On Friday, Ram Gopal Varma took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share his thoughts on the film "Dhurandhar," which stars Ranveer Singh. He highlighted Ranveer Singh's understanding of cinema and noted how, despite being the leading star, he allowed another actor to take center stage in the frame. Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has watched Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar, starring Ranveer Singh, and is full of praise for the film. Sharing a glowing review, he said that the film’s success serves as a warning to the film industry to grow up.
“I believe that @AdityaDharFilms has completely and single handedly changed the future of Indian cinema, be it north or south… What Dhurandhar achieves is not just scale, but a never before experienced vision not just in sight but in the mind. Aditya Dhar doesn’t direct scenes here… he engineers the states of minds of both the characters and us audience,” he wrote. The filmmaker added, “The film doesn’t ask for your attention… it commands it. From the very first shot, there’s a sense that something irreversible has been set in motion, and the audience is no longer a spectator but an accomplice to the happenings on screen. This is a film that refuses to be polite. The writing cuts with intent, the staging breathes menace, and the silences are as weaponized as the thunderous sound effects.”
Ram Gopal noted that Aditya understood that the power in storytelling is not volume, but in pressure building.“Every sequence feels compressed, like a spring being wound never knowing when it will snap. And when it does, the impact is not just brutal but it is also symphonically operatic. The Performances in the film aren’t designed to be liked but they’re designed to linger long after we leave the theatre... Characters walk in carrying history on their shoulders, and the film trusts the audience enough to read their scars rather than spoon feed their backstories. This confidence which could be easily mistaken for arrogance is precisely what marks Dhurandhar as a turning point for Indian cinema,” he shared.
Ram Gopal feels the biggest victory is that Aditya believes that audience is intelligent, “which is the highest respect a director can pay to an audience , whereas most film makers believe in dumbing down their films.” Talking about violence in the film, RGV wrote, “Technically, the film redraws the grammar of mainstream Indian cinema. The sound design doesn’t decorate scenes, it stalks them. The camera doesn’t observe but it circles it like a predator. Action here isn’t choreography for applause.. it’s perspectively justified and extremely ugly , the way real violence should feel.” “But beyond craft, what truly elevates Dhurandhar is its intent. This is not a film chasing trends or validation. It is a solemn declaration, that Indian cinema doesn’t need to dilute itself to become successful and doesn’t need to mindlessly copy Hollywood. Dhar proved that it can be rooted and still be internationally cinematic. When the final credits roll, you don’t feel just entertained, you feel altered. And that’s the mark of a filmmaker who isn’t just making movies, but he is reshaping the very ground that all us film makers stand on,” he shared.
Ram Gopal Varma went on to list some lessons that the filmmakers can learn from Dhurandhar. “Unlike the other so called pan india big films , the film doesn’t even try to elevate the hero and give him the so called elevation moments to make the audience forcefully worship him with the use of slow motion and ear splitting background music . It actually lets his flaws and the related consequences coexist, thus making the audience tense instead of giving a clap trap applause.. it is incredible that @RanveerOfficial the star steps back to allow #akshayekhanna to fill the frame because that is the requirement of the story and is a testament to Ranveer’s understanding of cinema,” he wrote.
RVG continued, “It treats violence not as spectacle but as a psychological blow .. . @aejazgulab does a fantastic job as the action director who doesn’t care about giving clap trap moments but he integrates the characters and their current state of minds into every ounce of it’s violence… It abandons the three act safety net.. The narrative moves like real life , uneven, impulsive, sometimes abrupt , rejecting neat rises and cathartic payoffs.” The filmmaker feels the film “trusts the audience’s intelligence unapologetically”, and makes the sound design a lead actor even in its background noise. “The whole sound becomes a psychology in the film, and not just accompaniment… It refuses genre loyalty because it mixes a blend of political thriller, character study, visceral action film and moral tragedy among many others thus shapeshifting the cinematic horizon… Dhurandhar treats cinema as confrontation and not consumption because it doesn’t want to just entertain you for three and half hours, but it’s real intention is to stay with you long after the film is over and maybe forever,” he added.
Ram Gopal thanked Aditya Dhar “for making Indian cinema finally grow up and for giving all us filmmakers past, present and future too, to once again take baby steps holding your hand.” He ended his post by noting, “DHURANDAR’s success is not being just another BLOCKBUSTER , it is a WARNING to the film industry to GROW UP.” The statement he made about Ranveer reflects a sentiment shared by many in the industry regarding his latest film. Ranveer Singh’s performance as Hamza in Dhurandhar has struck a deep chord with filmmakers, critics, and audiences alike. The role demands restraint, emotional intelligence, and an intense inner world—qualities Ranveer delivers with remarkable control.
Apart from Ranveer Singh, the spy action thriller also stars Akshaye Khanna, R. Madhavan, Sanjay Dutt and Arjun Rampal in lead roles, along with Sara Arjun and Rakesh Bedi in pivotal roles. The film has emerged as the third-highest-grossing Indian film of 2025, surpassing Saiyaara and Coolie. The film was released in theatres on December 5. According to the trade website Sacnilk, the film has raked in over ₹450 crore in India. The second part of the film is scheduled for a theatrical release on March 19, 2026.