Dhurandhar on OTT

I When I wrote this movie review on the fifth week of its release, I continue to be surprised how and why mediocre films that are hyped by the right wing and the media alike become top box office hits. 

Dhurandhar, by far would be the top grosser for the year 2025. The film is said to have made over INR 1,000 Cr in box office collections back then and is still running.

I watched the movie in a Tier-3 town in Tamil Nadu called Erode. It was a night show, and the 120-seater was houseful indeed. In a city where predominantly the population is Tamil-speaking, it was surprising to see a large diaspora watching a Hindi-language film with English sub-titles!

Content is King. Content is Queen. Content drives audience. Period.

Hamza Ali Mazari (Ranveer Singh) reaches Lyari Province in Karachi, Pakistan as an immigrant, crossing from Afghanistan border. He joins a juice shop as a helper and gains the trust of the locals. 

In an instance when the elder son of dreaded don, Rehman Dekait (Akshaye Khanna) is killed, Hamza saves the don’s younger son. This makes him the darling of Rehman who avenges to kill his opponent, Shirani Ahmed Baloch (Bimal Oberoi).

After cleansing off Baloch’s entire clan, Dekait decides to join politics, to build up his image as well as to become more powerful as a Balochi Leader. 

However, Jameel Jamali (Rakesh Bedi), a seasoned politician of the Pakistan Awami Party tries to play a double game by getting back the suspended Superintendent of Police Chaudhary Aslam (Sanjay Dutt) back in the fray.

Meanwhile, Hamza woos Jameel’s daughter Yalina Jamali (Sara Arjun) and there is a parallel love-track going on between them.

Businessmen brothers Javed Khanani (Ankit Sagar) and Altaf Khanani (Mushtaq Naika) are portrayed to be operating a money laundering “hawala” operation in Pakistan. In one of their foreign trips, they meet a top Indian politician and his son at Dubai.

The script narrates that during the mid-2000s, the same British company would manufacture the plates used for printing currency notes for India and Pakistan.

Several years later, it is depicted how fake currency of Indian denominations are printed in Pakistan, sent to Qatar, and reaches in India via Bangladesh through illegal infiltration.

In a former instance, the Director shows the hijacking of IC 814 which was taken to Kandahar by Islamic Terrorists, when a few people were killed onboard. In another instance, the shoot-out that happened at the Indian parliament is also shown. 

Pakistan Government's official spy agency ISI is shown as the perpetrator of both the events.

Major Iqbal, Chief of ISI played by Arjun Rampal enters the script and seeks Dekait to supply arms and ammunition for a mission. Initially, the Baloch gang hesitates, since there is an ongoing dispute between the descendants of Baloch province and Pakistanis.

However, the ISI confirms that the arms are required for a “special treat” that is to be committed in India in a way the world has never seen before.

Thus happens the deadly 26/11 attacks. Some of the live footage of the day is also shown with disclaimers by the Director of the film. A few moments of emotional stillness could be felt at the theatre.

To take revenge on Indians who were killed in Mumbai, Hamza takes on himself to finish Dekait and his gang, along with the Khanani Brothers. The sequel of the film is expected to release on 19th March 2027.

The concept of “Dhurandhar” loosely translated as “Stalwart” in English was originally conceptualised by former Director of Intelligence Bureau (IB), Ajay Sanyal (R. Madhavan) loosely based on Ajit Doval, who is currently serving his second term as National Security Advisor for the Government of India.

Hamza is actually Jaskirat Singh Rangi, a death-row inmate from Punjab, India, who is eventually trained in covert-operations. 

The Sequel is expected to show how he plans to eliminate the masterminds of Pakistan, who have planned so many terror attacks in India, including the 2025 Pahalgam attacks. 

While the film is said to be fictitious, several scenes are based on former real-life incidents. Dhurandhar will hit OTT platforms worldwide during the first week of Feb. '26.