Did ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’ Lose Its Edge?
The sequel smashed box office records on day one. But its cinematic payoff pales next to the first installment.
Dhurandhar (2025) — about an Indian spy who infiltrates Karachi gang networks in Pakistan — was the runaway Hindi hit of 2025, shattering box office records, earning over $135 million at the box office on a roughly $30 million budget, and leading to memes galore. While it got its fair share of criticism, there was one thing people seemed to agree on: it had redefined what was cinematically possible in Bollywood. Now, just slightly over three months later, director Aditya Dhar is back with his second installment, Dhurandhar: The Revenge. It, too, has smashed box office records, earning over $25 million on its first day alone.
Yet, one can’t shake the feeling that after seeing the tightly edited, musically adept first installment, the second part feels less savvy. There’s no Akshaye Khanna or “FA9LA,” and many plot holes that are hard to ignore. It’s like the B side of your favorite album (remember cassettes?). We dive into it — spoiler-free!