BAMM! 557: 'Dhurandhar' Analysis - Fake Reality of Lyari Analyst & Critic: Dr. Kamran Jawaid Aziz
Ranveer Singh's upcoming film Dhurandhar, directed by Aditya Dhar, is the latest and most overt entry in a burgeoning cinematic industrial complex: the production of Indian nationalist narratives explicitly set on Pakistani soil, repurposing its geography and history for antagonistic fantasy. This pattern is telling—from the ancient ruins of Moen-Jo-Daro and the courtesan quarters of Heeramandi, the focus now narrows to the volatile streets of Karachi's Lyari. Each setting is less a location of authentic storytelling and more a symbolic battleground, appropriated to stage a manufactured conflict that serves a specific, revisionist agenda.
The trailer for Dhurandhar promises not espionage realism but a familiar myth: an Indian operative moving with cinematic ease through the heart of a Pakistani metropolis. This premise is emblematic of a genre that systematically distorts complex geopolitical and historical realities into simplified, jingoistic spectacle. The frequent claim of being "inspired by true events" acts not as a guarantee of accuracy, but as a strategic veneer to legitimize a fabricated and often inflammatory worldview. Characters, whether wholly invented or loosely based on real figures like Chaudhry Aslam, are rendered as scripted caricatures—puppets in a staged drama designed to provoke visceral nationalism rather than intelligent reflection.
While technical polish, evident in the meticulous set design, and star power, like the apt casting of Sanjay Dutt, lend these productions a sheen of credibility, they ultimately adorn a problematic core. This trend does not seek to explore shared history or human nuance; it seeks to claim cultural and moral territory by reducing a neighboring nation to a backdrop for Indian heroics. The result is a cinematic ecosystem that actively prefers rhetorical confrontation over truth, feeding audiences a consumable fantasy of dominance while further eroding the space for empathetic or historically accountable storytelling about the subcontinent.
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