'Dhurandhar' actor R Madhavan says he notes down critics who call a film 'the end' and prematurely bury it, recalls it happened with 'Rang De Basanti' and then it exploded

People were aware that ‘Dhurandhar’ was on its way to theatres, but hardly anyone foresaw the kind of historic run it would enjoy. Although trade analysts believed the film would take a strong start—despite its lengthy runtime and premium ticket pricing—thanks to the power of its content, R Madhavan had sensed a far bigger outcome long before these predictions began circulating.When the film arrived on December 5 to mixed early responses, Madhavan wasn’t rattled. Having lived through a similar wave during the release of ‘Rang De Basanti’, he was confident about how things would eventually unfold. That film too had been met with doubts, only to later rewrite box office history and emerge as one of the defining works of its time, eventually winning a National Award and becoming India’s official entry to the Golden Globes and Oscars.Madhavan, who appears as Ajay Sanyal in ‘Dhurandhar’, shared that he keeps track of those who prematurely bury a film.“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,” he told Pooja Talwar.He then revisited the tense atmosphere around ‘Rang De Basanti’ nearly twenty years ago.“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 emotional memory shaped the way Madhavan viewed the chatter around ‘Dhurandhar’, a film that boldly lays bare Pakistan’s anti-India machinations and does not hold back in its depiction of violence.“So when a similar situation happened with ‘Dhurandhar’, I had already seen it before.”