Aditya Dahar’s ‘Dhurandhar’ franchise enjoyed a record-breaking run at the box office, ending its theatrical run with a worldwide gross of Rs 3300 crore. Headlined by Ranveer Singh, the action spectacle has emerged as the second-highest-grossing Indian film of all time, trailing only Aamir Khan’s ‘Dangal’. While the film’s record remains intact for now, trade analyst and exhibitor Vishek Chauhan believes that Nitesh Tiwari’s upcoming epic ‘Ramayana’ is likely to surpass it.Chauhan reflected on the massive success of ‘Dhurandhar’ and credited its broad commercial appeal for resonating with audiences across demographics.“Whenever you make a film that has all the emotions, every element, all the genres, you get great results, in the case of Dhurandhar. It’s just sitting there. It has all the masala ingredients, all together. Dhurandhar is outstanding, unprecedented. People say the second part was weaker than the first, but the second was classic commercial filmmaking, taken a few steps higher,” he said in an interview with Siddharth Kannan. Appreciating Aditya Daar’s execution, Chauhan said the film reminded him of the great entertainment of yesteryear.“It was absolutely brilliant. When I was watching it, I knew the film would break records, it’s fire. It’s unstoppable, and you can’t tell when it’s going to stop. It has great sensibility. I was made to remember filmmaking. Rakesh Roshan and Manmohan Desai. There was also a satisfaction in killing the villain, the audience gets a catharsis in something like that.”However, despite his praise for ‘Dhurandhar’, Chauhan believes that ‘Ramayan’ is a film capable of setting a new benchmark at the box office.“The buzz is very good, it’s a subject very close to people’s hearts. The way Ranveer looks and the kind of star cast the film has – including Sunny DeolYes, the director is also good. So I have no doubt that the film will break records. And if that film manages to land, you can see it breaking Dhurandhar’s record. The range of that film is insane. People will come to cinemas from all over, even from villages,” he said.According to Chauhan, the film’s potential goes far beyond conventional box-office expectations, if it connects emotionally with the audience.“It will work on a different level. It just needs to land right and connect with the audience. Couldn’t connect with people like Adipurush. It missed the mark. But still, it had an amazing opening, around Rs 35 crore in Hindi. So, I think the sky’s the limit with Ramayana.” The nit pickers can pick the VFX and other stuff, we will continue our business.”Produced by Namit Malhotra’s Prime Focus Studios and DNEG, ‘Ramayana’ features Ranbir Kapoor Lord Ram, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Yash as Ravana and Sunny Deol as Hanuman. Conceived as a two-part cinematic story, the first installment is slated to release on November 6 on Diwali.Mounted on a combined budget of around Rs 4,000 crore, the mythological epic has already generated considerable excitement among the audience, with its first teaser garnering massive attention and sparking discussions about its scale, cast and visual effects.
