For all the noise around box-office milestones and the espionage spectacle of Dhurandhar, the film’s most quietly radical achievement lies in its visual language. Aditya Dhar’s comeback may be celebrated for ambition and scale, but its emotional force comes from how it looks, breathes and traps the viewer inside its world. The cinematography, led by DoP Vikash Nowlakha, is the film’s spine.
Nowlakha tells us, “I’ve waited my entire life for a film that allowed this texture … and with this one Aditya truly let me off the leash – for this I’m grateful ! The stakes were high and the clock’s always ticking – but this one in particular had a tremendous amount of material to cover. We shot the equivalent of 4 movies in the time and budget allotted for one. Often, in the most chaotic of situations – if it could break – it broke …. mayhem was the mainstay and that became a language ! But then again – ‘calm seas have never made a good sailor’. The world of the film should feel like it is watching you back.”
One of the striking choices is the film’s commitment to shadow as narrative. Instead of treating darkness as an aesthetic flourish, Dhurandhar uses it as subtext. Narrow corridors, dim Karachi safehouses, cramped rooms with a single practical light source — the visuals linger.
Equally important is the desaturated colour palette. In a year where Indian blockbusters leaned heavily on neon, high-contrast palettes and glossy digital textures, Dhurandhar goes the other way. The visual terrain that looks harsh, perfectly suited to a story of infiltration and duplicity.
A major achievement of the film is how geography is integrated into its visual strategy. The action sequences, too, are shot with a restrained, anti-glamour approach. While 2025 has delivered several high-adrenaline, VFX-heavy set pieces across big-ticket releases, Dhurandhar stands apart. It’s a visual expansion that mirrors the script’s rising scale, without ever losing the film’s essential grit.
In a film season crowded with high-voltage blockbusters and franchise extensions, Dhurandhar distinguishes itself by building a visual world that has a purpose. And in doing so, it gives Bollywood one of its most intelligently crafted visual experiences in years.
Nowlakha credits his director. He says, “Hats off to Aditya – he was threading a needle while riding a bull.”
Produced by Jio Studios’ Jyoti Deshpande, B62 Studios’ Lokesh Dhar and Aditya Dhar, Dhurandhar released worldwide on December 5, 2025.
