Raajneeti had some of the biggest names in Bollywood in its ensemble cast. The film had Ajay Devgn, Nana Patekar, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Arjun Rampal, Manoj Bajpayee, Sarah Thompson, and Naseeruddin Shah in key roles. It was directed and produced by Prakash Jha.
The story was based on the Mahabharata, which extensively depicted a looming conflict between rival political families and parties. Amidst a lot of controversy, the film was released in theatres on June 4, 2010.
Dune director Denis Villeneuve in conversation with Film programmer Deepti D’Cunha, revealed that Raajneeti is the first Hindi film that he just watched. He also confessed that he was particularly impressed by Ranbir Kapoor’s performance in the film.
Deepti shared a picture of Villeneuve’s signature on X, and captioned it, “Browsing through old film festival catalogues, I found Denis Villeneuve’s autograph (yes! before selfie days). He had come to premiere Incendies at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, 2010, and I remember the wonderful conversation we had because he’d just watched his first Indian film.”
Browsing through old film festival catalogues and I found #DenisVilleneuve‘s autograph ( yes! before selfie days) He had come to premiere #Incendies at AbuDhabi Film Festival- 2010 and I remember the wonderful conversation we had because he’d just watched his first Indian film… pic.twitter.com/BVoA9ymdAX
— Deepti DCunha (@deemelinda) April 3, 2025
She added, “Which happened to be Raajneeti, and (he) was very impressed by Ranbir Kapoor and wanted to know more about him. He said he is a wonderful actor and stood out among such an ensemble cast. A fond memory of chatting with him & amazing now to see Denis helming such huge Hollywood films!”
As for Denis Villeneuve, his next is titled Dune: Messiah and will be released sometime in 2026. It will be led by its stars Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, and Florence Pugh who are all set for a comeback. Villeneuve’s last directorial was Dune: Part Two.
