Ram Gopal Varma says ‘Dhurandhar’ being ignored by industry

FILMMAKER Ram Gopal Varma has said that the film industry often ignores pathbreaking films because it feels threatened by them, referring to the Ranveer Singh-starrer espionage drama “Dhurandhar”.

Varma said films that set new standards are often sidelined by industry insiders who feel unable to match them. He said this was the case with “Dhurandhar”, which is set in Karachi’s Lyari town and directed by Aditya Dhar, known for “Uri: The Surgical Strike”.

“Whenever a path breaking and monstrous hit like #dhurandhar comes, the industry people will wish to ignore it because they will feel threatened by it due to their inability to match it’s standards ..So they will think of it as a nightmare, which will vanish when they wake up in their own films,” Varma wrote in a long post on X.

The filmmaker, known for films such as “Satya”, “Rangeela” and “Kaun”, also criticised the trend of pan-indian films aimed at appealing to a wide audience.

“This is even more true of all the so called pan india biggies which are right now under various stages of production. They were all written and mounted, modelled on the films made before #dhurandhar which is the exact opposite of what they all believed will work what’s even more worrisome is that #dhurandhar apart from being a omega hit also is the most discussed film since the last 50 years (sic),” Varma said.

According to Varma, filmmakers who continue to rely on heavy VFX, expensive sets, item songs and hero-centric stories will be “crucified” in their “self created dungeon of masala films”.

“More than anything else @AdityaDharFilms is forcing the industry people to look at their own films in the mirror, in comparison to the beautiful looking #dhurandhar,” he said.

“Dhurandhar”, which also stars Akshaye Khanna, Sanjay Dutt, R Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, Sara Arjun and Soumya Tandon, has become the 10th highest grossing Indian film of all time, earning over Rs 600 crore (approximately £49.5 million) at the box office since its release in early December.

(With inputs from agencies)