledge their bravery, respect their sacrifices. Their lives can take them anywhere be it exotic locales to the most downtrodden of places and they never flinch regardless of the destination assigned to them. The sheer fact that they could be killed and even their bodies could be destroyed so brutally that it would make anyone shiver still isn’t enough to weaken their resolves and dedication is beyond commendable and deserves recognition.

We saw 4 different examples of spies in Dhurandhar itself within the boundaries of Lyari.

1) Alaam - who states he slept outside the small establishment he worked at for 6 years before he could start his own shop. Even now he’s not safe as we saw goons can walk in and threaten him for any reason.

2) Jaskirat/Hamza - nearly gets sexually assaulted within minutes of landing at his destination. Gets almost killed multiple times later and this is the tip of the iceberg. We don’t know what else he must endure.

3) The tortured spy - the one Jaskirat watches being tortured silently, the one who refuses to betray his motherland despite being so inhumanely tortured.

4) The spy in the Pathaan gang. May die in the next one to protect someone, probably Hamza or Yalina is my guess.

If we look at this movie politically, we’re doomed since we must recognise that above the political spectrum it asks us to be grateful for such brave hearts, for us to be worthy of their sacrifices as citizens and in return as the bare minimum it wants us to understand what hardships they might face in what is a fictitious world which barely scratches the surface of the gruesome reality.

Above all, it asks us to be vigilant about our safety and not allow an enemy that we know wouldn’t stop to take advantage of any situation it may get to inflict harm upon us again and if that requires their complete destruction then so be it. Violence for the sake of violence is evil, but violence against those who are evil is not evil at all. Rather, sparing them or surrendering to them is a sin above all. It tells us with that shlok from Gita used in the very beginning - if you must die, then at least fight. Die with the satisfaction of having tried rather than live with the regret of never having even tried.