Filmmaker Shazia Iqbal found herself in the centre of controversy after she candidly shared her review for Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar. After the Ranveer Singh-starrer’s Netflix release, the Dhadak 2 director called the film ‘sinister’ on her Instagram stories without naming it. However, the internet put two and two together and criticised her for her stance.
Shazia Iqbal makes Instagram account private
Shazia had criticised Dhurandhar without naming the film on her Instagram stories. “What a sinister film! It’s not hidden, it’s not unintentional — inciting hate and violence is in the DNA of the film,” she wrote, adding, “But it’s a ‘well-made’ film, guys… with some cool BGM. Well done, industry dude bros. Glad that most of y’all don’t care about minorities enough to even hide your blatant apathy.”
Screenshots of her criticism soon began circulating on social media, with many Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) users criticising her stance. “Did Shazia Iqbal watch her own project “Sacred Games” for the first time? Or was it “Houseful 2”?” criticised one X user, referring to how the filmmaker was the production designer on both projects. Another wrote, “I Genuinely Think She wants To Be Cool But We All Know What Dhurandhar Is.”
Amid backlash, Shazia made her previously public Instagram account private.
Other celebrities who disagreed with Dhurandhar’s politics
Shazia is not the first Bollywood personality to disagree with Dhurandhar’s politics. Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap spoke about the film recently and said, “I liked the film, but I didn’t like some of the ideologies. The dialogue about ‘This is the new India’ and one long political monologue, among a total of three scenes, were unnecessary; even without them, the film’s impact would not have diminished.”
Actor Hrithik Roshan had also praised the film after its release in December and wrote, “I may disagree with the politics of it, and argue about the responsibilities us filmmakers should bear as citizens of the world. Nevertheless, can’t ignore how loved and learnt from this one as a student of cinema. Amazing.”
Dhurandhar features an ensemble cast including Ranveer Singh, Sara Arjun, Akshaye Khanna, R Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, Sanjay Dutt and others. The film collected over ₹1328 crore worldwide in its run before its OTT release on Netflix. The sequel, Dhurandhar 2, will hit screens on March 19.
