Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma recently shared his views on Dhurandhar, directed by Aditya Dhar and starring Ranveer Singh and Akshaye Khanna, and offered high praise for the film. Taking to X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, Varma described the film as a major turning point for Indian cinema and said its success should serve as a warning for the industry to evolve.
In a detailed post, Ram Gopal Varma stated that Dhurandhar was not just a film but “a quantum leap in Indian cinema.” He wrote, “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.”
The filmmaker added that the film demanded attention rather than seeking it. “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,” he wrote. He further praised the writing, staging, and silences, calling them as impactful as the film’s powerful sound design.
Ram Gopal Varma also noted that Aditya Dhar understood that storytelling power lay in sustained pressure rather than volume. “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,” he shared. He highlighted that the performances were meant to linger rather than be instantly likeable, adding that the film trusted the audience to understand the characters without excessive exposition.
He further said that one of the film’s biggest strengths was its faith in audience intelligence. “This confidence which could be easily mistaken for arrogance is precisely what marks Dhurandhar as a turning point for Indian cinema,” Varma wrote, adding that most filmmakers underestimated viewers by simplifying their narratives.
Commenting on the portrayal of violence, he said, “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.”
Ram Gopal Varma also praised the film’s intent, stating that it did not chase trends or external 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,” he wrote, adding that Dhurandhar proved rooted storytelling could still be globally cinematic.
Lessons Filmmakers Can Learn From Dhurandhar
Varma went on to list key takeaways for filmmakers, noting that the film avoided traditional hero elevation moments. “Unlike the other so called pan India big films, the film doesn’t even try to elevate the hero… It actually lets his flaws and the related consequences coexist,” he wrote. He also praised Ranveer Singh for allowing Akshaye Khanna’s character to take centre stage when required, calling it a sign of Ranveer’s understanding of cinema.
He further appreciated the action design, writing that violence was treated as a psychological experience rather than spectacle, and credited action director Aejaz Gulab for integrating character and emotion into every action sequence. Varma also noted that the film rejected a conventional three-act structure, choosing a more organic and unpredictable narrative flow.
“The whole sound becomes a psychology in the film, and not just accompaniment,” he wrote, adding that Dhurandhar blurred genre boundaries and treated cinema as confrontation rather than consumption. He concluded his post by thanking Aditya Dhar “for making Indian cinema finally grow up.”
Ram Gopal Varma ended his note by stating, “DHURANDHAR’s success is not being just another BLOCKBUSTER, it is a WARNING to the film industry to GROW UP.”
More Pages: Dhurandhar Box Office Collection , Dhurandhar Movie Review
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