An upcoming play exploring the British Asian drag community, uncovering the untold stories of men who don female personas by night, will be the company’s most provocative yet, its artistic director said.
Miss Meena and the Masala Queens follows the story of drag queen Miss Meena, whose nightclub has fallen on hard times. Just as a new face arrives with a glimmer of hope, however, Miss Meena finds himself in a moral dilemma.
Director Pravesh Kumar, who is also artistic director of Rifco...
Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma says the industry is ignoring Ranveer Singh’s “Dhurandhar” because it feels threatened by its success. (Photo credit: Aditya Dhar and Ram Gopal Varma)
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.
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…
— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) December 25, 2025
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)
By clicking the 'Subscribe’, you agree to receive our newsletter, marketing communications and industry
partners/sponsors sharing promotional product information via email and print communication from Garavi Gujarat
Publications Ltd and subsidiaries. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time by clicking the
unsubscribe link in our emails. We will use your email address to personalize our communications and send you
relevant offers. Your data will be stored up to 30 days after unsubscribing.
Contact us at data@amg.biz to see how we manage and store your data.
