Dhurandhar The Revenge review: A Bloated Four-Hour Sequel Lost in Political Pandering
I sat staring at the screen as the credits for Dhurandhar The Revenge began to roll, completely frozen in my seat. It wasn’t because I was blown away or even angry—it was a deep sense of confusion. I just can’t wrap my head around how a sequel with so much potential ended up feeling so empty and underwhelming.
The movie started with so much promise. For the first fourty five minutes, I was hooked; it felt like the smart, intense thriller I had been waiting for. Unfortunately, that initial grip on the audience begins to loosen, and the narrative starts to drift as the story unfolds. The movie stopped trying to tell a story and started shouting a political message at me. Instead of letting the themes breathe, it forced them down my throat, making it impossible to stay lost in the world of the film. It felt like the entire script had been written backward just to praise the current government. It portrayed policies like Demonetization as flawless miracles that single-handedly stopped terrorism, ignoring any real-world logic. In its rush to be a tribute to the administration, the plot became full of holes, feeling more like a manufactured advertisement than a real movie.
The premise itself is ambitious: we begin with a prolonged flashback to the year 2000, tracing the transformation of 21-year-old army aspirant Jaskirat Singh Rangi (Ranveer Singh) into the Indian operative Hamza Ali Mazari. Following the elimination of the infamous Rehman Dakait (Akshay Khanna), Jaskirat navigates the treacherous power vacuum of Karachi’s Lyari underworld, eventually rising to become the "King of Karachi." His goal? To dismantle a global terror-financing network led by the elusive "Bade Sahab."
In the first film, the tension was built through Hamza’s calculated brilliance. I expected to see him masterfully instigating conflict between rival terror cells, manipulating the political landscape, and balancing the high-wire act of his double life while hiding his identity from Yalina (Sara Arjun). The first film excelled at showing how he deceptively used the Lyari Task Force as a pawn—a slow-burn strategy that created genuine suspense as the story moved forward. However rather than leaning into slow-burn suspense, this sequel swaps genuine narrative tension for a series of flashy but shallow montages. It completely squanders a massive opportunity to explore the chaotic impact of demonetization; the script claims this economic shift crippled terror cells, but the execution feels far too rushed and surface-level to be convincing. We see Hamza realizing that Pakistan is about to send a huge amount of fake currency to India, and the UP elections will be won by the wrong people if that happens. In an attempt to safeguard democracy in UP and dismantle Pakistan’s grand strategy, the script positions "Notebandi" (demonetization) as the ultimate masterstroke. While the film’s portrayal of this policy is undeniably absurd, it somehow manages to be slightly less ludicrous than the real-life news anchors who once claimed our 2000-rupee notes were embedded with GPS trackers and electronic chips. It’s a low bar to clear, but the movie clears it by a hair. Instead of a high-stakes tactical war, we get rapid-fire "kill montages" where formidable terrorists are dispatched like roadside goons. When a protagonist faces zero friction, the "thriller" element evaporates. Furthermore, the treatment of Uzair Baloch (Danish Pandor) is a major disappointment. After being a cornerstone of the first film, he is relegated to the periphery here. Sidelining such a fan-favorite heavy-hitter robs the sequel of the grit and personal stakes that made the original so compelling.
Where the film finds its most visceral footing is in its uncompromising brutality. Aditya Dhar leans heavily into the "A" rating, staging a shocking symphony of gore. For fans of practical effects, the detached body parts and wicked makeup work are genuinely impressive. The fight choreography is executed with a gleeful, horror-leaning precision. Yet, this technical mastery feels hollow. We aren’t given enough reason to care about the characters' relationships, leaving us in an emotional vacuum where we aren't rooting for survival—we're just watching impressively-rendered bodies pile up.
Amidst this narrative bloat, the one undeniably magnetic element is Ranveer Singh. This is one of the most commanding performances of his career. He navigates the transition from a wide-eyed youth to a cold, calculating king with chilling precision. Even when the script falters into over-the-top territory, Ranveer remains grounded in a quiet, simmering intensity. The supporting cast is formidable on paper but hampered by frantic pacing. Sanjay Dutt brings signature gravitas, and R. Madhavan adds a layer of intellectual sophistication. Despite his increased presence, Arjun Rampal’s Major Iqbal feels significantly diluted in this sequel. The narrative positions him as the architect of India’s terror threats, yet he fails to project the same sense of looming danger he carried when he was just a shadow in the background. Sara Arjun does a good job with her limited time on screen. However, like the rest of the cast, her character feels wasted in a story that is too messy and rushed.
Visually, the film is a feast. The production design is a masterclass in world-building, and the cinematography captures the grit of Karachi with haunting detail. The first Dhurandhar mastered the art of the 'needle-drop,' using vintage hits to give the action a distinct, gritty soul. In the sequel, however, that magic is gone. The songs feel shoehorned in for the sake of nostalgia rather than storytelling, acting as jarring breaks in an already bloated runtime. Compounding this is a background score that never knows when to go quiet; by staying at a constant, deafening high, it loses the power to move the audience, and it eventually drains the scenes of any actual emotional weight.
Ultimately, Dhurandhar: The Revenge possesses the audacity of visual violence but lacks the smart, tightly-wound storytelling of its predecessor. It is a king-sized spectacle with a hollow heart.
Cast: Ranveer Singh, Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Rampal, Sara Arjun, R. Madhavan, Rakesh Bedi
Writer: Aditya Dhar
Director: Aditya Dhar
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