Ram Gopal Varma leaves Aditya Dhar overwhelmed; Calls Ranveer Singh starrer ‘Dhurandhar’ a ‘Quantum leap for Indian cinema’

Aditya Dhar directorial ‘Dhurandhar’ starring Ranveer Singh, Akshay Khanna, Sanjay Dutt, R Madhavan and Arjun Rampal is roaring at the box office. The movie has been receiving applause from the audience and fellow filmmakers. Recently, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma took to his X (formerly Twitter) handle and called the movie a “Quantum leap in Indian cinema”.

Ram Gopal Varma heaps priase on Aditya Dhar

Director Ram Gopal Varma, who is known for his fearless and impolite work in the industry, wrote, “DHURANDHAR is not a film, it is a QUANTUM LEAP in INDIAN CINEMA.” Sharing high words for the director Adiya Dhar, RGV said he has delivered something that reshapes how mainstream cinema can feel and function. He believes the film does not ask for attention but commands it.

Talking about the film’s technical aspects

“This is a film that refuses to be polite. The writing cuts with intent, the staging breathes menace, and the silences are as weaponized as the thunderous sound effects. Dhar understands that power in storytelling is not volume… it’s pressure building. Every sequence feels compressed, like a spring being wound never knowing when it will snap. And when it does, the impact is not just brutal but it is also symphonically operatic,” he added.

The ‘Satya’ director also praised the film’s writing and felt the scenes were built with pressure rather than noise. “Technically, the film redraws the grammar of mainstream Indian cinema. The sound design doesn’t decorate scenes, it stalks them. The camera doesn’t observe but it circles it like a predator. Action here isn’t choreography for applause.. it’s perspectively justified and extremely ugly , the way real violence should feel,” he wrote.

Adiya Dhar replies

Replying to his comment, Adiya Dhar shared that Varma’s words felt unreal and deeply personal. He recalled coming to Mumbai with dreams shaped by RGV's films. He wrote, “I came to Mumbai years ago carrying one suitcase, one dream, and an unreasonable belief that I would one day work under Ram Gopal Verma. That never happened. But somewhere along the way, without knowing it, I worked inside your cinema. Your films didn’t teach me how to make movies — they taught me how to think dangerously.”

Though they never worked together, Aditya Dhar believes Varma’s cinema influenced his thinking and creative courage. He wrote, “You were one of my favourite directors who made Indian cinema feel fearless, impolite, and alive. If Dhurandhar has even a fraction of that DNA, it’s because your films whispered (sometimes screamed) in my head while I was writing and directing it. If I’ve assumed the audience is intelligent, it’s because you taught an entire generation that cinema should never apologize for its ambition. Thank you for this generosity, this madness, and this validation.”

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