Dhurandhar (2025)

Dhurandhar is a 2025 Indian Hindi-language spy action thriller film written and directed by Aditya Dhar. It is produced by Jyoti Deshpande, Aditya Dhar, and Lokesh Dhar, under Jio Studios and B62 Studios. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Ranveer Singh, Akshaye Khanna, Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Rampal, R. Madhavan, Sara Arjun, Rakesh Bedi, Gaurav Gera, and Danish Pandor alongside several supporting actors. The first instalment of a duology, it centres on a high-stakes covert counter-terrorism operation. The film follows an undercover Indian intelligence agent who infiltrates Karachi's criminal syndicates and political power structures in Pakistan in an effort to dismantle a terror network targeting India.

The film's storyline draws loose inspiration from multiple real-life geopolitical events and conflicts in South Asia, including the 1999 IC-814 hijacking, the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, the 2008 Mumbai attacks, and developments linked to Pakistan's Operation Lyari. Principal photography for Dhurandhar took place from July 2024 to October 2025 across multiple locations in India and abroad, including the states and union territories of Punjab, Maharashtra, Chandigarh, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh, as well as Thailand. The film features music composed by Shashwat Sachdev, cinematography by Vikash Nowlakha, and editing by Shivkumar V. Panicker. With a runtime of 214 minutes, Dhurandhar ranks as one of the longest Indian films ever produced.

Dhurandhar was released theatrically on 5 December 2025 and received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its cast performances, direction, cinematography, action sequences, musical score, and production design, with criticism directed towards its extended runtime and pacing. The film also attracted controversy for its blending of fictional elements with real historical events, with some commentators describing it as propagandistic. Commercially, the film achieved significant box-office success, grossing over ₹1,000 crore worldwide within three weeks of release, having beat multiple records, including being the fourth highest-grossing Indian film, the highest-grossing A-rated Indian film, and the second highest-grossing Hindi film worldwide at the time of its release.

The film was banned from theatrical release in several Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Despite an official ban on Indian films in Pakistan since 2019, Dhurandhar was reportedly downloaded two million times through piracy sites in the country. A direct sequel, Dhurandhar: The Revenge, was released on 19 March 2026.