Ram Gopal Varma praises 'Dhurandhar' as quantum leap in India cinema, Aditya Dhar says he feels seen

Mumbai: Ram Gopal Varma on Friday praised "Dhurandhar" by calling it a quantum leap in Indian cinema and its director Aditya Dhar said as a fan he feels overwhelmed and seen as he came to the city years ago with a desire to work with the "Satya" helmer.

In a long post on X, Varma, known for Hindi movies such as "Rangeela", "Satya" and "Company", said Dhar's film has "completely and single handedly" changed the future of Indian cinema.

"'Dhurandhar' is not just a film... it is a quantum leap. What 'Dhurandhar' achieves is not just scale, but a never before experienced vision not just in sight but in the mind. Aditya Dhar doesn’t direct scenes here… he engineers the states of minds of both the characters and us audience. The film doesn’t ask for your attention.. it commands it," Varma said praising the Ranveen Singh starrer.

The filmmaker said Dhar's film "refuses to be polite" whether it is through its writing or the way scenes are staged.

"Dhar understands that power in storytelling is not volume… It's pressure building. Every sequence feels compressed, like a spring being wound never knowing when it will snap . And when it does, the impact is not just brutal but it is also symphonically operatic...

"But beyond craft, what truly elevates 'Dhurandhar' is its intent. This is not a film chasing trends or validation. It is a solemn declaration, that Indian cinema doesn’t need to dilute itself to become successful and doesn’t need to mindlessly copy Hollywood. Dhar proved that it can be rooted and still be internationally cinematic," Varma said.

Dhar, who debut with "Uri: The Surgical Strike", responded by sharing his admiration for the filmmaker's past movies.

"I came to Mumbai years ago carrying one suitcase, one dream, and an unreasonable belief that I would one day work under Ram Gopal Verma. That never happened. But somewhere along the way, without knowing it, I worked inside your cinema. Your films didn’t teach me how to make movies — they taught me how to think dangerously," Dhar said.

"To have you say that 'Dhurandhar' is a quantum leap feels surreal, emotional, and honestly a little unfair… because now whatever I do next has to live up to this tweet. You were one of my favourite directors who made Indian cinema feel fearless, impolite, and alive. If 'Dhurandhar' has even a fraction of that DNA, it’s because your films whispered (sometimes screamed) in my head while I was writing and directing it," Dhar said.

Dhar said he assumed that the audience is intelligent by watching Varma's films which never apologised for their ambition.

"Thank you for this generosity, this madness, and this validation. The fan in me is overwhelmed. The filmmaker in me feels challenged. And the boy who came to Mumbai to work under RGV… finally feels seen," Dhar added.

Featuring Ranveer Singh alongside Sanjay Dutt, Akshaye Khanna, Arjun Rampal, Sara Arjun, R Madhavan and Rakesh Bedi, the film released in theatres on December 5. Its box office collection in India has already crossed Rs 500 crore. The worldwide box office collection of the film is over Rs 700 crore.

The film follows covert intelligence operations set against a backdrop of geopolitical and terror events like Kandahar plane hijack, 2001 Parliament Attack and 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

It is produced by Dhar and Lokesh Dhar under B62 Studios in association with Jyoti Deshpande’s Jio Studios.