Why Dhurandhar felt like a breath of fresh air for Indian audiences

Ranveer Singh-starrer spy thriller Dhurandhar: The Revenge is all the rage among moviegoers and cinephiles alike. The film, unfazed by viewer fatigue and blessed by an unchallenged run till Bhoot Bangla's release, has gone extremely well with the audiences who have rewatched the film twice, thrice or maybe more. 

To many, the Dhurandhar movies are a refreshing pivot from the highly airbrushed depiction of spies that we have seen in movies so far. For the two movies, Aditya Dhar chose to move away from the trope of Indian and Pakistani spies falling in love and saving Pakistan from the scourge of terrorism.

Instead, Dhar chose to weave an engaging and compelling screenplay around real-life events, portrayed by actors who looked too close to the real-life characters. 

1999 IC-814 hijack

One of the earliest scenes in the film that feels rooted in reality is the scene showing the IC-814 hijack in Kandahar, where Madhavan's Ajay Sanyal (inspired by current NSA Ajit Doval) goes to talk to the hostages. It shows Sanyal's character trying to rally the passengers with a "Bharat Mata ki Jai" chant, but they are too scared to respond. 

This is eerily similar to Doval's account of the incident. In an interview with Zee News in 2009, he said that the Indian authorities were in a "vulnerable" position as they negotiated with the hijackers in Kandahar. 

“I went into the aircraft personally. I went in through the cockpit, and I addressed all the passengers, and I told all of them that you are free and the country of India, and its government is with you. I promised them that we would bring them back safely. When I asked them to say Bharat Mata ki jai’ or ‘Jai Hind’, they didn’t respond. Mujhe iss baat ka zaroor malaal tha ke ye log itne dare hue the (I regretted that they were so scared). The feeling of patriotism in them… it was natural, if someone had stayed a hostage for this long…” he said. 

Cut to Dhurandhar 2, the trailer only begins with one of the Kanadahar hijackers telling Sanyal, "Hindu bahut hi darpok kaum hai." While some believed this to be propaganda, one of the hijackers actually told the passengers aboard the hijacked aircraft to convert to Islam. 

The hijacker, identified as Shahid Akhtar Sayed, said, "Islam is a better religion, much better than Hinduism." Sayed had slit the throat of the newlywed Rupin Katyal. 

Parliament attack of 2001

Moving ahead, the film's depiction of the 2001 Parliament attack is loosely inspired by real-life accounts of Delhi Police personnel who tried to intercept the attackers and were gunned down. The depiction went down well with the audiences as the film uses this to humanise the event instead of turning it into a "national glory" set-piece. 

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Lyari gang wars ensue, enter Rehman Dakait

Later, when Hamza enters Pakistan, the film's plot continues to remain centred in Karachi's Lyari — the Wild Wild West of Pakistan ruled by gang wars between criminal-warlords and local gangs. 

Dhurandhar shows Rehman Dakait and other such criminal figures become feared dons and "Robin Hood"-style local icons. The sequence is a nod to the 2000-10 Lyari gang wars, during which thousands died in turf battles between Baloch-linked gangs and other outfits. 

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'Bleed India with a thousand cuts'

Apart from Operation Lyari led by slain SP Chaudhary Aslam, the movie shows Major Iqbal (inspired by Ilyas Kashmiri), played effortlessly by Arjun Rampal, say, "bleed India with a thousand cuts" while he is torturing an Indian spy. 

The phrase is directly borrowed from the Pakistan Army doctrine attributed to General Zia-ul-Haq after the 1971 debacle. The phrase has been oft repeated in Indian defence and strategic circles when discussing proxy-war tactics. 

26/11 attacks, handlers cackling while watching live TV coverage

The film is not yet done with its real-life references. Towards the end of the first part, a scene shows a handler in Pakistan watching the live coverage of the 26/11 attacks that rocked Mumbai, giving real-time cues to the attackers. 

This is a reference to the Supreme Court judgment on 26/11 media coverage. 

“The court found from the transcripts of conversations between terrorists holed up in Taj Hotel, Oberoi Hotel and Nariman House and their handlers in Pakistan that the terror masterminds were watching the live telecast and got important inputs about the positioning of security forces.”

Khanani brothers' counterfeit currency racket, the Atiq connection

Apart from this, both films focus on a shadowy financier who sends fake currency into the country and funds the Lyari gang's operations, widely seen as a reference to the Khanani brothers (Altaf and Javaid Khanani), globally known for running a counter-currency and money-laundering network that serviced crime groups across India. 

It also showed how the Khanani brothers' counter-currency and money-laundering network allegedly helped the deceased Samajwadi Party leader Atiq Ahmed maintain his dominance in Uttar Pradesh. 

In a recent podcast, former UP DGP Vikram Singh described Ahmed as a "monster" who enjoyed political protection from the Samajwadi Party's government in the state. 

He said that Atiq Ahmed was far more dangerous than what was shown in Dhurandhar 2. Describing Atiq as the "mastermind" or "jet plane" in his operation, he said that Ahmed's brother Ashraf was just a follower. 

Detailing Atiq's Pakistan connection, he told IANS in another interaction, “There should be no doubt about this. When Atiq Ahmed was alive, his gang was listed as IS-277 (Interstate-277). In his confessional statements, he admitted that weapons — including .45 calibre pistols, AK-47s, and RDX — were brought to him via drones from Pakistan and reached Punjab. Through his contacts, he also had connections with Lashkar-e-Taiba and the ISI." 

He added that when Atiq's house was searched, bullets and cartridges made in Pakistan's ordnance factories were found. "If someone is supporting Atiq even after this, they should be ashamed of themselves." 

Besides this, former Jammu & Kashmir DGP Shesh Paul Vaid claimed "our own leaders" are involved in the fake currency racket. 

When actors didn't feel like... actors

Apart from real-life instances woven into an edge-of-the-seat screenplay, the casting also worked wonders for the film. We could see 'peak detailing' by casting director Mukesh Chhabra when we saw Ankit Sagar portray Javed Khanani due to the stark resemblance to the real-life person. 

Chhabra also deserves a hat tip for casting Sanjay Dutt as SP Chaudhary Aslam, the slain Pakistani police officer who was also known as Babacop among his rank and file. Slain SP Aslam was a diehard fan of Sanjay Dutt and loved donning a white pathani salwar kurta. 

Apart from these two, Rakesh Bedi as Jameel Jamali also worked extremely well with the audience due to the Punjabi accent in which he mouths his dialogues. Bedi also deserves special plaudits for his portrayal of Jamali as a cross between Pakistani politicians Nabil Gabol and Altaf Hussain.