Dhurandar (2025)
Score: 7 / 10
Category: Movie
Platform: Netflix
One-line verdict
An ambitious, chapter-driven spy thriller with huge scale and strong momentum, but dragged down by excess length, unnecessary violence, and a few rushed turns.
Why I watched this
I went into this because the sequel was already out and my colleagues kept talking about how interesting the story is and how it’s inspired by real events.
That already works for me. I usually like movies that are based on or inspired by true stories because the event itself must have been compelling enough to be turned into a film.
What surprised me more was the runtime. More than 3 hours. Normally that would put me off immediately.
But I have a way of dealing with movies like this. I’ve always felt that if a story is this big, it should really be told like a series. And strangely enough, this movie almost does that.
Story & Structure
The movie is framed in chapters, and that really helped.
There are eight chapters, and each one almost feels like a separate episode. It’s like bingeing a prestige streaming series, except it never stops. That structure is one of the main reasons the movie works.
The story itself is Aditya Dhar’s version of a larger geopolitical narrative tied to multiple terror events, including the 2008 Mumbai attacks. It follows an undercover Indian operative going deep into Pakistan’s underworld to understand the roots of the problem and cut it off at the source. The film draws loose inspiration from several real-world events, not just 26/11 alone.
I also liked how the characters were introduced. The movie labels them clearly, which helps because there are many moving parts. If you already know a bit about the real-world background, some introductions will mean more. If you don’t, the labels still help keep the story manageable.
The chapter structure gave the film room to breathe, which is exactly what a movie this long needs.
What worked
- The chapter-by-chapter storytelling works really well.
- The scale is impressive.
- The locations are beautiful and make the film feel genuinely large.
- The music is very effective in heightening scenes rather than just filling space.
- The main undercover lead is believable and carries the film physically and emotionally.
- Linking parts of the narrative to real footage and real events adds impact.
The cast is also strong. Seeing Sanjay Dutt still carry presence at this stage of his career was great.
What didn’t
The biggest issue is still the length.
I’m glad I watched this on Netflix and not in a cinema because I definitely would have felt the fatigue more in a theater.
There’s also violence that felt unnecessary. Not because I can’t take violence, but because if it doesn’t add much, there’s no point overdoing it. Some of it almost becomes comical rather than brutal.
A few character introductions also feel underused if you don’t already know the larger history. Someone like David Headley being introduced without much payoff is one example. It makes the movie feel like it assumes too much background knowledge at times.
And the betrayal plotted by Hamza against Rehman felt a bit rushed to me. Given how influential Rehman is supposed to be, it’s hard to fully buy that he would be that blind to it.
What others think
The movie received mixed critical reactions. A lot of praise went to the scale, performances, direction, action, cinematography, and score. Criticism mainly focused on the long runtime, pacing, heavy violence, and the way it blends fiction with real political events.
That feels about right to me. I’m probably more forgiving than some critics because I liked how the story was structured.
Final thoughts
Despite the runtime and some excess, I enjoyed this overall.
The chapter structure helped a lot. The movie feels huge, and the effort behind it is obvious.
Still, the violence could have been toned down, and a few plot developments needed more breathing room.
So for me this lands at a 7 / 10.
Strong 7, not 8.
Cut some excess, tighten a few turns, and it could have gone higher.
