If Op Sindoor was the real deal, then the three-hour long Dhurandhar is the reel version of the Indian security establishment serving revenge cold to the Pakistanis. The film opens by showing a groundswell
of resentment building against the ineffective diplomacy of the “aman ki asha” variety. India just isn’t able to establish deterrence over Pakistan. It imagines a scenario after the Kandhar hijack and the 2001 Parliament attack, where an Indian intelligence agent (loosely modelled on National Security Advisor Ajit Doval) plots retribution inside Pakistan. He’s shown waiting for a like-minded political leadership to emerge at the Centre to give him a free hand to dismantle the terror factory across the border. And when such a government is sworn in, the agent is empowered by a senior minister with bushy eyebrows, played by Akash Khurana (inspired perhaps by former Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh), to infiltrate groups in Karachi’s Lyari area. These groups, an euphemism for state proxies, are being used by the Pakistani intelligence apparatus to bleed India. What follows is three hours plus of Pakistan-bashing in a turbo-charged flex of hyper-nationalism. The gratuitous, testosterone-fuelled “desh bhakti” of truly epic “ghar mein ghuskar mara” proportions steers clear of political correctness. No one is left in any doubt that the Pakistani state is waging jihad against India and that it has help on the Indian side as well. The proverbial OGW. But curiously, this film, much like The Kashmir Files, Kerala Story, is being pilloried by a section of critics, film stars and activists for pushing “a bigoted vision” and “gaslighting the audience into accepting it as entertainment.” It’s a familiar trope advanced by a set that believes the film is serving a political end by subtly villainising non-BJP dispensations known for their restraint, and stereotyping a community with the broad brush of saffron intolerance. The hypocrisy is astounding. It is an open secret that the secular tolerance this ecosystem flaunts is cratered by a faux political correctness that serves only one purpose: to smother any attempt at interrogating facts that suggest Hindus too are victims of religious intolerance in India. Secularism for this righteous cabal is a one-way street. For this so-called liberal ecosystem, you’re a bigot if you expose with facts how Islamist extremism and its appeasement is hurting Hindu interests. You’re a bigot if you question why Muslims are handed exemptions under the law. You’re a bigot if you wonder aloud why places of worship of only Hindus are governed by the state and how this warps the secular fabric. And God forbid if you make a movie like The Kashmir Files that arouses sympathy for the victims of Islamist intolerance. But make no mistake Dhurandhar is the ‘reel’ Op Sindoor. It calls out Pakistan’s Islamist regime the way Hollywood once exposed Nazis and Commies. And thank God political correctness was the first casualty in that war for mindspace. Anytime someone rails against Dhurandhar, ask them to criticise Inglourious Basterds and Zero Dark Thirty too. In a truly liberal country, isn’t it hypocritical to chain creativity to a politically convenient correctness?
