Dhurandhar

• 1. Introduction

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  Dhurandhar, a Hindi-language spy thriller written and directed by Aditya Dhar, runs for 214 minutes, which makes it one of the longest Indian films ever produced. Its story follows an undercover Indian agent inside the gangs and political circles of Karachi. India's neighbour has officially banned Indian films since 2019. Even so, the film was reportedly downloaded two million times through piracy sites in Pakistan within a single week, making it the most pirated film in that country. Why would a story about Karachi's underworld travel so far past the border it was written to confront? What does a film have to be, to be loved, condemned and copied in the same breath? And how much of what it shows is history, and how much is invention?

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• 2. Undercover in Lyari

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  On the 30th of December 1999, Minister of External Affairs Devavrat Kapoor and Intelligence Bureau director Ajay Sanyal negotiate with a terrorist named Zahoor Mistry. Airline passengers are held captive in Kandahar. The price is the release of three terrorists, including Mistry's brother, plus a ransom of 10 million US dollars. Sanyal proposes infiltrating terror networks inside Pakistan, but R&AW Special Secretary K. S. Bhullar rejects the idea. After the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, Kapoor changes course and authorises the covert plan under the name Operation Dhurandhar.

  Sanyal's chosen agent is Hamza Ali Mazari, who enters Pakistan through the Torkham border crossing in Afghanistan. In Lyari, a suburb of Karachi, he befriends a juice-shop owner named Mohammed Aalam and moves in with him. Hamza works as a waiter and studies the local gang politics. Posing as a Baloch, he can align with only one faction, led by the gangster Rehman Dakait and his cousin and deputy Uzair Baloch.

  Hamza's way in comes through violence. A rival Pathan gang, led by Rehman's estranged father Babu Dakait, plans to kill Rehman's eldest son, Naieem Baloch. At a wedding, Hamza saves the younger brother Faizal, but Naieem is killed. At the hospital, Rehman and Uzair notice Hamza's skill with a firearm and recruit him. Rehman then kills Babu himself, using a weighing stone, and declares Baloch dominance over Lyari.

  Politics soon matters as much as guns. Jameel Jamali of the Pakistan Awami Party urges Uzair not to retaliate before the Lyari election. At a party rally, Hamza meets Jameel's daughter Yalina and begins a relationship with her. The Khanani brothers, businessmen who want Rehman in politics, introduce him to Major Iqbal of the ISI. Hamza learns of Iqbal's counterfeit-currency operation and watches him torture an Indian spy. Passing word through Aalam to Sanyal, Hamza also uncovers plans for a major attack on India.

  Rehman's alliance with the Khananis pushes Jameel to the margins. Backed by Major Iqbal, Rehman enters politics, joining his People's Aman Committee to the party of Aquib Ali Zarwari. Jameel answers by recruiting a suspended police superintendent, Chaudhary Aslam, which leads to the Lyari Task Force. Aslam arrests Rehman during a weapons run. Hamza sends Jameel a video recorded by Yalina that exposes Jameel's collusion with Aslam and the gangster Arshad Pappu. When Aslam still refuses to free Rehman, Hamza livestreams himself and Uzair torturing captured task force officers until he complies.

  Then comes the 26/11 Mumbai attack, which happens despite Hamza's warnings. Shaken, Hamza and Aalam resolve to dismantle Pakistan's terror infrastructure. Hamza proposes to Jameel that by marrying Yalina he will rule Lyari while keeping Jameel influential. At the wedding, Major Iqbal asks for another weapons shipment. Hamza schedules the delivery to coincide with another engagement, sends Uzair to the shipment site, and drives Rehman toward Aslam's trap. Rehman realises the betrayal mid-journey. A violent struggle ends in a crash, and Rehman later dies in hospital.

  Only now does the film reveal who Hamza really is. His true name is Jaskirat Singh Rangi, an Indian death-row inmate turned covert operative for Ajay Sanyal. With Rehman gone, he consolidates power in Lyari. His next target is a figure known only as "Bade Sahab", the architect of multiple Pakistani terror attacks.

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• 3. Cameras and Songs

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  In July 2024, Ranveer Singh and Aditya Dhar announced the film on their social media accounts. Principal photography began that same month and continued until October 2025. The crew worked across Punjab, Maharashtra, Chandigarh, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh, and also in Thailand. The official title followed in December 2024. The project began as a single film but grew too large and complex, so it was divided into two parts, with both shot concurrently as one production.

  Jio Studios and B62 Studios backed the film, with Dhar, Lokesh Dhar and Jyoti Deshpande as producers. The ensemble includes Ranveer Singh, Akshaye Khanna, Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Rampal, R. Madhavan, Sara Arjun, Rakesh Bedi, Gaurav Gera and Danish Pandor. Behind the camera, Vikash Nowlakha handled cinematography and Shivkumar V. Panicker edited. Justin Jose was the re-recording mixer.

  Shashwat Sachdev composed the soundtrack, his second collaboration with Dhar after Uri: The Surgical Strike in 2019. Irshad Kamil wrote the lyrics, and Saregama acquired the music rights. The title track arrived on the 15th of October 2025, sung by Hanumankind and Jasmine Sandlas. It remakes "Na Dil De Pardesi Nu", a 1995 Punjabi song sung by Muhammad Sadiq and Ranjit Kaur, composed by Charanjit Ahuja and written by Babu Singh Maan.

  The second single, "Ishq Jalakar (Karvaan)", came out on the 25th of November 2025, earlier than planned because of public demand. It reworks a qawwali, "Na To Karvan Ki Talash Hai", from the 1960 film Barsaat Ki Raat. That original was sung by Manna Dey, Asha Bhosle, Sudha Malhotra, S. D. Batish and Mohammed Rafi, with music by Roshan and words by Sahir Ludhianavi. The third single, "Gehra Hua", followed two days later. The full album appeared on the 1st of December 2025, and an extended edition with five more songs came on the 10th of December.

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• 4. Campaign and Cuts

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  The 6th of July 2025 was Ranveer Singh's 40th birthday, and the makers chose it to release a first-look poster and a teaser. Jasmine Sandlas and Hanumankind provided vocals for the teaser. The trailer was first scheduled for the 12th of November, but the 2025 Delhi car explosion forced a postponement. It finally appeared on the 18th of November 2025 at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai. Ojas Gautam, Dhar's brother-in-law, edited both the teaser and the trailer, and also served as a second unit director.

  Promotion also brought trouble. At the 56th International Film Festival of India in Goa, Singh mimicked a sacred deva ritual. Some viewers felt this disrespected the Bhoota Kola tradition of the Tulu people. He later issued a formal apology. Even so, in January 2026 an FIR was filed against him for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.

  The film reached screens worldwide on the 5th of December 2025. India's censor board gave it an A certificate for strong violence and set the final runtime after some violent visuals and profanities were censored. North America responded warmly, with more than 2 million US dollars in the first weekend. Strong results followed in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and parts of Europe, helping overseas earnings pass 200 crore rupees. PVR Inox Pictures handled distribution in Central India, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

  On the 31st of December 2025, distributors replaced the film's Digital Cinema Package across India with an altered version. Words such as "Baloch" and "intelligence" were muted after being found offensive to certain communities. Members of the Baloch community had already sent the filmmakers a legal notice accusing them of defamation. One line drew particular objection: "You can trust crocodiles but not the Baloch".

  The film returned to Indian screens on the 12th of March 2026, with an overseas release on the 13th. This re-release covered more than 1,000 screens worldwide and was timed ahead of the sequel. A Japanese release is set for the 10th of July 2026.

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• 5. The Netflix Run

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  Netflix paid 85 crore rupees for the streaming rights to the first part. The film arrived on the platform on the 30th of January 2026 in Hindi, with Tamil and Telugu dubs. This version was nine minutes shorter than the theatrical cut, at 205 minutes, or 3 hours and 25 minutes. According to the account given, the trimmed material was mostly statutory smoking disclaimers, removed to tighten the pace.

  The audience numbers were large. Netflix reported that the film trended at number one in 22 nations, most notably in Middle Eastern and Asian countries. With 7.6 million views, it became the first Indian film to pass 7 million views on the service in its opening weekend. That total surpassed Animal, Fighter and Pushpa 2: The Rule. In its first week it was the most-watched non-English film on Netflix.

  Some viewers were less pleased. Reports on the streaming version were mixed, with people claiming it looked censored, with several scenes missing compared with the theatrical release. Others said its colour grading was inferior to what cinemas had shown.

  A fuller version followed on the 22nd of May 2026. Marketed as "Raw & Undekha", the uncut film began streaming on both Netflix and JioHotstar.

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• 6. Crossing One Thousand Crore

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  By its ninth day in theatres, trade analysts estimated that Dhurandhar had collected around 276 crore rupees nett. They projected a lifetime total above 500 crore nett, and some even suggested it might become the first original Hindi film to pass 600 crore nett. Trade observers described the opening weekend figures as unprecedented. They noted that the daily pattern was unusual, with a sharp jump on the third day.

  The second week showed unusual strength. Industry reports credited organic word of mouth and audience demand, and the second weekend and overall week performed better than the first. On its second Monday, the 11th day, the film earned over 30 crore rupees in Hindi net, the highest for any Indian film on that day. Within 19 days it had reportedly grossed about 880 crore rupees worldwide. Only Pathaan, Jawan and Pushpa 2: The Rule stood ahead at that point, and final estimates ran between 1,150 and 1,200 crore.

  On the 26th of December 2025, the film passed the 1,000 crore mark, with an estimated 1,003 crore rupees in global grosses. India nett collections supplied 668.8 crore and overseas earnings 206.91 crore. It was the fourth Hindi film and the ninth overall to reach that figure, and Ranveer Singh's first. By the 7th of January 2026, its Hindi net collections stood at 895 crore, the highest ever for a Hindi-language film. It also became the most successful Bollywood release since the COVID pandemic.

  One market stayed closed. The film was de facto banned across the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Foreign distributor Pranab Kapadia estimated that the ban cost the film about 10 million US dollars, roughly 90 crore rupees. In April 2026, the sequel, Dhurandhar: The Revenge, overtook the film's Hindi record, grossing over 1,000 crore rupees itself.

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• 7. Critics Divided

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  Trade analyst Taran Adarsh gave the film 4.5 out of 5, calling it "brilliant" and "power-packed". At the other end, Sakhi Thirani of Common Sense Media gave it 1 out of 5. She argued that it romanticises torture, aggression and machismo without examining their consequences. Between those two poles sat a long line of critics, and the overall verdict was mixed.

  Praise often went to the cast, especially Ranveer Singh and Akshaye Khanna. Renuka Vyavahare of The Times of India found Singh's performance "subdued yet scorching". Vineeta Kumar of India Today credited Khanna's "explosive brilliance" for making a sprawling thriller largely work. Devesh Sharma of Filmfare wrote that the film "refuses to be contained by the grammar of a conventional spy thriller". Siddhant Adlakha of IGN gave it 8 out of 10 and wrote that it "walks a fine line between raucous entertainment and hateful propaganda".

  The length drew the most complaints. Rishabh Suri of Hindustan Times called it a "lengthy yet loaded spy drama" with too many sub-plots. Radhika Sharma of NDTV felt the second half was "a completely different film altogether". Karthik Ravindranath of The Week saw a powerful core "diluted by overt jingoism". Shalini Langer of The Indian Express gave 2.5 out of 5 and said it worked only "in flashes".

  Others defended the pace. Columnist Shobhaa De wrote that she would happily watch all three and a half hours again. Athulya Nambiar of Mid-Day argued it was "too soon to judge" because the story was not yet complete. Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in countered that Hamza's rise was "soaked in blood and cliche". The film also appears in the nomination lists of the Zee Cine Awards on the 1st of March 2026 and the Screen Awards on the 5th of April 2026.

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• 8. Fiction and Politics

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  Before the first scene, Dhurandhar carries a disclaimer saying it is fiction. Yet the film keeps telling its audience that it is inspired by real events. It folds in the Kandahar hijacking, the 2001 Parliament attack and the 2008 Mumbai attacks. It shows real footage of the Mumbai attack and audio of terrorists talking to their handlers. It also uses real-life gangsters and police from Karachi's Lyari as characters. Several commentators found the blurred line between fact and fiction confusing.

  Nida Kirmani, a Pakistani sociologist who has researched Lyari, said the film's picture of the area is "completely based on fantasy". She also called it "bizarre" to place Lyari gangs inside geopolitical tensions with India. Some Lyari residents objected to the portrayal as well. Journalists and academics in Pakistan said that linking Lyari to the Mumbai attacks tries to "fold a Pakistani urban conflict into India's contemporary nationalist imagination".

  Other writers defended the history. Sadanand Dhume of The Wall Street Journal said the film showed "a firm grasp of history" in its Karachi gang rivalries and its depiction of Pakistani involvement in terrorism against India. Journalist Aditya Raj Kaul said a local Karachi gang carried out the March 2022 assassination of Zahoor Mistry, one of the IC-814 hijackers. Palak Shah confirmed that the counterfeit currency network run by Khanani & Kalia International had ISI backing. The US Treasury later designated that group a "significant transnational criminal organisation".

  The political message is stated openly. Ajay Sanyal, fashioned after Ajit Doval, grows frustrated with the weak responses of the government of the day to Pakistani attacks. In a scene set in 2008 he says: "Preserve the evidence, hopefully a politician comes in the future who will act". Commentators read this as anticipating the later Narendra Modi government. The film closes on a claim about Naya Bharat, or "New India", that echoes a slogan from Dhar's earlier film Uri and was later used in Modi's 2019 campaign speeches. Nissim Mannathukkaren in The Hindu and Prathyush Parasuraman in Frontline both called the film propaganda. Uday Bhatia of Mint wrote that it was designed to flatter the ruling BJP leadership.

  The treatment of Pakistani characters drew sharp comment too. Parasuraman wrote that the characters are made attractive at first, while the rot in their moral posture becomes clearer. He contrasted the humanised Indian victims with Pakistani victims shown gorily and without sympathy. Splicing in transcripts of real attack conversations on a red screen struck some as a bid to provoke anger. Some reviewers read Islamophobia into the film's treatment of Muslims.

  The post-credits scene points toward what comes next. The sequel, Dhurandhar: The Revenge, opened worldwide on the 19th of March 2026, a day that coincided with Gudi Padwa, Ugadi and Eid al-Fitr. Beyond Hindi, it was released in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada.

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