Author and columnist Shobhaa De has watched Dhurandhar 2 and shared her review of the Ranveer Singh movie, detailing the “good and bad news” about the spy action thriller which was released worldwide on March 19.
Unlike part one, Shobhaa De said she wasn’t as “ecstatic” after watching Dhurandhar 2.
“I have watched Dhurandhar: The Revenge. Let me give you the good news first. I wasn’t bored, it’s four hours. I didn’t fall asleep and I sort of enjoyed it. But I’m not ecstatic or excited like I was when I watched the first one. I thought the first one was much layered; it had psychological profiles, it generated anxiety, suspense, and you wanted to know why the people were doing what they were doing…
“Maybe it was the newness then, in this one there was a bit of a deja vu. I could almost predict what’s going to happen next which is never good. Good cinema is about keeping you tense and making you wonder. People have called it a masterpiece. Sorry, it’s not a masterpiece, at least not for me,” she said in the video posted on Instagram.
For the author, the stand-out performances were by Arjun Rampal as Major Iqbal and Sanjay Dutt as SP Chaudhary Aslam, and not the main lead Ranveer Singh.
“The standout performances for me in Dhurandhar 2 were two of them: Arjun Rampal, he chewed up everyone, including Ranveer. Sorry Ranveer, but he did. And Sanjay Dutt, who was impeccable. There was not one false note in his performance. He was menacing, unpredictable. He was just the presence, he was in-charge.”
Akshaye Khanna as Rehman Dakait was sorely missed, she added.
“You were so missed Akshaye Khanna. Without Rehman Dakait, the style was not there. The wonderful impromptu dance was not there, there was a version of the Baloch dance, but it was nowhere near that one,” said Shobhaa De, referring to the FA9LA dance number from Dhurandhar part one.
The author also had some “bad news” for the Dhurandhar 2 makers.
“Yes, it was all packed, but there were several people scrolling and losing interest and coming back to watch the film which is not the best sign. Not the sign of a super-duper, engrossing, keeping-you-on-the-edge kind of a movie.
“I didn’t honestly think much of the script this time. The music again predictable… This had no Ramba Ho Ho Ho, though I loved the way Rasputin was used. But there was no Shararat… There was no glamour at all… The jingoism was underlined in this but it was balanced,” she said.
In the caption of her Dhurandhar 2 “capsule review”, the author wrote the film had too many explanations “like tutoring school kids on how baddies operate”.
“The dialogues were obvious and spelling things out for dummies. Instead of letting the subtext push the narrative. Too many tropes and cliches. Action for the sake of action. And Rohit Shetty inspired cars blowing up set pieces at regular intervals.
“Ranveer’s hair was salon – wild and carefully sprayed into place even during the bloodiest fight scenes. A couple of neat twists – one just before the interval, and the final one at the end, were clever. But someone tell me what exactly happened in Pathankot during the teary finale ?? Anti climax !!!!” she added.
When Shobhaa De reviewed Dhurandhar in December, she was all praise for Ranveer Singh and didn’t think much of Akshaye Khanna’s performance.
“As Ranveer says – come on, come on – the restraint, how controlled. When he could so easily have strutted, done the whole swag thing, put in a song for himself, done some hook step, romanced the girl… Ranveer, I thought, chewed up the entire film.
“I liked Akshaye a lot. I can’t say I went nuts over his performance. He is a superb actor, but because of the overkill – that one song, that one step and all of that – maybe I expected much more than what I actually got,” she had said at the time.
Dhurandhar 2 also stars R Madhavan, Sara Arjun, Rakesh Bedi, Danish Pandor, and Gaurav Gera.
Also Read | Dhurandhar 2 Review: Ranveer Singh Goes To Pakistan, Gifts India A Blockbuster