Dhurandhar

Dhurandhar, Bollywood spy thriller in two parts, directed by Aditya Dhar and starring Ranveer Singh as an Indian operative on an undercover mission in Pakistan. The series consists of Dhurandhar (2025; “Expert”) and Dhurandhar: The Revenge (2026). The films, ranked among the five highest-grossing Indian movies, collectively earned more than 3,000 crore rupees (more than $355 million) worldwide. They attracted both praise and controversy for their allegedly hypernationalist stance.

Plot

The Dhurandhar films are a fictionalized representation of a supposedly real covert operation conducted on Pakistani soil by India’s intelligence agencies—the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and the Intelligence Bureau. Several actual terror attacks against India are featured in the plot; these include the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines flight 814, the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament, and the 2008 attacks across multiple landmarks in Mumbai. India holds that these attacks were sponsored by Pakistan, a charge that Pakistan denies. (For more on this dispute, see India-Pakistan conflict.)

The first film follows Hamza Ali Mazari, who joins a Karachi-based criminal outfit led by Rehman Dakait, a gangster with political ambitions. Hamza is really a RAW agent who works to destabilize relations between Dakait and his political mentor, Jameel Jamali. In the second film Hamza takes over Rehman’s gang after his death and eventually concludes his mission successfully. His actions result in a reckoning for Bade Sahab, mastermind of the terror attacks.

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Cast

• Ranveer Singh: Hamza Ali Mazari, a RAW agent whose real name is Jaskirat Singh Rangi
• Akshaye Khanna: Rehman Dakait, crime boss and protégé of Jameel Jamali
• R. Madhavan: Ajay Sanyal, a RAW official who is believed to be based on India’s national security advisor, Ajit Doval
• Sanjay Dutt: S.P. Choudhary Aslam, a Pakistani police officer who is based on a real-life police officer of the same name
• Arjun Rampal: Major Iqbal, an officer in Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) agency
• Sara Arjun: Yalina Jamali, Jameel Jamali’s daughter, who marries Hamza
• Rakesh Bedi: Jameel Jamali, a Pakistani politician and Dakait’s mentor

Reception and controversy

While reviews of Dhurandhar were mixed, several performances were singled out for praise, in particular those by Singh and Khanna. The film’s music became very popular, especially Bahraini rapper Flipperachi’s “FA9LA,” which accompanied Khanna’s entry in the film. Dhurandhar received an overwhelmingly enthusiastic reception at the box office, with worldwide earnings of 1,304 crore rupees (about $155 million) in the first three months of its release. The film was also a tremendous streaming success after it was released on Netflix in January 2026. Dhurandhar: The Revenge, which released in March 2026, eclipsed the previous film’s earning within its first two weeks in cinemas, collecting more than 1,352 crore rupees worldwide (about $162 million).

In November 2025 the parents of Maj. Mohit Sharma, who believe that their deceased son inspired Singh’s character, approached the Delhi High Court seeking a stay on the release of Dhurandhar. Sharma had been tasked with a mission in 2004 similar to the one in the film and died in a separate operation in 2009. His parents argued that their son’s story could not be portrayed without their consent. The petition was unsuccessful, and Dhurandhar released as scheduled. However, it was banned in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and other Middle Eastern countries because of its politically sensitive content. In India Dhurandhar’s intensely negative portrayal of Pakistan ignited a fierce debate. Many welcomed the film’s fervently patriotic treatment of events, whereas others described it as propaganda. Critics of Dhurandhar, especially reviewers, were savagely attacked on social media by fans.