Ranveer Singh
Hamza Ali Mazari / Jaskirat Singh Rangi
Dhurandhar: The Revenge
“The story of the unknown men unfolds.”
2026
3h 49m
Director: Aditya Dhar
Overview
As rival gangs, corrupt officials and a ruthless Major Iqbal close in, Hamza's mission for his country spirals into a bloody personal war where the line between patriot and monster disappears in the streets of Lyari.
Cast
12 people
Reviews
5 min readThe Blood and the Noise
I’ve seen Dhurandhar: The Revenge twice now—once in a packed multiplex where the audience cheered at every explosion, and once alone on my laptop, pausing to take notes. The first time, I was swept up in the spectacle: the gunfire, the betrayals, the way Ranveer Singh’s Hamza seems to carry the weight of a nation’s sins in his shoulders. The second time, I noticed the seams.
The way the film’s politics feel less like subtext and more like a megaphone. The way its nearly four-hour runtime sags under the weight of its own ambition. And yet, I keep thinking about it.
That’s the paradox of Aditya Dhar’s sequel: it’s both exhausting and impossible to look away from.
Dhar’s film is a beast of contradictions. It wants to be a gritty, morally complex spy thriller—Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy meets the streets of Lyari—but it also wants to be a rousing, flag-waving action epic. It wants to interrogate the cost of patriotism, but it also wants to celebrate the men who pay that cost.
It wants to be a character study of a man broken by war, but it also wants to deliver the kind of over-the-top violence that makes audiences cheer. The result is a film that lurches between introspection and spectacle, often within the same scene. There’s a moment early on where Hamza, now deep undercover, watches a rival gang execute a traitor.
The camera lingers on his face as he processes the horror of what he’s seeing—and then, without warning, the film cuts to a slow-motion shot of the traitor’s blood spraying across the wall. It’s a jarring shift, one that feels less like a deliberate choice and more like the film hedging its bets. Are we supposed to feel the weight of Hamza’s complicity, or are we supposed to enjoy the visceral thrill of the violence?
That tension runs through the entire film. Dhar clearly admires the men he’s depicting—the undercover agents, the soldiers, the spies—but he also seems aware of the moral rot that comes with their work. The problem is that the film’s politics are so heavy-handed that they undercut its own attempts at nuance.
There’s a scene where Hamza, now disillusioned and on the run, confronts a corrupt official who justifies his betrayals with a speech about the greater good. It’s a moment that could have been powerful, a chance to explore the cost of blind patriotism. Instead, the official is so cartoonishly evil—twirling his mustache, practically cackling—that the scene plays like a parody of itself.
Audience Opinions
Audience 7.8/10
"A brutal, large-scale spy revenge thriller elevated by Ranveer Singh’s performance and emotional payoff but dragged down by overt politics, uneven pacing, and a cartoonish villain."
The film lands as an intense emotional action drama with huge-scale set pieces, striking cinematography, and a finale that many find satisfying, with Ranveer Singh’s committed, shape-shifting turn singled out as a standout. At the same time, the nearly four-hour runtime, disjointed stretches in the second half, loud pro-government messaging, weaker music than the first film, latestnetflix.com argues, and a villain that turns into a caricature make the experience feel bloated and inconsistent for others.
What viewers praise
- Commanding lead performance Ranveer Singh’s dedication, range, and intensity are repeatedly praised as top-notch and a major reason the story stays engaging.
- Powerful emotional beats Hamza/Jaskirat’s arc, key backstories, and the closing chapters are described as highly emotional with an ending that feels apt and earned.
- Spectacular action and scale Many scenes are called action-packed and epic, with some considering the set pieces and brutality an upgrade over the first film.
- High production quality Cinematography, large-scale staging, and overall technical polish are widely regarded as impressive and immersive on the big screen.
Common complaints
- Overt political slant The story is frequently described as open propaganda with heavy pro-government framing that can feel intrusive and didactic.
- Uneven length and pacing After a gripping opening chapter, several viewers find long stretches drag, with some chapters playing like random scenes stitched together.
- Underwhelming antagonist The main villain is seen as weak and eventually reduced to a dumb caricature, which undercuts the stakes built up earlier.
- Inconsistent music and sound The score is often called a letdown compared to the first film, with missing character themes, odd sound mixing, and only one or two standout tracks.
Recommended for
Spy-action thriller addicts Ranveer Singh admirers Violent revenge saga lovers Emotion-heavy action drama fans Big-screen Bollywood spectacle seekers
Full Plot (Spoilers)
Spoiler warning
This section contains the full plot, including major story reveals. Overview above stays spoiler-free.
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsThe FIR was about a poster that was not in the movie
A Sikh group in Mumbai filed a police complaint over a still of Ranveer Singh's Jaskirat smoking in a turban. Aditya Dhar did not apologize for a scene. He said the image was not a scene. "One such fabricated image falsely depicts the character Hamza/Jaskirat smoking while wearing a turban. This is completely untrue and does not form part of the film or any official material released by us," he said on March 26, 2026. He called it AI morphing of official publicity, meant to provoke. latestnetflix.com's take is that he also said he holds the highest respect for the Sikh community.
R. Madhavan had already issued his own note. The complaint also alleged his Ajay Sanyal recites Guru Granth Sahib lines while smoking. Madhavan said Dhar was careful on that set, and that the character puts the cigarette out before those lines.
That is the gossip that stuck, because the rest of the movie is too large to whisper. Dhar shot both parts of the duology together from July 2024 to October 2025, then split them in post because the footage would not fit one night. The sequel opened March 19, 2026, on Gudi Padwa, Ugadi, and Eid, in Hindi plus four South Indian languages. CBFC gave it an A certificate at 229 minutes after cutting some violence and swearing. Overseas prints ran 235 minutes. Gulf Cooperation Council countries banned it, the same way they banned the first film.
Deadline logged the first week at $115.3 million worldwide, $86.2 million of that from India. That was a Hindi-language first-week record, ahead of Pathaan's reported $111.8 million, and second among Indian films behind Pushpa 2. Jio Studios claimed the highest advance sales and paid previews in India, and the fastest film to cross $32 million. North America opened at $10 million over three days at 987 sites, a Bollywood record. Box Office Guru called it incredible for a four-hour movie playing to 3 percent of the population. Wikipedia later put the worldwide gross above Rs 1,800 crore. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHk7scrb_9I
Critics split on a different axis. Indian trade desks handed out 4 and 4.5 stars. Rotten Tomatoes sat at 33 percent from 21 reviews. International notices used the word propaganda. Ticket buyers still bought tickets. The official Hindi trailer on JioStudios passed 91 million YouTube views. Wikipedia said the trailer crossed 312 million views across platforms in 48 hours.
T-Series paid Rs 27 crore for the music rights, replacing Saregama. The teaser used Doja Cat's "Aaahh Men!" Paid previews started March 18. Then the stream versions arrived. JioHotstar bought India digital for Rs 150 crore. Netflix put the uncut "Raw & Undekha" print, unmuted swearing and extended gore, on international services on May 15, 2026. India got the uncut print on JioHotstar on June 5, then on Netflix India on June 19. JustWatch still lists both Netflix and JioHotstar.
TMDB lists this as movie 1582770, a 3 hour 49 minute A-rated spy thriller, not the 2025 first part. Pinkvilla told people to stay for the post-credits look around Ranveer's appearance. After four hours, that is a dare.
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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