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Dhurandhar actor Madhavan says he makes note of critics who call films ‘disaster’, write them off: ‘Faced it with Rang De Basanti too’

Actor-filmmaker Madhavan shared how Rang De Basanti had received same reactions like Dhurandhar in the early days of its release but eventually blew up.

3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Dec 13, 2025 09:42 AM IST

R Madhavan as Ajay Sanyal in a still from Dhurandhar.

People knew that Dhurandhar was releasing, but no one anticipated it would become such a blockbuster. Many trade experts predicted that despite its long runtime and soaring ticket prices, the film would open big because of its strong content. But even before these predictions surfaced, actor R Madhavan was convinced that Aditya Dhar was headed for massive success. Amid toxivity aimed at reviewers for sharing their opinion of the film, Madhavan has said that he makes note of those who write off films prematurely.

The movie released on December 5 to mixed reactions, yet Madhavan had “been there, done that” and felt certain about how things would play out. He had witnessed a similar scenario during the release of Rang De Basanti—a film that initially faced skepticism but went on to dominate the box office and is now considered one of the most impactful films of its era. It won a National Award and was India’s official entry to the Golden Globes and the Oscars that year.

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Madhavan, who has played the role of Ajay Sanyal in Dhurandhar, revealed that he makes note of critics who prematurely write off films.

“I note down people who call it ‘the end.’ Some critics genuinely review a film—they’re either very new or very seasoned and understand what reviewing means. But there are others who, on the day of release or even before it, use words like ‘disaster’ in their headline. That reduces their relevance for us. As actors, we dream of moments like this—when people dismiss a film at first and are then shocked by its success,” the actor-filmmaker told Pooja Talwar.

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Madhavan recalled the atmosphere around Rang De Basanti nearly two decades ago.

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“I remember when Rang De Basanti was about to release, several distributors backed out. After the first show, they said, ‘This film is too long, not our kind of movie, we can’t carry this.’ Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra was sitting near the TV, his head between his knees, in Delhi. He said, ‘After this, I’ll have to go back to my village. I don’t understand anything beyond this—I can’t make a better film.’ He was distraught. Aamir, Ronnie Screwvala—we were all in the same room.”

He added: “Seeing Rakeysh like that scared me. Meri phat gayi thi, thinking—‘What just happened? This was supposed to be a great film.’ But Aamir and Ronnie were confident. They kept motivating him, and Ronnie said, ‘Don’t worry, I’m behind you.’ And then the film exploded—not just financially but in terms of impact.”

That experience stayed with Madhavan and shaped his perspective on Dhurandhar, a film that unapologetically exposes Pakistan’s plot against India and doesn’t shy away from showing graphic brutality.

“So when a similar situation happened with Dhurandhar, I had already seen it before.”

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