Swara Bhaskar’s mother Ira Bhaskar slams Dhurandhar for its politics: ‘It shows all Muslims as violent’

As Dhurandhar: The Revenge gears up for its release in less than a week, attention has turned back to its prequel, Dhurandhar, which hit theaters in December last year and created a storm at the box office.

While the film broke multiple box-office records and trended widely on social media, it has also faced criticism from a section of the audience who found its political messaging troubling.

Joining this cohort of critics is actress Swara Bhaskar’s mother and renowned film scholar Ira Bhaskar, who described the film as a “well-made film” and called director Aditya Dhar “a competent filmmaker,”yet she emphasized that its ideological messaging cannot be ignored.

Speaking on the YouTube channelKarwan e Mohabbat, Ira said: “Let me give the example of Dhurandhar, which is earning crores at the box office.

Since it’s the most recent example of this, also doing very well 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.”
She went on to highlight the portrayal of violence in the film: “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 there.

Everyone is a terrorist or a gangster.” She also said that such films selectively use events to reinforce a particular ideological viewpoint.

“It’s a fiction film based on true events, supposedly.

And it’s selective, as all these films are.

It will only selectively choose what to put together in order to serve the ideology.”
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She commented on the filmmaking technique of Aditya Dhar as well, which has been widely appreciated by audiences since the film’s release: “But what is technical, you know, I mean, how is technique to be divorced from and how is form to be divorced from content?”
While Ira Bhaskar has criticised Dhurandar, it has also received massive praise, especially from other filmmakers.

Director Ram Gopal Varma called it “a quantum leap in Indian cinema” on X (formerly Twitter).

While Sandeep Reddy Vanga praised Dhurandhar for having a “masculine spine” and wrote on X, “Dhurandhar is built like a man who doesn’t talk much & carries a masculine spine.

Dhurandhar – The title fits because the film moves with dominance & fierce.

The depiction is very clear with zero chaos.”
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