Dhurandhar : The Revenge - Balidan Parmo Dharma

During the height of the demonetization mayhem unleashed on India on November 8, 2016, a date which will coincidentally live in infamy in U.S. politics as well, when ordinary Indians had their lives turned upside down, comedian Kunal Kamra had come up with an apocryphal line based on a supposed encounter with a man standing in line to exchange notes at a local bank. When asked whether this hassle was worth it, the man said, "Humarey jawaan Siachen mein lad rahe hain, aur hum itna nahi kar saktey?" That jazba, or spirit, is the heart of the motto of the special forces, "Sacrifice is the highest duty", and is the leitmotif of the much anticipated sequel to the 3 months ago release Dhurandhar (2025) called Dhurandhar : The Revenge. My bladder also made the ultimate sacrifice when it courageously held its own in an uninterrupted by an interval nonstop 3 hr 55 min screening this evening.

The movie picks up from where the original left off in its post credits sequence (the statute of limitations on spoilers for the original has passed) with the back story of Jaskirat Singh Rangi (Ranveer Singh, short cropped and clean shaven) and his transformation to Hamza al Mazari (Ranveer Singh, hirsute on steroids, flowing mane et al). It then circles back to the aftermath of the killing of Rehman Dakait (Akshaye Khanna seen here only as a corpse), the shocking climactic rollicking ending the original had culminated on, and the turf battles of the rival Baloch and Pathan gangs of Lyari in Karachi.

The cast of characters from the original is pretty much intact, except for the aforementioned Rehman Dakait and his huge henchman Donga (Naveen Kaushik) who both met their maker in the original. ISI Major Iqbal (Arjun Rampal), SP Chaudhary Aslam (Sanjay Dutt), IB chief Ajay Sanyal (R Madhavan), Rehman's cousin Uzair Baloch (Danish Pandor), sleazy, opportunistic (he puts Nitish Kumar to shame) politician Jameel Jamali (Rakesh Bedi) and his daughter Yalina (Sara Arjun) are all there. There are some new characters, but the core is the same. And therein lies the strength and the issue with the movie. The freshness of the characters, the audacity of the plot, the boldness of direction, the hints of nationalism but not over the top, and the banger of a soundtrack by Shashwat Sachdev gave the original its lifeblood and made it the worldwide box office phenomenon and juggernaut it became.

Any sequel, especially with such a heritage to uphold, has an uphill task. There are only two ways to handle it - take a huge artistic and box office gamble and try something completely different, or play it safe by doubling down on what made the original a success. Director Aditya Dhar has chosen the latter path by amping up to 11, the violence, the language, the nationalism, and of course, the duration. That's not to say that the end product isn't good, which it is, but a healthy amount of editing with the kind of machetes, sickles and axes prevalent thru the movie, would have made for a much crisper film. The biggest letdown was the music compared to the original, with "Aari Aari" being the only standout. Honorable mention though to the use of "Tamma Tamma Loge" from the movie Thanedaar (1990). IYKYK. And a nostalgic recall for those of us of a certain vintage of the Boney M superhit from the 70s, Rasputin.

Ranveer holds his own here, once again giving a powerful performance, but the absence of Akshaye Khanna robs him of a worthy and charismatic foil. Arjun Rampal tries to match up in villainy, but doesn't quite do so. Sanjay Dutt is Sanjay Dutt, what else can one say. Madhavan continues well too with the aura of the man who is deified in national security circles. But once again, Rakesh Bedi bites into his role with the gusto of a man enjoying a juicy steak. His oleaginous Jameel Jamali oozing smarm from every pore with his takiya kalaam "bachcha hai tu mera" is someone you cannot take your eyes off and the audience in the theater lights up with joy whenever he's on screen.

In the end (and there are two post credit scenes as well), for Dhurandhar : The Revenge out of the 3 words that make up its tagline Honsla (Courage), Endhan (Fuel), Badla (Revenge), the movie has plenty of displays of honsla and badla, but at the end of nearly 4 hours, it is running on fumes with its endhan nearly spent.

March 20, 2026