Ranveer Singh’s Dhurandhar, directed by Aditya Dhar, finally debuted in cinemas on Friday, with fans across the country taking to social media to share their first reactions. The spy thriller, one of Bollywood’s longest releases with a 3-hour and 34-minute runtime, seems to have struck a chord with audiences, despite mixed responses to its extended first half.
Fans praise performances and gripping story
Fans who flocked to theatres to catch the earliest screenings flooded X (formerly Twitter) with their reviews praising the film as “mind-blowing”. Many praised the film’s intense drama and power-packed performances, singling out Ranveer Singh, Akshaye Khanna and R. Madhavan for their compelling portrayals.One viewer posted, “What a magnificent first half! Aditya Dhar has cooked with the intense scenes, Akshay Khanna is out of the box, R Madhavan delivers his best. Trust me there are hardly action sequences in [the] first half, still Dhar has managed to keep gripping screenplay just with convos.”Another fan echoed similar sentiments, writing, “Just finished Dhurandar first half. It’s too tight and gripping. So many references used in such a good manner. All the performances are amazing. @AdityaDharFilms is a brilliant brilliant director who knows how to portray facts so properly.”However, not all reactions were glowing. Several fans felt the lengthy first hour needed tighter editing, “#Dhurandhar 2Hrs of Stretched First half.”
Check out the tweets below:
Strong momentum at the box office
Early trade reports suggest that Dhurandhar is showing promising traction at the box office. According to Sacnilk, the film had already crossed the Rs 1 crore mark by 9 am. Viral posts from theatres indicate that a large turnout of Gen-Z audiences significantly boosted the early numbers.As per current estimates, Dhurandhar amassed Rs 1.73 crore before 10 am, setting the stage for a potentially good box office opening day collection.At the moment, the film is tracking a collectiion of around Rs 15-20 crore at the box office, as per the advance booking reports. However, with positive word-of-mouth building online, and curiosity high due to its ambitious scale, huge budget and staggering runtime, ‘Dhurandhar’ reportedly has the potential to surpass industry expectations and score a strong debut weekend.
