Tigmanshu Dhulia Says Ranveer Singh’s Dhurandhar Has ‘No Story’, Gets Backlash: 'Did You Even Watch It?'

Ranveer Singh’s Dhurandhar films have become a major Bollywood franchise, but filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia has questioned what he sees as the lack of storytelling in the films. Speaking at an event organised by The Wire, Dhulia said that Dhurandhar has “no story” and argued that films today are increasingly following the same pattern.

Dhulia was speaking at a session on ‘The State of Media and Film Industry’ when he shared his criticism of the Ranveer Singh-led franchise. He also connected the changing nature of Hindi cinema to what he described as “extreme capitalism”.

Tigmanshu Dhulia Says ‘Dhurandhar Has No Story’

Explaining his criticism of Dhurandhar, Dhulia said the basic premise of the film does not amount to a story in his view.

“If someone

asks you about the story of Dhurandhar, you can’t tell it. There is a guy who goes to Pakistan aur vaha tabahi macha deta hai. Is this a story? The stories are finished in films. Also, those who tell the stories are also finished and those who want to tell stories aren’t allowed to do so. They think that their films won’t work. They follow the same pattern.”

Both Dhurandhar films have been written and directed by Aditya Dhar. The franchise features Ranveer Singh alongside Akshaye Khanna, Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Rampal, R. Madhavan, Sara Arjun, Rakesh Bedi, Gaurav Gera and Danish Pandor, among others.

The story follows an undercover Indian intelligence agent, played by Ranveer, who infiltrates Karachi’s criminal syndicates and political power structures in Pakistan while attempting to dismantle a terror network targeting India.

Fans React To His Statement

The filmmaker’s comments also drew a slew of reactions from social media users who came to Dhurandhar’s defence in the comment section of his Instagram post. One user wrote, “Tigmanshu ji, I believe you did not watch the movie.. it’s about our patriots in play on a foreign soil defending their mother land .. my heart thumps with joy hearing stories about them.” Another compared it to Sholay, writing, “Sholay’s story is bad…2 convicts go to ramgarh and destroy the entire established gang of dacoits while the leader is killed by a guy without hands.” One more user pointed out that the film is based on true incidents, writing, “It’s not story. It’s based on true incidents it is written. U show ur story first.” Another simply commented, “Well said,” while others questioned his criticism of the film.

Tigmanshu Dhulia Links Storytelling To Capitalism

Dhulia also spoke about the larger changes he sees in the film industry and linked them to capitalism. He argued that extreme capitalism can make people, places and creative work increasingly similar.

“This happens during extreme capitalism, people also start looking like each other. You see the fashion these days, everybody looks the same. They all have the same haircut. Even cities are looking identical to each other. The unique character of every city is finished. My city Allahabad, (named has been changed to Prayagraj) was known for so many different things but now it looks like any other city, same malls, same cars. This type of political system finishes your individuality.”

Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Next Film

Dhulia is known for films including Haasil and Paan Singh Tomar, both of which featured his collaborations with late actor Irrfan. He is now preparing for the release of his ZEE5 Original film Ghamasan, starring Arshad Warsi and Pratik Gandhi.

Ghamasan is scheduled to premiere on ZEE5 on September 11.