Film maker Ram Gopal Varma He recently opened up about the inspiration behind the crime action film ‘Dhurandhar’ which he directed Aditya Dhar and protagonist Ranveer SinghWhich was one of the biggest Hindi hits of 2025. Many moviegoers noted similarities between the film’s narrative style and some of Ram Gopal Varma’s cult crime films. In particular, viewers pointed out similarities with “Satya” and “Company”, two films that shaped the portrayal of Mumbai’s underworld in Hindi cinema.In a conversation with DNA India, RGV shared his thoughts on how filmmakers often take inspiration from their earlier works.
RGV on how filmmakers get inspired
According to Ram Gopal Varma, it is natural for filmmakers to be influenced by the films they admire.Ram Gopal Varma said, “See, whether Aditya Dhar did it consciously or not, in the end, all filmmakers come back to something they saw, or were inspired by, and have to bear the influences.”The filmmaker stated that such influences are not uncommon. He added that many iconic films in the history of cinema were inspired by earlier classics.This creative process allows filmmakers to reinterpret familiar ideas in new ways.
Ram Gopal Varma acknowledges his own inspirations
During the interview, Ram Gopal Varma also revealed that several of his films were influenced by other popular films.Ram Gopal Varma said, “For me, Shiva was inspired by Bruce Lee’s Return of the Dragon and Sunny Deol’s Arjun. Satya was a bit of The Godfather and The Goodfellas. So, similarly, when I spoke to Aditya, he said, ‘I was mostly influenced by Satya and Company, and then I mixed them up, which was his idea in the first place.’
RGV calls Dhurandhar a “game changer”.
Ram Gopal Varma also praised ‘Dhurandhar’ for his influence on filmmaking. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), the filmmaker recently described the film as a smash hit. He wrote, “Whenever a smashing, smashing hit like #dhurandhar comes along, people in the industry will want to ignore it because they’ll feel threatened by their inability to match their standards.”Ram Gopal Varma commented on how the film could challenge existing filmmaking trends. He added, “So they will think of it as a nightmare, which will disappear when they wake up in their films. This is even more true of the so-called pan-Indian biggies, who are in various stages of production right now.” Ram Gopal Varma continued to praise the film in his posts, saying, “To that extent #dhurandhar will be like a truly HORROR film for all the makers who believed in the previous template.” In another post, he added, “ #Dhurandhar will be like a HORROR MOVIE for all FILMMAKERS who don’t have the ability to make a movie with such BRILLIANCE, INTELLIGENCE, INTEGRITY and CRAFTSMANSHIP”.After the success of ‘Dhurandhar’, the makers are gearing up for the release of the sequel ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’ which is slated for March 19, and the paid previews are scheduled for March 19.
