Swara Bhasker’s mother calls Dhurandhar propaganda, targeting Muslims and Pakistan: ‘Extremely violent’

Ranveer Singh's Dhurandhar has been the biggest box office hit since its release last year; however, the film continues to receive criticism from a section of people over its content. Swara Bhasker’s mother, film scholar Ira Bhaskar, became the latest personality to call the film propaganda and slammed it for its portrayal of Muslim people. She also labelled the film as violent.

Swara Bhasker's mom reacts to Dhurandhar

The actress' mother appeared on an episode of Karwan e Mohabbat on YouTube and talked about the evolution of storytelling in Indian cinema.

She said, “There are filmmakers, for instance, let me give the example of the Dhurandhar, which is earning crores at the box office… This is an example of a film made by a filmmaker who is ideologically convinced by Hindutva and the ideology of Hindutva. A competent filmmaker and a very well-made film. But how is technique to be divorced from content?”

Ira Bhaskar: Dhurandhar is extremely violent

Ira Bhaskar added, “It's extremely violent. And its violence is at the service of a belief structure of an ideology that Muslims are very violent people. Pakistan is a very violent nation. You don't see any normal Muslim (person) there. Everyone is a terrorist or a gangster. These kinds of perceptions about Muslims… It's propagating this. It is being reproduced again and again. It's ridiculous because it uses makeup in such a way that the character, the individuals who are playing those parts, look like the original (people). It's a fiction film based on true events, supposedly. And it is selective as all these films are. It'll only selectively choose what to put together in order to serve the ideology.”

About Dhurandhar

Dhurandhar is the first installment of a two-part film. It is written and directed by Aditya Dhar. Starring Ranveer Singh in the lead, it also featured Akshaye Khanna, Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Rampal, R. Madhavan, Sara Arjun, Rakesh Bedi, Gaurav Gera, and Danish Pandor.

Dhurandhar story

The film draws inspiration from real-life geopolitical events and conflicts, including the 1999 IC-814 hijacking, the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, and the 2008 Mumbai attacks, and focuses on an undercover Indian intelligence agent who infiltrates Karachi's criminal syndicates to dismantle a terror network targeting India.

Dhurandhar 2

At the box office, the film achieved massive success, grossing over ₹1,000 crore worldwide. Following the success of the film, the sequel, Dhurandhar: The Revenge, will hit the theatres in 19 March.

It is backed by Jyoti Deshpande, Aditya Dhar, and Lokesh Dhar, under Jio Studios and B62 Studios. Unlike the first chapter, Dhurandhar 2 is set to have a pan-India roll out. It will be released in five languages: Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam.

Ahead of its official release date, the film will also have paid preview shows across selected locations. On Saturday, the advance booking for the film officially began with early shows starting as early as 6:15 am in theatres.