Dhurandhar FDFS Review: Ranveer & others shine, but the film is vexed by its lengthy narrative

Bollywood livewire Ranveer Singh returns to the silver screen after a gap of nearly two years. His latest action entertainer, Dhurandhar, has hit theaters today (December 5).

Known for his romantic charm, Ranveer enters a new genre in this highly anticipated movie. Helmed by Aditya Dhar, Dhurandhar boasts a star-studded cast, with Sanjay Dutt, R Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, Sara Arjun and others. The FDFS reviews have started pouring in, and #DhurandharReview is trending on social media platforms.

According to early reports, the long-form approach chosen by Aditya Dhar struggled to engage viewers in today's rapid-fire entertainment era. This stands in stark opposition to Animal and Pushpa 2, which, even with a similar length, managed to be engaging and included multiple standout, blockbuster moments. The audience also felt the movie had a major flaw in character development; despite the star-studded cast, the film lost its grip by not adequately utilising the characters, considering the long duration.

The FDFS audience consensus is that Ranveer Singh delivered a strong, standout performance as 'Wrath of God', though there are observations that he was under utilised.

Meanwhile, Ranveer's scenes with Sara Arjun were widely criticised as a miserable failure, with many suggesting their pairing was dull and unnecessary.

On the other hand, R Madhavan, as the sharp-witted intelligence strategist Ajay Sanyal, was impressive, while Sanjay Dutt made another fantastic appearance. Another widely acclaimed performance in the action entertainer came from Akshaye Khanna. His character which is loosely based on gangster Rehman Dakait, is liked by the audience.

Sara Arjun did justice to her role, but again, romantic scenes with Ranveer failed to impress the audience.

Sara Arjun and Ranveer Singh in Dhurandhar.

Overall, the movie managed to receive an average, 'okay-okay' reception from the FDFS audience, with many widely agreeing that trimming the runtime by a good one hour would have made the film to a respectable watch.