In the middle of all the praise around Dhurandhar, a fresh conversation has now taken over social media. While Akshaye Khanna’s Rehman Dakait continues to dominate fan discussions, actor Naveen Kaushik,
who played Donga in the film, believes the spotlight has not been evenly shared. According to him, Ranveer Singh deserved far more recognition for what he brought to the screen. The film has been running to packed theatres since its December 5 release and has already rewritten box office history. But beyond numbers, Naveen feels the conversation around performances needs a second look. ‘It’s unfair to Ranveer’ Naveen recently spoke to Siddharth Kannan on his YouTube channel, where he opened up about working closely with both Ranveer Singh and Akshaye Khanna. During the chat, Naveen admitted that while Akshaye’s role is rightly being celebrated, Ranveer’s work as a spy has gone slightly unnoticed. “I do feel it’s unfair. Akshaye sir has undoubtedly created an iconic character that will be remembered for years. But what Ranveer has done as an actor: the tiny nuances, his voice modulation, for someone who is so energetic in real life to suppress all of that and play the complete opposite, it’s extremely difficult,” Naveen said. The restraint that went unseen Naveen went on to explain why Ranveer’s performance stood out to him, especially because it relied on restraint rather than showmanship. He pointed to a key moment in the film that many viewers may have missed. “In the famous FA9LA song, everyone in the scene is dancing – except Ranveer Singh. To restrain yourself in a moment like that is incredibly hard. But people didn’t notice it because of Akshaye sir’s commanding aura. Ranveer’s character is deliberately underplayed. He doesn’t seek attention. In the film, the first man in command is Akshaye, followed by Danish. If Ranveer had ego issues, he could have easily tried to draw focus to himself – but he didn’t. An insecure actor would have done that. Ranveer stayed true to his character and allowed someone else to shine.” About Dhurandhar Directed by Aditya Dhar, Dhurandhar is the first part of a two-film series. Ranveer plays Hamza, an Indian spy who infiltrates Lyari’s criminal and political underworld in Pakistan as part of a covert anti-terror mission. The story blends fiction with real geopolitical events, including the 1999 IC-814 hijacking, the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, and the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. The film also stars Sara Arjun, Arjun Rampal, Rakesh Bedi, and Sanjay Dutt. Dhurandhar has become the first Bollywood film to cross Rs 800 crore at the Indian box office. Its worldwide collection has already crossed Rs 1200 crore, making it one of the biggest Hindi films of all time. The sequel is scheduled to release in March this year.
