Why Dhurandhar producer chose Ranveer Singh over stars: ‘We wanted performers’

Elaborating on that conviction, she credited every member of the team for committing wholeheartedly to the project. “Everyone was involved. Aditya Dhar, to begin with. And Ranveer Singh, the actor, who went all in and did nothing else for the duration of the film. Every technician who was part of that film, whether it’s cinematography, sound design, editing, everyone was all in. We all knew we were making something that had so much purpose, so much heart, that had never been seen before, that had never been done before. And it was almost like, if we don’t do this, we’re not alive. I mean, we have to do this against all odds. So it defied everything. I had to keep finding a way to move forward and not stop”

‘We wanted performers rather than stars’

Jyoti Deshpande further said that she was determined to back a film unlike anything audiences had seen before. “I was underwriting an absolutely clutter-breaking film with cinematic excellence that had never been seen before.” She also shared insights into the extensive development process, revealing that the screenplay underwent several revisions over six months. According to her, the team was conscious that every rupee spent had to be visible on screen. “For more than six months, we were talking about it, there were several iterations of the draft and the story over those six months. We knew the film was expensive. Every penny had to land up on screen. There were no safe things we could do because it was already an expensive film to shoot. Now, if we added expensive actors as well, it was going to render the film unviable on day one. So we wanted performers rather than the so-called stars.”

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Ranveer Singh transforms into a character

Deshpande also explained why Ranveer Singh was always her first choice for the lead role, recalling that she had worked with him long before he became one of Bollywood’s biggest stars. “I had worked with Ranveer on Ram-Leela and Bajirao Mastani, when he wasn’t this big. So I had worked with him when he was starting out, and I still believe those are some of my favourite films of Ranveer Singh. I find him an absolutely outstanding actor who gives it his all. He transforms into a character. I love that about him, the fact that he is not Ranveer Singh in that film. When he has to become Bajirao, he becomes Bajirao. When he has to become Khilji, he becomes Khilji. When he has to become the Gully Boy, he becomes the Gully Boy. So he transforms; he doesn’t play Ranveer Singh.”

About Dhurandhar

Directed by Aditya Dhar, Dhurandhar is a two-part epic starring Ranveer Singh alongside Akshaye Khanna, Sanjay Dutt, R. Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, Rakesh Bedi and Sara Arjun. The film chronicles the journey of an Indian spy operating in Pakistan and went on to become one of the biggest commercial and cultural successes in Indian cinema.