Director Aditya Dhar‘s ‘Dhurandhar 2’ starring Ranveer Singh in the lead is just three weeks away from its release and it has found a superfan in filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma. The director, on Wednesday, took to his social media handle to heap praise on the spy thriller, and even went as far as claiming that it had the potential to be a turning point for mainstream Indian cinema. In a strongly worded post, Varma described the upcoming sequel as an “ASTEROID” which could end the film industry’s “DINOSAUR era” and the common superstar-led big-budget “masala” films.
RGV compares ‘Dhurandhar’ 2 to an astroid
In a fiery social media post, Varma wrote, “DHURANDAR 2 is an ASTEROID which might end the DINOSAUR era.” Predicting all that is set to unfold in the weeks ahead, he added, “DHURANDHAR 2 has high chances of completely and permanently obliterating the pan india south films movement by establishing a brand new benchmark with ultra realistic making , genuine character depths etc that actually engage the audience’s brain while still delivering a raw visceral impact.“Varma argued that the film could whet the audience’s appetite and leave them wanting more than the regular run off the mill content. “Once audiences taste this new standard, every film currently under production in the previous masala style can become instantly endangered,” he wrote.
RGV tells filmmakers to reinvent themselves
Heralding in this ‘new standard’ of filmmaking he further predicted that producers banking heavily on formula-driven content, will be forced to ‘reinvent themselves’. He wrote, “Those ultra big budgeted masala projects that are already deep into shooting or post production will have an uphill task in competing with the new standards set Producers who bet entire empires on the same previous formulaic making might face empty theatres and career ending losses because of the high costs involved and the audience taste converting to the international standards Directors married to the belief of “mass + vfx + scale + gravity defying stunts = guaranteed hit will have no choice but to reinvent themselves by studying the Dhurandhar audiences.“
RGV predicts fall of Superstars
The director also took aim at ‘superstars with god-like statuses’, warning that ‘Dhurandhar’ will usher in a new age of characters who grow to become heroes. He said, “Superstars who were depending upon their god like statuses resting solely on mindless hero worship will stand exposed in front of highly effective characters who grow to be heroes in the context of the story rather than already being hailed as heroes from frame one DHURANDHAR 2 is not just another film coming on March 19th.““It can be an ASTEROID STRIKE that might end the DINOSAUR ERA of film making which is full of sheer volume, fake heroism and the so called masala treatment,” RGV said and added, “The goal post has been changed and so if the direction of the kick does not change, it might not only break the leg , but it might lose the limb.”
‘Dhurandhar 2’ to clash with ‘Toxic’
As Varma did not take any names, it is unclear who his post was aimed at. ‘Dhurandhar 2’, meanwhile, is gearing up to clash with actor Yash’s ‘Toxic’ which is also releasing in cinemas on March 19. Despite trade gurus advising the makers to shift release dates, warning that the clash for an event film could ruin their box office run, theatre chains have begun promoting both films on the lines of Margot Robbie and Cillian Murphy’s ‘Barbenheimer’ which saw ‘Barbie’ lock horns with ‘Oppenheimer’. At the time, both films fared well at the box office, with ‘Barbie’ coming out victorious by crossing the USD 1 billion mark. ‘Oppenheimer’, on the other hand, concluded its run with a USD 900 million haul. After ‘Dhurandhar’ crossed the Rs 1,000 crore mark, all eyes are now on the sequel to see if it can beat its own records and become the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time.
