Dhurandhar

"Is this one of the best Spy thrillers coming out of Indian Cinema? Definitely Yes! Better than the Spy Universe? Well, in my opinion, yes! Does this also mean that the film is a masterpiece that needs to be celebrated? Well, Celebrations – definitely yes! Masterpiece – No!"

"This is indeed one of Ranveer Singh's best performances of the year. This film is indeed one of the most engaging releases of this year. For the theatre going audiences, this film is a complete package and an absolute value for money."

"Dhurandhar is enjoyable, and it will work at the box office. Watch it with patience. See this film from Hamza's POV, and you'll be engrossed in his journey to enemies from their territory."

"Despite its length and unflinching violence, Dhurandhar grips you from start to finish and never lets go. Ranveer Singh returns to claim his number one spot in a layered, restrained avatar that plays to his strengths. The music and background score — weaving 70s and 80s Bappi Lahiri classics into modern soundscapes — are a triumph."

"Dhurandhar is a film that refuses to be contained by the grammar of a conventional spy thriller. It is visceral, atmospheric, richly performed, and undeniably cinematic. It is also, unfortunately, too long."

"Feral Ranveer Singh and stellar Akshaye Khanna drive an indulgent spy thriller home."

"Dhurandhar's three-and-a-half-hour length works against it, but Aditya Dhar's direction, aided by the performances - chiefly Ranveer Singh and Akshaye Khanna - elevate the film. Trim thirty minutes and this would have been a knockout. As it stands, it is a sturdy watch."

"Dhurandhar is a semi-dragfest in the first half with gory bloodshed and action, but the film develops much-needed pace in the second half. Those who love action will find the film appealing if they can withstand the slow first half narrative."

"Despite the many, many characters Dhurandhar introduces to give us a sense of Lyari's power, crime, political and family dynamics, the plot is fairly comprehensible. Most of the time though, Dhurandhar I is all about which of the three current and ageing hunks – Ranveer Singh as Hamza, Rampal as the ISI's Major Iqbal, and Sanjay Dutt as Karachi police encounter specialist Choudhary Aslam – can land and stand how much blood and gore."

"Dhurandhar has been performed, written, and directed by those who haven't ever stepped a foot in Karachi, and perhaps never will. Ranveer Singh's film feels overwhelming for its length."

"Dhurandhar may not have the dark realism of a spy story which a Web show can manage. But it does not have the flamboyance either, that has come to be associated with espionage movies. What it does have is excessive violence and a bunch of characters that one can neither like nor hate."

"As a spy drama, Dhurandhar attempts to stay raw and grounded, avoiding the glamorous tone of other popular spy universes in Bollywood. However, this realistic approach falters at times—especially during a climactic face-off between Akshaye Khanna and Sanjay Dutt. Despite incredible performances, film drags with its pace."

"With Dhurandhar's second part, it is as if director Aditya Dhar wanted to prove his critics right, and not wrong. Films such as Dhurandhar are enabling the construction of a new kind of Indian citizen, in which a narrowly defined nationalism is the only virtue and is also indissolubly associated with violence. This has grave implications for culture as well as democracy."

"Aditya Dhar's ambitious but overstretched and chest-thumping espionage saga serves political interests, tests endurance. The bigger problem is that Aditya has bitten more than he could chew. Like the popular Hasan Jahangir number of the late 1980s used in the film, there is a lot of 'Hawa Hawa', with a pretence of substance."

"Dhurandhar is Aditya Dhar's most politically assertive film, tracing India's covert operations through real historical tragedies. Ranveer Singh leads with conviction, but Akshaye Khanna delivers the most compelling performance."

"He may be Dhurandhar's most ruthless villain, but look closer and Akshaye Khanna's character reveals something unexpected—empathy, loyalty, emotional restraint, and a quiet devotion that turns a feared antagonist into an unlikely study in husband material."