Pakistani man reviews Dhurandhar, disturbed by 'glorification' of Rehman Dakait: 'If someone plays Dawood Ibrahim...'

A Pakistani viewer has shared a positive review of Dhurandhar praising the film, but finding fault with its depiction of Akshaye Khanna's Rehman Dakait.

A Pakistani social media user, originally from Karachi, has reviewed the Bollywood film Dhurandhar, which is set in his hometown and tells the story of the gangs of Karachi’s Lyari Town. In their review, the anonymous viewer praised the film for its direction and cinematography, but added that the glorification of real-life gangster Rehman Dakait left them uneasy.

Dhurandhar: Akshaye Khanna plays Rehman Dakait in the movie.

Pak man reviews Dhurandhar

Taking to Reddit, the viewer shared their review of Dhurandhar with the title: “My take on Dhurandar as a guy from Karachi (sic).” They began with praise for the film, writing, “First of all, I liked the film. Cinematography was great, direction was amazing. It was a good watch.”

However, the review then added what they had an issue with. “That said, one thing that kind of bothered me was how Rehman Dakait was somewhat glorified. I get it, it's fictional, but still, as someone who grew up hearing stories about this cold-blooded criminal, it was hard to view him as fictional.” Drawing parallels to depictions of Dawood Ibrahim in Hindi cinema, they added, “Maybe if they changed the name it would be better, for eg how would you feel if someone plays Dawood Ibrahim in a movie and his character is glorified.”

But the viewer added that ‘it was a good movie overall’, even though the makers missed the odd details. “One detail missed in the movie is that Chaudhary Aslam was famous for not wearing a bulletproof vest even in deadly gunfights.”

About Dhurandhar

Dhurandhar stars Ranveer Singh as an Indian operative in Pakistan, who infiltrates the gang of Rehman Dakait (Akshaye Khanna). The film blends fiction with reality using real-life figures as characters, including gangsters Rehman and Uzair Baloch (Danish Pandore), as well as Karachi SP Aslam Chaudhary (Sanjay Dutt). Dhurandhar has had a successful run in the theatres, earning over ₹872 crore worldwide.