Dhurandhar Sparks Cross‑Border Firestorm: Bollywood Thriller Wins Fans but Faces Sharp Criticism Over Pakistan Portrayal

Dhurandhar, a 3.5‑hour Bollywood spy thriller directed by Aditya Dhar and released last week, has become both a box‑office hit and a political lightning rod in India and Pakistan. The film — shot in a deliberate sepia palette and starring Ranveer Singh as an Indian field operative — stages a violent, high‑stakes cross‑border mission against the fraught backdrop of India–Pakistan tensions.

A scene shown in the trailer of the new Bollywood film, Dhurandhar [Jio Studios/Al Jazeera]

Plot, Cast and Production

The story centres on an operative tied to India’s Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) who infiltrates purported networks of "gangsters and terrorists" in Karachi. The ensemble cast includes Ranveer Singh, Sanjay Dutt as the main antagonist, Akshaye Khanna in a gangster role, and R. Madhavan as a senior intelligence strategist. The filmmakers insist the picture is a work of fiction, but the narrative blends dramatized scenes with intercepted audio and news footage, a choice that critics say blurs fact and fiction.

Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh (centre) performs during the music launch of his upcoming Indian Hindi-language film Dhurandhar in Mumbai on December 1, 2025 [Sujit Jaiswal/AFP]

Controversy and Criticism

Critics in both countries have challenged the film on several fronts. Scholars and commentators accuse Dhurandhar of leaning on ultra‑nationalist tropes, misrepresenting Karachi — particularly the Lyari neighbourhood — and instrumentalizing real historical figures and material out of context. Nida Kirmani, a sociologist at Lahore University of Management Sciences, said the film "reduces the city to violence" and gets Karachi's infrastructure, culture and language wrong. Mumbai critic Mayank Shekhar observed that the production appears to rely on visual shorthand that flattens complex urban realities.

People linger outside a movie theatre that is screening The Kashmir Files, in Kolkata, India, on March 17, 2022 [Debarchan Chatterjee/NurPhoto via Getty Images]

"The representation in the film is completely based on fantasy. It does not represent the city accurately at all," said Nida Kirmani.

Legal challenges have followed: the family of Major Mohit Sharma has petitioned the Delhi High Court alleging the film exploits his life without consent, and a Pakistan People’s Party member has filed a petition in Karachi claiming unauthorised use of images of the late Benazir Bhutto and objecting to depictions of party leaders as supporters of terrorism. The makers deny these allegations.

Wider Context

Observers place Dhurandhar in a broader trend of mainstream Indian films that critics argue sometimes amplify nationalist narratives and portray minorities in ways that align with current political sentiments. Supporters of such films, including some high‑profile politicians, have praised earlier releases like Article 370 and The Kerala Story for perceived alignment with nationalist viewpoints, while critics have labelled those films propagandistic.

Impact on Critics and Public Debate

Alongside legal and academic pushback, some reviewers have faced online harassment. A review by Anupama Chopra on The Hollywood Reporter’s India YouTube channel was removed after a backlash, and India’s Film Critics Guild condemned coordinated abuse and attempts to influence or tamper with reviews.

Despite the backlash, Dhurandhar has achieved commercial success in India and among the diaspora, illustrating the persistent market appetite for high‑octane patriotic thrillers even as they provoke heated debate about representation, historical accuracy, and the ethical boundaries of dramatizing real events.