‘You were one of my favourite directors who made Indian cinema feel fearless, impolite, and alive.’
‘If Dhurandhar has even a fraction of that DNA, it’s because your films whispered (sometimes screamed) in my head while I was writing and directing it.’
Filmmaker Aditya Dhar has responded with an emotional and deeply personal message to Ram Gopal Varma’s post on social media, where he showered praise on Dhar’s latest film, Dhurandhar.
RGV had described the Ranveer Singh starrer as a ‘quantum leap’ for Indian cinema.
‘I believe that @AdityaDharFilms has completely and single handedly changed the future of Indian cinema, be it north or south. That’s because Dhurandhar is not just a film, it is a quantum leap,’ RGV posted.
‘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 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. Dhar understands that power in storytelling is not volume… it’s 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.
‘Dhar assumes that the audience are intelligent which is the highest respect a director can pay to an audience, whereas most film makers believe in dumbing down their films.
‘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.
‘Dhurandhar is racing towards the Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) mark at the box office.’
Dhar began his post by likening Ramu’s message to a powerful cinematic experience.
‘If this tweet were a film, I would have gone to watch it first day first show, stood in the last row, and come out changed,’ Dhar posted.
‘I came to Mumbai years ago carrying one suitcase, one dream, and an unreasonable belief that I would one day work under Ram Gopal Verma. That never happened. But somewhere along the way, without knowing it, I worked inside your cinema. Your films didn’t teach me how to make movies — they taught me how to think dangerously.
‘To have you say that Dhurandhar is a quantum leap feels surreal, emotional, and honestly a little unfair because now whatever I do next has to live up to this tweet.’
‘You were one of my favourite directors who made Indian cinema feel fearless, impolite, and alive. If Dhurandhar has even a fraction of that DNA, it’s because your films whispered (sometimes screamed) in my head while I was writing and directing it.
‘If I’ve assumed the audience is intelligent, it’s because you taught an entire generation that cinema should never apologise for its ambition.
‘Thank you for this generosity, this madness, and this validation. The fan in me is overwhelmed. The filmmaker in me feels challenged. And the boy who came to Mumbai to work under RGV, finally feels seen.’
Photograph curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff
