Dhurandhar The Revenge Trailer: Loud Action, Forced Nationalism and Weak Storytelling Overshadow Ranveer Singh’s Performance
Dhurandhar The Revenge's trailer, released on March 7, fails to excite viewers (to me) but rather feels like a sequel repeating the same formula but much louder. Aditya Dhar directs Tanaav, a film that has an incredible cast. This includes Ranveer Singh, Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Rampal, R. Madhavan, Akshaye Khanna and Sara Arjun. While the strength of these stars is apparent, the trailer suggests that it will not be enough to compensate for its overly direct delivery.
The first segment of the trailer shows a scene from the previous movie with a terrorist who disrespects Hindus. There does not appear to be any depth or subtlety present in this portion as it just seems like a cheap tactic to elicit a response from viewers. There is also a considerable amount of aggressive nationalism and corny/tired dialogue. Therefore, it is very unlikely that Tanaav will contain significant story elements.
Most of the clips in the trailer focus upon post-Rahman Dakait's (the main villain of the first film) death and continued power struggle within Lyari through the emergence of Hamza (the protagonist in the sequel) as the central focus of the plot. The backstories of Hamza, also known as Jaskiran Singh Rangi, are shown through flashbacks. These flashbacks give the impression of being rushed or underdeveloped. As such they do not reveal anything about Hamza's motivations other than anger and revenge.
From bomb blasts to shootouts and vast slow-motion shots of the lead actor, the action in this film is certainly stylized, but, unfortunately, repetitive and boring. The rhythm is broken up as there are explosions every five seconds, which eventually gets tiring instead of creating build-up throughout the movie. While Ranveer Singh is very much committed, his performance has become more caricature than an arc due to the extreme stylization of the video.
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Most of the supporting characters don’t even get enough screen time to leave an impact – The only ones I remember are Arjun Rampal (the Major Iqbal character) due to his boring delivery of a generic threat and Sanjay Dutt (SP Chaudhary Aslam) due to an odd/wrong comedic introduction. R. Madhavan’s frequent repetition of “Haunsla, Eendhan, Badla” can only be seen as a catchphrase rather than a powerful statement.
The most troubling aspect of this trailer is its reliance on simplistic nationalism and cheesy dramatic one-liners. The last line informs us that Pakistan is dependent upon how India treats them moving forward. The filmmakers are not creating an opportunity for intrigue or depth within the story; they are simply set out to create spectacle and empty rhetoric. This trailer suggests that there will be plenty of sound and sight, but likely not enough of the substance necessary to support the filmmakers' ambitions.
