Dhurandhar Gets A Brand-New Review From Ram Gopal Varma, With A List Of Unmissable Takeaways

Ram Gopal Varma also spoke about the film's structure and sound design

26 Dec 2025, 06:50 · NDTV

New Delhi:

Aditya Dhar's Dhurandhar is undeniably having its moment. Headlined by Ranveer Singh, the film has been grabbing headlines ever since its release. Amid all the buzz surrounding the spy-action thriller, one reaction that truly stood out came from filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma.

Taking to X, Ram Gopal Varma shared a note praising Dhurandhar. The filmmaker spoke about the “new learnings” he took away from Aditya Dhar's ambitious directorial.

In his note, Ram Gopal Varma even drew a comparison between Aditya Dhar and legendary American filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, while also reflecting on his own journey and approach to filmmaking.

“From Coppola I learnt intense closeted drama,” he said, adding that while he used this approach in films like Satya, Company and Sarkar, Dhurandhar shows how it can work “far more effectively with scale."

One thing that impressed him deeply was the way the film trusts its audience. “Writing scenes assuming the audience will feel even before they understand is a new one,” Ram Gopal Varma noted. He also praised how Dhurandhar handles heroism. “Dhurandhar invents a never before seen…new kind of elevation in creating flawed but consequence driven heroes,” he said.

The filmmaker was equally struck by how the stars blend into the story.

“Making a star disappear into the story is a new one,” he wrote. On action and violence, Ram Gopal Varma admitted he learned something important. “Violence should hurt the viewer, not just entertain them,” he said, calling the film's approach a “must learn lesson."

Ram Gopal Varma also spoke about the film's structure and sound design. He said Dhurandhar proves that “uneven and fractured narratives can command attention” and praised how sound and music become “lead psychological forces even more powerful than dialogue."

Towards the end, Ram Gopal Varma used a quote by Russian-American writer and philosopher, Ayn Rand. “I don't need to grow by myself, but I need to catch up with what others have become,” he wrote. Signing off, he thanked Aditya Dhar directly, calling him “the new Ayn Rand of my life."

This is not the first time Ram Gopal Varma has praised Dhurandhar. On Friday, the filmmaker shared another note on X. In his post, he wrote, “#Dhurandhar will be like a HORROR FILM for all those FILMMAKERS who do not have the ability to make a film with such BRILLIANCE, INTELLIGENCE, INTEGRITY and CRAFT.”

In yet another detailed note on X, Ram Gopal Varma further elaborated on his admiration for Dhurandhar. Sharing his thoughts, he wrote, “Whenever a path breaking and monstrous hit like #dhurandhar comes, the industry people will wish to ignore it because they will feel threatened by it due to their inability to match its standards. So they will think of it as a nightmare, which will vanish when they wake up in their own films.”

He went on to add, “This is even more true of all the so-called pan-India biggies which are right now under various stages of production. They were all written and mounted, modelled on the films made before #dhurandhar, which is the exact opposite of what they all believed will work.”

Highlighting the film's impact, Ram Gopal Varma said, “What's even more worrisome is that #dhurandhar, apart from being an omega hit, also is the most discussed film since the last 50 years.”

Read his full note below:

Released on December 5, Dhurandhar boasts an ensemble cast led by Ranveer Singh, along with Akshaye Khanna, R Madhavan, Sanjay Dutt and Arjun Rampal.

The spy-action thriller follows India's Intelligence Bureau as it creates a deep-cover operative to infiltrate Karachi's dangerous Lyari underworld and dismantle a terror nexus involving Pakistani gangs and the ISI, set against the backdrop of the 1999 Kandahar hijacking and the 2001 Parliament attack.

ALSO READ | Ram Gopal Varma On Film Industry Feeling "Threatened" By Ranveer Singh's Dhurandhar: "They Will Think Of It As A Nightmare"

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