Ram Gopal Varma Explains Industry Silence Around Ranveer Singh’s Dhurandhar

Ram Gopal Varma breaks down why Bollywood’s biggest names are silent on Ranveer Singh’s blockbuster Dhurandhar, calling it a threat to old filmmaking templates.

Ranveer Singh in a still from Aditya Dhar’s blockbuster film Dhurandhar.

Source : IMDb

Ranveer Singh’s Dhurandhar has emerged as one of the most defining box-office successes of recent times, firmly closing 2025 on a high note for Hindi cinema. Directed by Aditya Dhar, the film has not only shattered commercial benchmarks but also sparked intense discussion across the industry. While several filmmakers and actors have praised the project, many prominent names have remained conspicuously silent — a trend filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has now addressed.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Varma shared a detailed post reflecting on the industry’s reaction to Dhurandhar and why, according to him, its unprecedented success has made many uncomfortable.

RGV on Why Blockbusters Like Dhurandhar Get Ignored

In his post, Ram Gopal Varma suggested that films which redefine cinematic standards often face deliberate avoidance from peers. He wrote, “Whenever a path-breaking and monstrous hit like #dhurandhar comes, the industry people will wish to ignore it because they will feel threatened by it due to their inability to match its standards ..So they will think of it as a nightmare, which will vanish when they wake up in their own films."

According to Varma, the silence stems from fear rather than indifference. He believes that films like Dhurandhar disrupt the comfort zone of filmmakers who rely on established formulas.

Impact on Upcoming Pan-India Projects

Varma further elaborated on how Dhurandhar has altered industry expectations, especially for large-scale films currently under production. “This is even more true of all the so-called pan-India biggies which are right now under various stages of production.. They were all written and mounted, modelled on the films made before #dhurandhar, which is the exact opposite of what they all believed will work,” he wrote.

Highlighting the scale of the film’s influence, Varma added, “What’s even more worrisome is that #dhurandhar, apart from being a omega hit, is also the most discussed film since the last 50 years."

A ‘Monstrous Dog’ That Won’t Go Away

Using a striking metaphor, Varma compared the film’s presence in the industry to an unsettling experience. “Everyone of us experienced an incident like we going to visit someone’s house and we see a large scary looking dog which keeps staring at us,” he wrote, adding that Dhurandhar would be “like that monstrous dog which will be invisibly pacing around in every production office wherever the upcoming biggies are being made .."

He further stated, “They will try their level best to even avoid uttering the dog’s name, but it will keep loitering in all their minds.”

Varma concluded by asserting that Dhurandhar challenges traditional Bollywood templates. “To that extent #dhurandhar will actually be like a HORROR film for all those makers who believed in the earlier template of VFX ridden, expensive sets, item song ridden and the Hero worship template,” he said, before adding, “More than anything else @AdityaDharFilms is forcing the industry people to look at their own films in the mirror, in comparison to the beautiful looking #dhurandhar."