Dhurandhar: Why are left fundamentalists angry with the expression of creative freedom and freedom of speech ?

Conclusion:

Since this is a long article, I will put the conclusion first. Feel free to read the reasoning after  the conclusion.

Dhurandhar forces you to think rationally and is slickly made. And this was something that left fundamentalists  always felt was their domain: Thinking and well made propaganda films which pandered to western media and aligned with their colonial mindset. 

Dhurandhar breaks all traditional Bollywood tropes, is rough, is slick and confronts some tough truths.  It doesn’t preach, it doesn’t seek validation, it doesn’t apologize. It is rooted, it is grounded and it is brilliant and most importantly it shows the other side of the coin.

And this is what is triggering everyone ( and probably that the second Dhurandhar film will also be 1000 crore film)

Dhurandhar: Indian cinema’s Oppenheimer Moment

There are times when a movie stops being a story, a drama or just another creative expression. It gets elevated to cinema. A cult is created and this reverberates in history for many years to come. Like Sholay, like DDLJ, like Mother India, like the angry young man in Zanzeer and probably now (Dhurandhar) 

In Oppenheimer, there is a scene where the nuclear blast happens and there is no loud bang, instead a deafening silence with the spectre of the nuclear cloud filling the whole screen. 

That silence is more powerful than any loud blast. It shakes you to the core.

That silence speaks louder than words and expressions convey more than visuals and dialogues.

 

That elevated Oppenheimer to cinema levels from just a movie.

In Dhurandhar something similar happens multiple times but using just 1 example here.

When the red screen fills the movie hall with just some text  and the actual conversations between the terrorists are played, it gives it the same haunting silence of the nuclear blast. 

Indians are forced to live the horror and the pain of that day. Even me, who knew in a lot of detail about the terror attack, was shocked by the ruthlessness of the terrorists.

What is triggering left fundamentalists ?

And therein lies the real issue, that left liberals or champions of freedom of expression like Dhruv Rathee are forced to face.

Dhurandhar doesn’t tell but forces you to think, absorb and interpret. 

Every single bollywood  movie on Pakistan terror acts has the same well defined trope.

There is a good RAW agent and there is a bad / rogue RAW/ Indian agent. Never a bad ISI agent. And good prime ministers on both sides who want some random “Aman ki Aasha”.

And the good RAW agent works with the ISI team to stop the “bad” Indian agent.

But sometimes there are no good ISI agents, only the bad ones.  And there are no bad RAW agents and only good ones. And this is what Dhurandhar shows and this is what is really bothering left fundamentalists.

Loud  patriotic movies are easy to dismiss. like Uri, like Border, like War, like Jawaan, Pathaan. Because they can be thought of well directed action sequences which don’t really  make you think.

But Dhurandhar makes you think. It puts an idea in your mind.

Inception of an Idea:

There are two quotes in the movie Inception that really explain why it has triggered the left fundamentalists. 

Quote 1: “An idea is like a virus, resilient, highly contagious. The smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define or destroy you" 

Quote 2: Another key quote emphasizes persistence of an idea: "Once an idea has taken hold of the brain, it's almost impossible to eradicate"

One of the most beautiful ways that cinema works is, it treats the audience as intelligent human beings and the idea is to let the audience think and absorb. 

The idea that something really wrong happened, that a series of crimes were committed by the neighbouring country.

Dhurandhar forces you to face uncomfortable truths, to face failure and to face humiliation. 

When Ranveer Singh is forced to first watch the event live and then cry due to his failure and inability to stop, he is not a larger than life “superspy” who can do everything and stop all bad things from happening.

OR When Madhavan says that even though he knows who is the corrupt minister but he cannot do anything, it shows the helplessness that everyday spy bosses must be facing.

It is real, it is frustrating and most of all it is believable.

In both the above cases, the protagonists are forced to swallow a huge defeat and carry on….. 

Tough, Real and Unapologetic:

The movie is raw, unapologetically tough and forces the viewers to look at some hard realities of everyday warfare.

Ranveer Singh / Hamza Mazari is relentless, driven and is focused on his mission and not some random noble ideals.

And there is no grand plan, there is no clear path to “complete” the mission.

He gets beaten up, stays hungry for days, kills people, enables killing people, or tries to put a noble reason for eliminating Rahman Dakait or executing Rahman Dacoit’s father in a crowded market square.  

He is willing to let people die if it helps him. 

He doesn't think about the girl's feelings and about using her to further his mission.

Violence is there but it  is less to do with making it a spectacle and more about means to an end.

There are no bikini clad Pakistani agents running around in Europe. 

But only hard, day to day survival and trying to move ahead without a clear plan.

These nuances and touches make the movie a lot more interesting and believable.

Ending:

And this is why Dhurandhar deserves all the success, praise and accolades it is getting.