Ranveer Singh delivers high-energy action in Dhurandhar 2
This time politics feels more direct, not for everyone, and missing a strong villain slightly lowers tension in several moments
There is a moment in Dhurandhar: The Revenge when Ranveer Singh’s character—Hamza Ali Mazari, who was once Jaskirat Singh Rangi—sits alone in a dimly lit room in Lyari, Karachi. Around him, the city hums with the chaos of a power struggle he himself has engineered. But in that moment, the bravado falls away. The swagger vanishes. What remains is a man holding the fragments of a life he left behind, a life that was taken from him, and the weight of choices that have made him a ghost in his own story. It is a small scene, quiet amid the explosions and gunfire, but it captures the heart of what this sequel is trying to do.
The film picks up exactly where its predecessor left off. With Rehman Dakait dead, the underworld of Lyari is a vacuum waiting to be filled. And into that vacuum steps Hamza Ali Mazari—a name that Jaskirat Singh Rangi wears like armor, a Sikh boy from a family shattered by terror who has now become the very thing he once feared. Ranveer Singh does not just play this duality; he inhabits it. His performance is a masterclass in controlled fury. When his eyes flicker between cold calculation and raw grief, you are watching an actor who understands that revenge is not a straight line but a spiral that pulls everything inward.
Director Aditya Dhar, who gave audiences the taut intensity of the first film, knows that a sequel must do more than repeat formulas. He expands the canvas here, taking us deeper into Jaskirat’s past, showing us the personal tragedy that pushed a ordinary young man into becoming a covert Indian agent. Those flashback sequences are not mere exposition; they are the emotional engine that powers every punch, every bullet, every calculated betrayal that follows.
What strikes you, sitting in the theatre, is how the film earns its nearly four-hour runtime. There are moments when you feel the length—a stretch in the second half where the narrative seems to catch its breath for a beat too long—but for the most part, Dhar keeps the tension coiled tight. The pre-climax and climax sequences in particular deliver the kind of whistle-worthy moments that make audiences erupt in dark theatres across the country.
Arjun Rampal as Major Iqbal brings a chilling menace that stands as a worthy counterpoint to Singh’s intensity. He is the kind of antagonist who does not shout his villainy but lets it seep through composed silences and measured words. R. Madhavan, as the mastermind behind the mission, brings a gravitas that grounds the film’s more explosive moments. And Sanjay Dutt, in a role that is smaller than you might want, still manages to leave an imprint—a reminder of his enduring screen presence.
Yet, the film is not without its stumbles. The political commentary, sharp in the first film, sometimes tips into directness here in ways that may leave some viewers restless. And while Arjun Rampal is formidable, the absence of a villain with the singular, terrifying presence of the first film’s antagonist does mean that some sequences lack that edge-of-your-seat unpredictability. The music, too, while serviceable, does not lodge itself in your memory the way the first film’s soundtrack did.
But these are quibbles against a film that largely delivers what its audience came for. Dhurandhar: The Revenge is louder, larger, and more intense than its predecessor. It may not have the element of surprise this time, but it makes up for that with scale and emotional weight. For those who enjoy spy dramas that wear their patriotism on their sleeve, that understand action as a language of emotion, this is a theatrical experience worth the ticket price.
As the credits roll and the lights come up, you realize that Jaskirat Singh Rangi’s story is ultimately not about revenge. It is about identity—about what remains of a person when everything they loved is taken away, and whether the mission can ever truly end when the man on the mission has already lost himself. That question lingers long after the explosions fade.