Trutiya Nayan Bureau: Aditya Dhar’s blockbuster ‘Dhurandhar’ reshaped the agenda of the intellectuals. Earlier used as the monopoly of leftist shenanigans, the Indian intelligentsia has now felt the reality check. Ideas shattered, choices liberated. The problem was that earlier, a few people in the country would get together and decide what the rest of the country would watch. Some people would dictate which books the others should read.
What music the public should listen to for their mental health to stay good. Whom to vote for, as it would be in the nation’s interest?
In this changing era of Artificial Intelligence, it has bombed this ancient tradition. Now, the public itself decides which film to watch, which book to read, and whom to vote for.
Today, people have their own cultural and political exposure, which has multiplied many times compared to before and keeps growing day by day.
This is the one thing that is beyond the tolerance of India’s intellectual class.
Today, as soon as the stalwarts of literature, cinema, and politics—the critics and intellectuals—fail to set their narrative, they become uneasy.
They are surprised: Vinod Kumar Shukla doesn’t even have a social media account, yet how did he get three million in royalties in six months?
Then, instead of spending all that energy discussing Shukla ji’s work, they channel it into belittling him.
Something similar has happened these days with the film Dhurandhar
On the day of release, there was no discussion about Dhurandhar’s craft or storytelling. One side directly called it propaganda, hyper-masculine, testosterone-filled, and a film obsessed with Pakistan.
The public outright rejected all these criticisms. And in this era of 30-second reels, they decided to line up to immerse themselves in a three-and-a-half-hour film.
Today, in theaters, the audience is shouting sometimes on Ranveer’s entry, sometimes on the dialogues of Akshaye Khanna as Rehman Dakait, and sometimes on the charm of Rakesh Bedi as Jameel Jamali.
In the middle of the film, when the screen turns red and Aditya Dhar turns into a documentary filmmaker, playing the original audio of terrorists, the eyes of the audience sitting in theaters fill with tears.
They feel pained: How did our country once have such an incompetent system… that wouldn’t even listen to a spy who risked his life to provide information, and left citizens to die?
The public is seeing how Pakistan used to run the counterfeit note business. Which minister it was who handed over the weapon for printing notes to Pakistan.
How fake notes were smuggled via Nepal into Uttar Pradesh’s butcher houses. Was it just a coincidence that in 2017, as soon as the new government was formed, all illegal butcher houses were shut down?
