‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’: A Technically Accomplished Spy Thriller Drowning in Political Propaganda

The sequel to Bollywood’s highest-grossing Hindi film has arrived with explosive box office numbers and even more explosive political controversies, as Aditya Dhar’s “Dhurandhar: The Revenge” blurs the line between patriotic cinema and government propaganda in ways that have divided India along partisan lines.

It had one of the biggest opening weekends in Indian cinema history, released on March 19, 2026, strategically timed to coincide with Gudi Padwa, Ugadi, and Eid al-Fitr.

The Film: A Direct Continuation

The Hindi-language spy action thriller film is written and directed by Aditya Dhar. It is a sequel to the 2025 film “Dhurandhar “ and the final instalment of the duology. The film stars Ranveer Singh, Arjun Rampal, Sanjay Dutt, R. Madhavan, Sara Arjun, Rakesh Bedi, Gaurav Gera, Danish Pandor, and Manav Gohil, with several actors reprising their roles from the first part. It follows an undercover Indian intelligence agent who continues to infiltrate Karachi’s criminal syndicates and Pakistani politics while avenging the 26/11 attacks and confronting bigger threats. 

Critical Reception: Divided Along Political Lines

Positive Reviews:

Divya Nair of rediff.com gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and praised it as “an engaging, twist-filled entertainer with layered storytelling and strong impact, despite its politics, gore, and inconsistencies.” 

Lachmi Deb Roy of Firstpost, rated it 3.5/5, calling it “engaging, immersive, and ferociously intense,” while noting that the dialogues are “witty, emotional, and razor sharp,” and the action is “well thought out” rather than mindless. 

Chirag Sehgal of News18, rated it 3.5/5, writing that “the storytelling emerges as an equally powerful driving force. The film scores high on narrative depth, with a series of twists that make the plot consistently gripping, leaving you both surprised and intrigued.” 

Mixed to Negative Reviews:

Agnivo Niyogi of The Telegraph, wrote that the movie “has more gore, more violence and brazen propaganda. But it lacks the finesse that “Dhurandhar” at least could boast of.” 

Nandini Ramnath of Scroll, noted “Dhurandhar: The Revenge is Marco, L2: Empuraan or K.G.F: Chapter 2, but with malice that meshes seamlessly with pro-government propaganda.” 

Shubhra Gupta of the Indian Express, gave the movie a rating of 2/5 and added that it fails to match the standard of the first part. 

The Modi Controversy

The film’s most explosive controversy centers on its use of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s archival footage. According to Bombay Samachar, Narendra Modi’s real archival footage in Ranveer Singh’s ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’ — including his 2014 swearing-in and 2016 demonetization address — is sending theatre audiences into a frenzy.

According to Zee News, within hours, a section of critics branded it BJP propaganda. Their core grievance? The film uses two brief archive clips of Prime Minister Narendra Modi: his 2014 oath ceremony and his November 2016 demonetization address.

Congress Party Criticism

According to ANI, the Congress party has strongly criticized the film. Congress spokesperson Hussain Dalwai condemned the film’s alleged propaganda elements and urged Muslims not to watch it, stating that it promotes division. “Atiq Ahmed ko in logon ne Parliament mein tribute diya tha… He has been portrayed as a Muslim gangster having connections with Pakistan,” Dalwai said. 

Defense from Former Officials

According to ANI, defending the film, former Jammu and Kashmir DGP S.P. Vaid in Jammu, stated: ”The truth is harsh. Atiq Ahmed was a gangster. The whole world knows that he received illegal weapons, and his links with Pakistan are known to the world. What has been shown is based on the truth. Our own leaders were involved in fake currency racket.”

It is the latest in a series of box-office hits with overt nationalist messaging since India’s Hindu nationalist leader, Narendra Modi, took office in 2014, including “The Kashmir Files” and “The Kerala Story” as well as Dhar’s previous films “Uri: The Surgical Strike” and “Article 370.” 

The Broader Context: A Pattern of Nationalist Cinema

According to NBC News, “Dhurandhar,” which translates to “Stalwart,” became India’s highest-grossing film last year after its release in December. It then topped the Netflix chart for non-English films after its Jan. 30 release on the platform — including in Pakistan, where officials criticized it as Indian propaganda and the film was publicly banned. 

NBC News noted that the film comes amid heightened tensions between Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan, nuclear-armed neighbors that fought their worst conflict in decades over four days last May. It is the latest in a series of box-office hits with overt nationalist messaging since India’s Hindu nationalist leader, Narendra Modi, took office in 2014, including “The Kashmir Files” and “The Kerala Story” as well as Dhar’s previous films “Uri: The Surgical Strike” and “Article 370.” 

Pakistan’s Response

According to NBC News, after the film’s release in December, the Sindh government said it was backing what has been described as a rebuttal film to “Dhurandhar,” which it called “Indian propaganda.” Despite being banned in Pakistan, “Dhurandhar” has reportedly been widely pirated there. 

Harassment of Critics

According to NBC News, Indian movie critic Sucharita Tyagi described being harassed over her review: “To see how many people refused to engage with a point of view that was not aligned with theirs was illuminating. It got so overwhelming that on Instagram and YouTube, I had to turn off the comments. And I’ve never had to do that before.” 

Tyagi said nationalist films such as “Dhurandhar” risk encouraging a charged form of patriotism that deepens the hostility between India and Pakistan. 

The Propaganda Debate

According to Wikipedia’s summary of the first film, unlike the Indian victims of violence who are clearly humanized, the Pakistani victims are dealt with through gore eschewing any sympathy. A ‘butcher’ aesthetic was applied to an entire Karachi neighborhood, and the Muslims of the subcontinent appear to be equated with ‘barbarians’. 

Wikipedia noted that the device of splicing in transcripts of actual conversations of the Mumbai attack terrorists typed on a red screen, which was highlighted by many commentators, is seen by some as an effort to incite anger. The Pakistani characters are uniformly shown to be rejoicing in India’s horror, chanting “Allah hu Akbar” as if “cruelty were devotion”. Some reviewers read Islamophobia into the treatment of Muslims. 

The Last Word

“Dhurandhar: The Revenge” is technically accomplished filmmaking placed in service of unabashed political propaganda. Aditya Dhar demonstrates genuine directorial skill—the action sequences are meticulously choreographed, the production values are top-tier, and Ranveer Singh delivers a committed performance. But these strengths make the film more problematic, not less.

As one Letterboxd user astutely observed, this is “well-made propaganda,” which makes it far more dangerous than poorly-executed nationalist films. The nearly four-hour runtime becomes exhausting, the violence grows gratuitous, and the political messaging becomes so overt—particularly with the inclusion of Modi’s footage—that the film abandons any pretense of balanced storytelling.

In a polarized India where cinema increasingly serves as a battlefield for competing ideologies, “Dhurandhar: The Revenge” represents a troubling milestone: a blockbuster that openly blurs entertainment with political campaigning, daring audiences to separate art from agenda. The box office suggests millions are willing to embrace both. The critical backlash suggests an equal number find that fusion deeply unsettling.

Rating: 2.5/5 — Technically proficient but morally compromised, a spy thriller that sacrifices nuance for nationalism and entertainment for ideology.