General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

Dhurandhar (धुरंधर) (2025 film)

Dhurandhar (धुरंधर) is a 2025 Hindi-language Indian spy action thriller directed, written, and co-produced by Aditya Dhar, in which an undercover Indian intelligence operative infiltrates the criminal underworld of Karachi's Lyari suburb to dismantle a terrorist network from within.¹ It was released in Indian cinemas on 5 December 2025, runs 212 minutes (3 hours 34 minutes), and was produced by Jio Studios and B62 Studios with producers Aditya Dhar, Jyoti Deshpande, and Lokesh Dhar.¹^•² The film became the highest-grossing Hindi film ever at the domestic box office and the highest-grossing Indian movie of 2025 worldwide, and it was followed by a sequel, Dhurandhar: The Revenge, in March 2026.³

Key fact	Detail
Release	5 December 2025 (India, theatrical); Netflix streaming from 30 January 2026⁴^•¹
Runtime and rating	212 minutes; "A" (adults only) certificate in India²^•⁵
Director and writers	Aditya Dhar (director, story, screenplay), with Ojas Gautam and Shivkumar V. Panicker on additional screenplay⁶
Lead cast	Ranveer Singh (Hamza Ali Mazari / Jaskirat Singh Rangi), Akshaye Khanna (Rehman Dakait), Sanjay Dutt, R. Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, Sara Arjun⁷
Box office	Budget $24 million; worldwide gross $136.6 million, a 5.7x return⁸
Reception	35% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (20 reviews) against a 96% Popcornmeter from 1,000+ verified audience ratings; 8.20/10 on IMDb from 148,194 ratings¹^•⁸
Sequel	Dhurandhar: The Revenge, released theatrically 19 March 2026⁹

Spoilers

Plot

The story is framed by real terrorist incidents. After the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 to Kandahar and the attack on the Indian Parliament on 13 December 2001, Intelligence Bureau chief Ajay Sanyal (R. Madhavan) proposes a covert operation, codenamed Dhurandhar, which the government approves in 2002.⁴^•⁵ Two years later an Indian secret agent (Ranveer Singh) enters Pakistan through Afghanistan and assumes the identity of Hamza Ali Mazari, taking a job at a juice shop in Lyari, a politically volatile suburb of Karachi.⁴

Lyari is controlled by two rival gangs, one run by Babu Dakait and the other by Rehman Balochi, known as Rehman Dakait (Akshaye Khanna), who claims Balochistan as his home region, as Hamza also does. Hamza rescues Rehman's elder son from an attack by Babu Dakait, earns his trust, and joins his gang.⁴ As a core gang member he gains first-hand knowledge of the strategies of ISI officer Major Iqbal (Arjun Rampal) against India, while falling in love with Yalina (Sara Arjun), daughter of the local politician Jameel Jamali (Rakesh Bedi). Jameel, insecure about Rehman's hold on Lyari, brings the suspended police officer S. P. Chaudhary Aslam (Sanjay Dutt) back into the force to keep Rehman in check.⁴ The film ends at a point that sets up the second part.¹⁰

Sequel and franchise

Dhurandhar: The Revenge, the second part, was released theatrically on 19 March 2026, less than four months after the original.⁹^•³ The two parts were conceived, financed, and shot as one project released in two installments, a release strategy Jio Studios describes as unprecedented.²⁰ JioHotstar acquired the sequel's streaming rights for a reported Rs 1.5 billion, nearly double the Netflix deal for the first film.¹⁸ The sequel continues the story of Hamza Ali Mazari, whose real identity is Jaskirat Singh Rangi, as he pursues his undercover operation within Pakistan's criminal world.⁹ With Stree 2 in 2024, Dhurandhar in 2025, and Dhurandhar: The Revenge in 2026, Jio Studios recorded the highest-grossing film three years in a row, and the franchise's two music albums ranked #1 on India's Spotify and Apple Music charts, generating over 40 billion views and streams across YouTube and music platforms.²⁰

Production and background

Aditya Dhar previously directed Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019), for which he won the National Film Award for Best Director and the Filmfare Award for Best Debut Director.¹¹ The film draws on real events involving India–Pakistan tensions and covert operations attributed to India's RAW, particularly Operation Lyari, a government-led crackdown on gangs and criminal syndicates in Karachi's Lyari neighborhood.¹² The narrative also incorporates the 26/11 Mumbai attacks of 2008, and, according to one report, weaves in archival footage and real audio recordings.⁵^•³

The creative team includes cinematographer Vikash Nowlakha, editor Shivkumar V. Panicker, and composer Shashwat Sachdev.⁸ Because no Indian production can shoot in Karachi, the Karachi setting was recreated elsewhere.¹³

Reception

Critical response was divided. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds 35% on the Tomatometer from 20 reviews, with an average of rated reviews of 5.80/10, while 96% of more than 1,000 verified audience ratings were 3.5 stars or higher.¹ On IMDb it carries an 8.20/10 rating from 148,194 ratings.⁸

Praise centered on the performances and craft. Ranveer Singh's restrained turn as Hamza and Akshaye Khanna's supporting role as Rehman Dakait were the most consistently praised elements across reviews, alongside Dhar's direction and the film's atmospheric scale.¹⁴ Bollywood Hungama rated it 3.0/5, calling it "a well-made, ambitious big-screen experience with top-notch craft, memorable moments and some truly outstanding performances," while criticizing the excessive runtime and dry stretches.¹⁵ The Times of India gave it 3.5/5, noting deliberate, immersive world-building across multiple chapters.⁵

Criticism focused on violence, length, and politics. Reviewers flagged the 212-minute runtime, overt jingoism, narrative overcrowding, and gratuitous violence.¹⁴ The Indian Express gave 2/5, writing that the extreme violence of the first part left the reviewer numb; Common Sense Media gave 1/5, calling it "a literal bloodbath."¹ The Hindu's critic described Dhar as someone who can "soft pedal nationalist propaganda with aesthetic execution."¹ The film's claim to be "inspired by true events" while dramatizing intelligence operations behind real attacks drew scrutiny, with critics arguing it selectively deploys real tragedies to build a politically charged story.³ Censors also took note of the content: Australia rated it MA 15+ for strong themes and violence, and Indonesia's film censor rated it 17+.²^•¹¹

Box office and distribution

The film was made on a budget of $24 million and grossed $136.6 million worldwide, a 5.7x return.⁸ Within three weeks of release it had grossed over Rs 10 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing Hindi film ever at the domestic box office with roughly Rs 8.31 billion and the highest-grossing Indian movie of 2025 worldwide.³ Indian trade data records an opening day of ₹286 million (₹28.60 crore), an opening weekend of ₹1.065 billion (₹106.50 crore), and a lifetime India total of ₹7.94 billion (₹794 crore).¹⁶ Its run helped push Indian cinema's 2025 domestic earnings to an estimated ₹122.6 billion (₹12,257 crore), surpassing 2023's record of ₹122.3 billion (₹12,226 crore).¹⁷

Netflix reportedly paid Rs 850 million for the first film's streaming rights, and the film began streaming there on 30 January 2026 after a two-month wait.¹⁸^•¹ Its world television premiere in June 2026 on Star Gold, Star Gold 2, and Colors Cineplex reached over 53 million viewers, the highest reach for a world television premiere in five years.¹⁹

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026