Dhurandhar: The Revenge — Aditya Dhar’s Spy Duology Concludes with Record Force

Ranveer Singh returns as Hamza Ali Mazari in a near-4-hour concluding chapter that broke Bollywood’s overseas opening records within its first weekend

Executive Summary

Dhurandhar: The Revenge — popularly known as Dhurandhar 2 — released in Indian cinemas on 19 March 2026, the concluding instalment of a two-part spy-action duology written and directed by Aditya Dhar. Produced jointly by Jio Studios and B62 Studios, the film stars Ranveer Singh as undercover Indian intelligence operative Hamza Ali Mazari, alongside an ensemble including Sanjay Dutt, R. Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, Sara Arjun, and Rakesh Bedi. Both parts were shot consecutively, enabling an unusually short three-month release gap following the first film’s debut on 5 December 2025. Within four days of release, the sequel had amassed over ₹750 crore (approximately $81 million) worldwide, setting multiple Bollywood box office records including the highest-ever Hindi Monday net collection and the biggest overseas opening for a Hindi-language film. Critical reception has been broadly positive, particularly for Ranveer Singh’s performance, though reviewers note that the sequel does not fully match the meticulous world-building of its predecessor.

Table of Contents

1. At a Glance
2. Background: The Dhurandhar Duology
3. Story and Setting
4. Cast and Characters
5. Production and Release Strategy
6. Box Office Performance
7. Critical Reception
8. OTT and Digital Release

At a Glance

Full Title	Dhurandhar: The Revenge
Also Known As	Dhurandhar 2 · Dhurandhar Part 2
Release Date	19 March 2026
Director / Writer	Aditya Dhar
Production Houses	Jio Studios · B62 Studios
Lead Cast	Ranveer Singh, Sanjay Dutt, R. Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, Sara Arjun, Rakesh Bedi
Languages	Hindi · Telugu · Tamil · Kannada · Malayalam (pan-India)
Runtime	~3 hrs 55 min (estimate; verify at booking platform)
Music	Shashwat Sachdev
OTT Platform	JioHotstar (expected ~May–June 2026; not yet officially confirmed)

Background: The Dhurandhar Duology

Dhurandhar: The Revenge is the second and final chapter of a planned two-part series. The first film, simply titled Dhurandhar, released on 5 December 2025, and quickly became one of the biggest Bollywood box office successes of that year — delivering Ranveer Singh his best-ever opening day with approximately ₹27 crore net in India. Director Aditya Dhar — who previously delivered Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019) — chose a split-film format, shooting both chapters consecutively to maintain narrative and technical consistency across the duology.

The sequel’s theatrical release brought it into direct competition with Yash’s pan-India action film Toxic, which released on the same date. Exhibitors and trade analysts watched the screen-allocation contest closely, though Dhurandhar: The Revenge ultimately demonstrated commanding box office dominance in the Hindi-speaking belt and overseas markets.

Story and Setting

The film opens with a prologue set in the year 2000, establishing the origins of Jaskirat Singh Rangi — a young man from Pathankot whose life is shattered by a brutal land-dispute atrocity involving a local political figure. After exacting personal vengeance and serving time, Jaskirat is recruited by Indian intelligence and reborn as Hamza Ali Mazari, a deep-cover operative tasked with infiltrating Karachi’s criminal and political underworld. The sequel picks up exactly where the first film ended: with the death of the Lyari crime kingpin Rehman Dakait (Akshaye Khanna) leaving a power vacuum that Hamza must exploit while simultaneously dismantling militant financing networks tied to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

A key narrative strand involves Hamza’s relationship with Yalina — who uncovers his true identity but chooses to protect their son Zayan over exposing him — and Indian intelligence granting Hamza autonomous authority to systematically eliminate key operatives, including militant financier Javed Khanani. The screenplay also focuses on the internal suspicion that builds around Hamza as Pakistani intelligence official Chaudhary Aslam begins investigating him, resulting in a high-stakes climax that reviewers have singled out as the film’s most powerful sequence.

Cast and Characters

The sequel retains the principal ensemble from Part 1, with several actors carrying expanded roles. Notably, Akshaye Khanna — widely praised as one of the highlights of the first film — does not appear in the sequel, having concluded his character arc in Part 1.

Actor	Character	Note
Ranveer Singh	Hamza Ali Mazari / Jaskirat Singh Rangi	Lead; Indian intelligence operative
Sanjay Dutt	SP Aslam	Pakistani law enforcement figure
R. Madhavan	Disclosed in film	Expanded role; praised by critics
Arjun Rampal	Major Iqbal	Antagonist; critics note reduced menace vs Part 1
Sara Arjun	Yalina	Hamza’s confidante; key moral pivot
Rakesh Bedi	Jameel Jamali	Widely praised supporting turn
Manav Gohil, Danish Pandor, Gaurav Gera	Various	Supporting ensemble

Production and Release Strategy

Both chapters of the Dhurandhar duology were shot as a single, continuous production — a model adopted in Indian cinema most prominently with the Baahubali series. This back-to-back production enabled the three-month theatrical gap between parts, which is exceptionally short by industry standards and sustains audience engagement without the erosion of memory associated with a multi-year sequel gap.

Music for the film was composed by Shashwat Sachdev, who also scored the first installment. The background score was cited by multiple critics as a standout element of both films. OTT rights for Part 1 were acquired by Netflix; the sequel’s streaming rights have reportedly been acquired by JioHotstar in a deal estimated at approximately ₹150 crore — nearly double the Part 1 OTT deal value (estimate; unconfirmed by official announcement as of publication date).

Box Office Performance

Dhurandhar: The Revenge opened on 19 March 2026 with paid previews beginning the previous evening. Its theatrical performance in the first four days set multiple benchmark records for Bollywood — the most significant of which were in overseas markets, where the film surpassed the previous Bollywood overseas record held by Pathaan.

Overseas, the film’s four-day gross of approximately USD 21.25 million (~₹200 crore) represented the third-biggest opening for any Bollywood film internationally, behind Pathaan and Jawan, though in total tickets sold it surpassed the USA performance of Baahubali 2 by approximately 50 per cent, per Pinkvilla’s trade analysis. Note: all box office figures cited are gross estimates compiled from distributor data and trade publications and are subject to revision.

Critical Reception

Critical reviews have been broadly positive, with Ranveer Singh’s performance described as the film’s dominant strength. Most reviewers rate the sequel a notch below Part 1 in terms of storytelling precision, while acknowledging the second half and climax as high-quality filmmaking.

What Critics Praised

• Ranveer Singh’s committed and layered lead performance, particularly the opening scene
• R. Madhavan’s expanded role, which reviewers found impactful and well-paced
• Rakesh Bedi as Jameel Jamali — described by Hindustan Times as “a delight to watch”
• The second half and climax, which recovered narrative momentum after a slower mid-section
• Aditya Dhar’s restraint in avoiding nostalgic callbacks from Part 1
• Shashwat Sachdev’s background score

What Critics Noted as Weaknesses

• Less precise world-building than Part 1; occasional plot conveniences
• Arjun Rampal’s antagonist role was considered less menacing than his Part 1 presence
• Some reviewers noted the film’s tone skews more explicitly toward patriotic messaging than its predecessor
• Runtime (~3 hrs 55 min) felt stretched in certain action sequences per some audience accounts
• The film’s absence of Akshaye Khanna was widely noted as a felt gap

OTT and Digital Release

Dhurandhar: The Revenge is expected to debut on JioHotstar following completion of its theatrical run — a shift from Part 1, which streamed on Netflix. According to multiple trade reports, the digital rights were acquired by JioHotstar for approximately ₹150 crore (estimate; unconfirmed by official announcement). Following standard theatrical window conventions for major Indian films, the digital release is expected in the May–June 2026 window, though no official premiere date has been announced by the producers or platform as of this article’s publication.

Sources: Deadline Hollywood (March 23, 2026) · Sacnilk Box Office (March 23, 2026) · Hindustan Times Review (March 18, 2026) · Variety Film + TV (March 2025) · Pinkvilla Trade Analysis · India TV News · The South India Times · Wikipedia (Dhurandhar: The Revenge). Box office figures are estimates compiled from distributor and trade-publication data; verify current collections at sacnilk.com or boxofficeindia.com. OTT release date is unconfirmed; verify at jiohotstar.com.