Had it not been for Dhurandhar, one would not have celebrated 2025 the way one is celebrating now. For, Dhurandhar is on its way to becoming the biggest Hindi blockbuster ever. Yes, it is all set to surpass the business of Animal, Stree 2, Jawan, Pathaan and Gadar 2. And also of Pushpa: The Rule Part 2 (Hindi dubbed)!
This is no mean achievement for a film which was the underdog. And just why was it the underdog? For several reasons! It starred a down-but-not-out Ranveer Singh in the male lead. It did not have an established heroine but rather a new face in the female lead. It co-starred Sanjay Dutt, Akshaye Khanna and Arjun Rampal in supporting roles, none of who have had huge successes to their credit in recent times, except Akshaye Khanna who played the antagonist in Chhaava. The other points against Dhurandhar before release were its length (running time of more than three-and-a-half hours), its “oft-repeated” India-Pakistan theme, its excessive violence and gore, and its ‘A’ certification.
In fact, they were the reasons why the trade had little faith in Dhurandhar before it hit the screens on December 5. But everything changed on the Friday it opened in cinemas. Of course, although the start was good, it wasn’t earth-shattering. But the public reports were phenomenal. Point to be noted is that the trade reports did not match the public reports. Similarly, a number of reviews did not reflect the public opinion.
Since the trade has this weird habit of badmouthing every film before release, Dhurandhar could not have been an exception. Rather, it was fodder for the trade gossip mills because of the reasons cited above. Almost everyone in the trade had only negative comments for the action film till Friday, December 5. Another habit of the trade wallahs is to hold on to their judgement (whether or not they have watched the film, they all have an opinion on its expected business even before it is released) as if it were their life.
For an entire week, the negative reports of the film were circulating faster than the speed at which light travels — at least in trade circles. What struck one about the adverse comments relating to Dhurandhar was the fact that when films don’t run, it is these very trade people who express concern about the pitiable state of the trade, and sound worried as hell about the future of the industry. And when a film proves to be a bona fide blockbuster, they unfailingly and ceaselessly criticise it! Comments such as “The collections are inflated”, “Block bookings are boosting the collections”, and “I’ve been hearing bad reports” were repeated ad nauseam.
Suddenly, people even started commenting on the political ideology of the film and its maker, condemning it as if it were anti-India. Critics, especially, lost no time in running down the film because it did not match their political leanings. So were the critics reviewing the film or the political ideology of the filmmaker? There is nothing as right or wrong as far as ideologies are concerned. Like, they say, one man’s food is another man’s poison. So why spew poison just because a film’s political ideology doesn’t match yours?
The saddest part of the Dhurandhar post-release drama is that many in the trade from among those who had predicted that it wouldn’t do well at the box-office and many of those who do not agree with its content because their ideology does not match that of the filmmaker, continue to hold a grudge against the film. They, perhaps, can’t fathom the fact that it is turning out to be the biggest ever blockbuster of the Hindi screen.
Instead of celebrating Dhurandhar and Aditya Dhar, they are, in a way, mourning its success. Harsh words these, but true!
This is simply not done!