Dhurandhar: The Revenge

In 2000, Hamza Ali Mazari, then known as Jaskirat Singh Rangi, leaves his hometown of Pathankot to undergo military training. During his absence, a violent land dispute involving local MLA Sukhwinder Singh leads to brutal attacks on his family: his father is hung, and his elder sister Harleen and younger sister Jasleen are both gangraped, with Harleen being murdered and Jasleen abducted. Upon returning, Jaskirat, with the help of his friend Gurbaaz, arms himself, eliminates those responsible, and rescues Jasleen. He is subsequently arrested, tried, and sentenced to death. Before his execution, he entrusts Jasleen's future to Gurbaaz.

In 2002, Jaskirat is abducted during a prison transfer and brought before intelligence officials Sushant Bansal and Ajay Sanyal. By 2004, he is recruited into a covert program, given the new identity of Hamza Ali Mazari, and deployed to Kabul, where he severs ties with his past and operates under handler Mohammed Aalam.

By 2009, following the death of Rehman Dakait in Lyari, Hamza manipulates local factions to ignite a gang war resulting in the death of the Pathan gang's leader Arshad Pappu and the arrest of Uzair Baloch, consolidating his influence in Karachi while covertly advancing his mission. His actions draw him into the inner circle of "Bade Sahab" Dawood Ibrahim, who tasks him with facilitating narcotics operations to fund militancy. During this period, Hamza is forced to kill both Gurbaaz—after a drug-induced altercation—and Aalam, whose cover is compromised, deepening his internal conflict.

As suspicion grows, Chaudhary Aslam begins investigating Hamza but is killed in a suicide attack orchestrated by Hamza through the Balochistan United Force (BUF). Yalina, who uncovers Hamza's true identity, confronts him but ultimately agrees to remain silent for the sake of their son, Zayan. Meanwhile, Indian intelligence grants Hamza autonomy to dismantle militant networks, leading to the elimination of key operatives, including financier Javed Khanani and IC 814 hijacker Zahoor Mistry.

When Dawood plans a large-scale attack on India, Hamza covertly sabotages the operation by planting a bomb within the weapons supply, killing multiple militants. Following the subsequent gun battle against the Mujahideen alongside his aide Rizwan and the BUF disguised as Pakistan Rangers, he confronts and kills Major Iqbal in a kerosene tanker explosion. However, his cover is exposed by Omar, who uses Zayan as bait to force the truth out from Yalina. Hamza is captured and tortured until Indian intelligence coerces his release through blackmail of the head of Pakistani intelligence, Shamshad Hassan, framing Uzair Baloch as a scapegoat.

It is later revealed that Jameel Jamali, also an Indian secret agent, had been slowly poisoning Dawood Ibrahim while embedded in his network. Having completed his mission, Hamza abandons his alias and returns to India as Jaskirat Singh Rangi, severing ties with Yalina. Though commended for his service, he disappears before formal debriefing and returns to his childhood home, observing his family from a distance, leaving his final reconciliation unresolved.

In the mid-credits scene, flashbacks from Jaskirat's training with the Research & Analysis Wing are depicted. In the post-credits scene, Shamshad orders Omar into a mental asylum, after he threatens to reveal Shamshad's release of Hamza to the National Assembly.

The sequel was developed as the second and final installment of the Dhurandhar duology. Initially planned as a single film, the filmmakers later decided to make the film a two-part release.^[16] Both parts were shot together concurrently as a single film.^[17] The original plan was to release one film, but the large amount of footage, scale, and narrative complexity led the filmmakers to split the film into two parts during the post-production process.^[18][19] Principal photography for both films took place between July 2024 and October 2025 across India and Thailand.^[20][21] Additional filming for the second part also took place in January and February 2026.^[22][23][24]

The soundtrack was composed by Shashwat Sachdev, with lyrics written by Irshad Kamil and Kumaar.^[25] The music rights were acquired by T-Series for ₹27 crore, replacing Saregama.^[26][27]

The song "Aaahh Men!" by Doja Cat was featured in the teaser of the film released on 3 February 2026, and also features in the film.^[28] The first single titled "Aari Aari", was released on 12 March 2026.^[29] This song also featured in the film's trailer and is a remix of the 2003 eponymous song by Danish musical duo Bombay Rockers.^[30][31] The second single titled "Main Aur Tu" was released on 17 March 2026.^[32] The full album was released shortly after its launch, on the same day, at the NESCO Centre in Mumbai.^[33][34] The extended album with eleven additional songs was released on 24 March 2026.^[35]

The film's soundrtrack and musical score received praise; commentators felt that it played an effective role in enhancing film's overall impact and was well incorporated into it,^[36][37] and that even though good, it was a notch below its predecessor's score, whose energy it did not match.^[38][39][40]

A post-credits scene in the first instalment revealed the title and release date for the sequel.^[41] Initially, reports suggested that the teaser would be screened alongside Border 2 in theatres on 30 January 2026.^[42][43] This plan, however, did not materialise. Dhar later announced that the teaser would be released separately in the near future.^[44] The official teaser was unveiled on 3 February 2026.^[45] However, the footage that was used in the teaser was the same one as the glimpse that appeared in the post-credit scene of the first part, albeit with some modifications.^[46] The official trailer released on 7 March 2026.^[47] Just like the previous part, the teaser and trailer were again edited by Dhar's brother-in-law, Ojas Gautam.^[48]

The film begins with a long disclaimer that declares it to be a work of fiction inspired by real events.^[61][62][63] It cautions that the film is not documentary, and "should not be construed as an accurate depiction of historical facts or events."^[62] The film references several real-life terrorist attacks on India and incorporates real events into its plot.^[64] According to Tatsam Mukherjee, writing for The Wire, the film "might issue a disclaimer of not being a 'documentary' at the start, but it doesn’t mind using real-life traumas to fuel an ideological warfare that is less fictitious than Dhar and his crew would care to address."^[65] Mukherjee states that the film uses "trojan horse devices" to praise Narendra Modi and weaponises patriotism "against those who don’t fall in line", and asserts that the film's second-half "becomes a feature-length sized apologia" for the 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation.^[65]

Siddhant Adlakha, writing for Variety, noted, "This throws fuel on the already burning flames of modern India’s de facto patriotic sentiments, wherein the country’s Hindu majority (via an ethnonationalist movement known as Hindutva) is given free rein, not unlike Hamza, to lynch minorities." It further notes, "Even the series’ most voracious supporters would have a hard time denying its status as propaganda. And yet, its violent splendor (especially in the first installment) elevates it far beyond the more rote and artless crop of Islamophobic screeds that have graced Indian screens of late".^[11] Prathyush Parasuraman, writing for the Frontline added "The film hates the Pakistani state but rallies for the Pakistani minorities (Balochis) to substantiate this hatred. It champions the Indian state but hates the Indian minorities (Muslims and Sikhs) to substantiate this love. Its love is a mere excuse to hate."^[66]

The Indian Express noted that the film's writer and director Aditya Dhar "crafts a compelling narrative [in the film] by blending real-life events with fiction", and uses "recent Indian events as the backbone of his storytelling, blurring the lines between fact and fiction". It notes that the film reimagines Indian politician and gangster Atiq Ahmed.^[67] Dainik Bhaskar notes that the film claimed Atif Ahmed was involved in a counterfeit currency racket, which was revealed to be false on the basis of chargesheet filed by UP police. The film was also scrutinized for its incorrect timeline of events with regards to arrest of Atif Ahmed. The film portrayed an unproven claim by UP police about Atif Ahmed's involvement in weapons smuggling in connection with Laskar E Taiba and ISI as fact. The film further depicts a fictionalized account of Atif Ahmed's relationship to Major Iqbal. ^{[68][improper synthesis?]} The Federal noted, "there is no other documentation or corroboration of this supposed Pakistani link, other than the word of the Uttar Pradesh Police."^[69] Aditya Shrikrishna writing for Maktoob Media also agrees that "'No such evidence exists against the gangster turned politician" and that film does not depict how "his assailants chanted Jai Shree Ram" on camera following their arrest. ^[12]

The Independent reported that while many found the film's blending of history and myth to have created "an immersive patriotic thriller", others thought it "blurs the boundary between history and propaganda". The Independent added that "the sequel appears set to cement hypermasculine nationalism as one of Bollywood’s most reliable box-office formulas."^[9] The Federal finds the movie to have used "the wish-fulfilment framework to play defence for the BJP in general and the Narendra Modi government in particular."^[69] It further notes, "film basically says that if you belong to a political party opposed to the BJP, you are being funded by Pakistan."^[69] Shrikrishna also notes that film portrays "anyone in India that opposed Hindutva and the Bharatiya Janata Party" as being funded by Pakistani NGOs.^[12]

Aditya Shrikrishna states that film "projects post-2014 India as a geopolitical superpower, in the subcontinent if not the world, that can handhold and control its immediate enemies" and that it shows Pakistan as "a puppet country for India to control." ^[12] He further states that "Dhurandhar films" do not distinguish between Pakistani or Indian muslims and instead extends its focus on muslims as whole by making Pakistan as a "pivot point". Shrikrishna laments that contemporary Hindi films have given up the engagement on "Islamophobia and the trope of the “good” Muslim" as had previously been the case with indian movies on terrorism, by characterizing all muslims as "villains". ^[12] Shrikrishna describes the ideas in the film to be "so vicious, its poison let loose on a country one show at a time, that every scene contains a checkpoint to influence a seemingly smart audience, a blueprint to further justify the acts of a government that jails peaceful dissenters under draconian acts without trial and passing motions unopposed in parliament." ^[12] Shrikrishna also notes "As if its Islamophobia isn’t enough, the film sings praises for the Modi government and demonetization." ^[12] Siddhant Adlakha writing for the IGN, also notes, "By repeatedly yanking reality into its fictitious purview, Dhurandhar attempts to stir up the volatile emotions currently engulfing India’s political milieu when it comes to tensions with Pakistan, and its continued antagonization of Indian Muslims."^[70]

Nissim Mannathukkaren, writing for The Hindu, notes that films like "Dhurandhar are enabling the construction of a new kind of Indian citizen, in which a narrowly defined nationalism is the only virtue and is also indissolubly associated with violence." Nissim opines that propaganda in the film assumes the role "in favour of the ruling party" rather than the state, thereby blurring the distinction and conflating the two. He notes the reconstruction of history "for explicitly militarist-nationalist causes" and that the film renders all "other forms of everyday violence (including structural violence)" invisible in favour of the "violence in the new nationalist cinematic imagination," and it not only depicts "ghastly violence" but includes alongside it "pulsating" English music that glamorizes and spectacularizes it.^[71]

The film's contents have been variously described by reviewers as "naked political propaganda",^[70] "pro-establishment propaganda" ^[72], "pro-government propaganda", ^[73] "deafening cocktail of patriotism and propaganda, it forgets the quiet cost of humanity, leaving little space for reflection"^[74], "brazen propaganda" while the film itself has been described as a "propaganda film" ^[75], "an outright propagation of the ruling BJP’s agenda ... Aditya Dhar’s propaganda goes as far as depicting the Modi government’s failed demonetisation as a masterstroke that disrupted terror financing networks. ... Although right-wing propaganda was evident in the first part of ‘Dhurandhar’, its sequel makes it far more explicit "^[76], "propaganda as the political messaging is no longer subtle"^[71] and as "having a lack of... purpose beyond propaganda".^[77]

Yasser Usman writing for NDTV said that the film was "already being labelled as 'propaganda' by many critics and commentators" prior to its release, and said that it should instead be examined "within the long tradition of the Bollywood masala entertainer rather than treating it purely as a political manifesto".^[78] Nirmalya Dutta, writng for Times of India, also questioned the labelling of the film as propaganda, praising the film as a "rare instance of competent myth-making that is completely attuned to the availability heuristic of its audience."^[79]

The dialogue "Mera Baccha Hai Tu", spoken by Jameel Jamali, a character portrayed by Rakesh Bedi in both Dhurandhar films, gained significant popularity on social media, becoming widely used in memes and short-form video content. Several brands, including Delhi Police, Wai Wai, Haldiram's and Vadilal^[114] adapted the dialogue for marketing campaigns and promotional creatives.^[115][116]