Dhurandhar Review: ₹1,354 Crore, 25 Records & Bollywood’s Biggest Spy Thriller Ever

The answer, as box office history now confirms, was a resounding yes. Dhurandhar became the highest-grossing Indian film of 2025, the 2nd highest-grossing Hindi film of all time, and broke 25 all-time Bollywood records — all while generating significant critical debate about its politics, its runtime, and its place in India’s spy thriller canon. This is the complete, honest review.

1. What is Dhurandhar? Plot, Cast & Story Overview

Dhurandhar is a Hindi-language spy action thriller directed and written by Aditya Dhar, produced by Jio Studios and B62 Studios. It is the first instalment of a planned duology, with the second film — Dhurandhar: The Revenge — releasing on March 19, 2026.

The Story

The film follows Hamza Ali Mazari (Ranveer Singh), an Indian intelligence operative tasked with infiltrating the criminal and political underworld of Karachi’s notorious Lyari neighbourhood. Hamza embeds himself within the gang of Rehman Dakait (Akshaye Khanna), a charismatic and ruthless gangster with serious political ambitions — and a complex, unpredictable moral code.

The narrative is structured in chapters — a signature Aditya Dhar style drawn from his Uri playbook — and spans multiple years of undercover operations. The film’s storyline draws loose inspiration from real geopolitical events including the 1999 IC-814 Kandahar hijacking, the 2001 Indian Parliament attack and the 2008 Mumbai attacks. However, the characters and specific operations depicted are entirely fictional.

Full Cast

2. Performances: Who Shines & Who Steals the Show

The single most consistent point of agreement between critics and audiences is that Dhurandhar is a performance-driven film — and it delivers an ensemble of outstanding performances in a way that very few recent Bollywood films have managed.

Ranveer Singh — Career Best

Let us be direct: this is the finest dramatic performance of Ranveer Singh’s career. IMDb user reviews repeatedly describe his performance as “layered,” “restrained,” and “career-defining.” Where previous films like Bajirao Mastani and Padmaavat showcased his theatrical flamboyance, Dhurandhar gives us a Ranveer who communicates through silence, small gestures and psychological tension. The scene described by multiple reviewers — where Hamza is at his most vulnerable — has been singled out as one of the finest acting moments in recent Hindi cinema.

As Sucharita Tyagi wrote on her Medium review, Singh delivers “a career-best performance, proving once again why he is one of the most watchable serious, dramatic actors in Hindi cinema, when he decides to take his craft and abilities seriously.”

Akshaye Khanna — The Scene-Stealer

If Ranveer anchors the film, Akshaye Khanna elevates it. His portrayal of Rehman Dakait has already entered Indian cinema conversation as one of the great villain performances of the decade. Khanna communicates volumes through his eyes and stillness — his character is simultaneously threatening, charming and deeply tragic. The music that accompanies his entry — Bahraini rapper Flipperachi’s “FA9LA” — became one of the most viral film moments of 2025.

3. Direction, Cinematography & Music

Aditya Dhar’s Direction

Aditya Dhar’s biggest achievement with Dhurandhar is world-building. The recreation of Lyari, Karachi — with its layered criminal ecosystem, political dynamics, and visual atmosphere — is genuinely immersive and unlike anything Hindi cinema has attempted in recent memory. Shot across India and Thailand, the film’s production design gives every scene a grimy, tactile authenticity.

His chapter-structure storytelling (also used in Uri) works effectively here to organise a complex multi-year narrative. However, multiple critics note that Dhar’s screenplay needed tighter editing — the first half in particular has been called “stretched” and “dry” by several reviewers, with the second half delivering the film’s most powerful sequences.

Cinematography & Technical Craft

Cinematographer Vikash Nowlakha delivers exceptional work — dark, close-framed and kinetic during action sequences, but also capable of genuine visual poetry in quieter moments. The film’s visual palette — predominantly ochre, grey and shadow — reinforces the moral ambiguity of the story.

Editor Shivkumar V Panicker’s work is impressive in the second half, particularly in the build to the climax. The intermission point — described by IMDb reviewers as a “nail-biting turning point” — is one of the best-constructed first-half endings in recent Bollywood memory.

Music & Score

Composer Shashwat Sachdev — returning from Uri — delivers a score that is thunderous, atmospheric and frequently brilliant. The background score particularly shines in the film’s large-scale action and psychological tension sequences. The title track (a remake of the 1995 Punjabi song “Na Dil De Pardesi Nu”) and Akshaye Khanna’s entry track both became massive viral hits.

4. What Critics Said: Praise & Controversy

Dhurandhar received what can fairly be described as a split critical verdict — audience scores were overwhelmingly positive (IMDb 8.3), while established film critics were more divided, particularly on the film’s politics and runtime.

The pattern is clear: performances and technical craft earned near-universal praise. The runtime, first-half pacing and political framing divided critics significantly. Audience response — as reflected in the IMDb 8.3 rating and record footfalls — was far more enthusiastic than critical response.

5. Box Office: Day-Wise Collection & Historic Run

Whatever the critical divide, the audience verdict at the box office was unambiguous. Dhurandhar delivered the most sustained box office run by a Bollywood film in the post-pandemic era.

6. 25 All-Time Box Office Records Broken

According to Koimoi’s closing collection report, Dhurandhar broke 25 all-time box office records. Here are the most significant:

7. Netflix Streaming Performance

Dhurandhar began streaming on Netflix in January 2026 and immediately delivered one of the platform’s strongest performances for an Indian film.

• 23+ million views in 6 weeks on Netflix — still growing as of March 2026
• Consistently trending in Netflix Top 10 in India for multiple weeks, even after being available on the platform for over a month
• Trending in Top 10 across 74 countries in its debut weeks
• Available in Hindi, English, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Bengali audio

According to Sacnilk, the film’s Netflix popularity directly boosted advance bookings for Dhurandhar: The Revenge — a clear example of how strong OTT performance can create theatrical demand for a sequel.

8. Controversies: Propaganda Claims & Gulf Ban

No review of Dhurandhar is complete without addressing its controversies honestly. The film attracted significant debate on multiple fronts.

9. Dhurandhar: The Revenge — Everything You Need to Know

Dhurandhar: The Revenge releases on March 19, 2026 — just 5 days from today. Here is everything confirmed:

The sequel picks up directly from Part 1’s cliffhanger and is described by the makers as the full payoff of Hamza’s undercover mission. With a pan-India multilingual release (unlike Part 1, which was Hindi-only), Dhurandhar: The Revenge is positioned to significantly outperform its predecessor — particularly in South Indian markets where Part 1 had minimal presence.

10. Final Verdict: Should You Watch Dhurandhar?

Yes — with conditions.

Dhurandhar is not a light watch. At 3 hours 34 minutes, it demands your full attention and genuine patience, especially through a first half that takes time to build. It is not the sleek, fast-cut spy entertainment of Pathaan or War. It is darker, more morally complex, more interested in atmosphere and character than set pieces.

But when it works — and it works magnificently in its second half — Dhurandhar is the most ambitious Bollywood spy film ever made. Akshaye Khanna’s Rehman Dakait is an all-time great Bollywood villain. Ranveer Singh’s Hamza is his finest work. The Karachi world-building is genuinely immersive. The music is exceptional. And the film ends at a point that makes watching Part 2 feel essential rather than optional.

If you can tolerate the runtime and the political framing, Dhurandhar is unmissable cinema. If you prefer tighter, faster spy films, the first half will test you — but persist, because the payoff is real.

You can watch Dhurandhar now on Netflix in Hindi, English, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam.

11. Frequently Asked Questions

🔄 Last Updated: March 14, 2026 · All box office figures in Indian Rupees (₹ crore) unless stated · Sources: Wikipedia, Koimoi, Sacnilk, India TV News, IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Bollywood Hungama, Variety, Deadline, Britannica