Dhurandhar 2 Is Being Called 'Propaganda'. But Bollywood Has Always Been This Loud

Dhurandhar became one of the biggest pop-culture phenomena in recent memory. It was a film people debated, argued over, and eventually turned into a historic blockbuster. Now, the buzz around Dhurandhar 2 is even louder. Yet, even before its release, the sequel is already being labelled as 'propaganda' by many critics and commentators.

The Rush To Reject

Dismissing the film as mere rhetoric is a simplistic way to ignore the actual mood of the audience and the evolving technical scale and storytelling of Indian cinema.

For readers who still haven't watched Dhurandhar, the story is loosely inspired by the gang wars in Lyari, Karachi. For most of its runtime, it plays out as an underworld drama, with Gangster Rehman Dakait (Akshaye Khanna) as the powerful mafia boss of the area.

In the film, Hamza Ali Mazari (Ranveer Singh), an Indian spy, infiltrates Dakait's criminal network, rises to become one of his closest aides, and eventually kills him. His journey continues in Dhurandhar 2 (The Revenge), as he seeks vengeance for the Indian Airlines Flight 814 hijacking in Kandahar and the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

The trailer for Dhurandhar 2 begins with a line, "Hindu bahut darpok qaum hai", and ends with a line from the Indian spy (Ranveer Singh): "Pakistan ka mustaqbil ab Hindustan tae karey ga (India will now decide Pakistan's future)." Provocative, yes, but does it make the film with a political 'agenda'?

We've seen this cycle in Bollywood for decades. The 1980s had a wave of loud, muscular action films like Hukumat or Tahalka. The 1990s gave us underworld sagas and encounter dramas where the violence and jingoism were just as blunt. In the loud 1994 blockbuster Krantiveer, Nana Patekar delivered the famous line: "Saale apne khud ke desh mein ek sui nahin bana sakte ... aur hamara desh todne ka sapna dekhte hain (They can't even make a needle in their own country, yet they dream of breaking ours.)" He won a National Award for that performance.

Or the other lines that made theatres, (and later meme culture) explode: Doodh mangoge kheer denge ... Kashmir mangoge cheer denge - (Maa Tujhe Salaam, 2002)...or Baap Baap hota hai, beta beta hota hai...beta baap mei se hi nikalta hai na...ye tumhara Pakistan nikla to Hindustan mei se hi hai na (Gadar, 2001). Back then, we clapped and even laughed at the rhyming bravado. No one called those films propaganda, regardless of who was in power. They were simply 'masala' Bollywood movies.

What has changed today is the scrutiny. Every mainstream film is now examined line by line. A single dialogue is pulled out, and the entire film is dismissed. There is nothing wrong with having an opinion. Opinion is part of the fun; sharing it is part of the experience. But today, the conversation is often hijacked by voices from both ends of the political spectrum, turning a simple trip to the cinema into a digital battlefield.

At its heart, Dhurandhar offers a high-stakes Indian spy hero in a gritty revenge story set in a relatively realistic, yet unmistakably mainstream world. It skips the James Bond template of our glossy spy universe cliches, complete with romantic subplots between Indian and Pakistani spies.

Popular cinema has always absorbed elements that dominate the public conversation. The themes of nationalism, security, and cross-border conflict have become part of the contemporary Indian public discourse. It is hardly surprising that these concerns find their way into a mainstream action film. To view them only through the lens of propaganda is to ignore the cultural moment in which it was made.

Much of Dhurandhar's appeal lies in its scale and energy: stylised action sequences, a charismatic lead performance, and a narrative built around suspense and revenge. These are the ingredients that typically drive box-office success in the masala format. The film invites audiences to experience adrenaline and catharsis rather than engage in a detailed political argument.

In the past, from Raj Kapoor's socialist dreams to the patriotic fervour of Upkar and Purab Aur Paschim, movies have always reflected the 'status quo' of their era. When Amitabh Bachchan's 'Angry Young Man' fought the system and the smugglers in the 70s, he was a hero of the masses. Today, when Ranveer Singh takes on cross-border terrorism, he's fulfilling the exact same need. Only the scale of the threat has changed.

Given India's actual, documented history with cross-border terrorism from the Parliament attacks to 26/11, using Pakistan for an antagonist base is not an ideological conspiracy; it is a narrative choice rooted in geographic reality.

Honestly, the rising hyper-masculinity and graphic violence in our films like Animal, Gadar 2 or Dhurandhar is unsettling. But their massive success signals this is precisely what audiences are turning up for.

It is heartbreaking that a humane, wonderful film like Sriram Raghavan's Ikkis, which explores the futility of war brilliantly, ends up as a resounding flop despite glowing reviews. It simply suggests a trend that the audience is currently chasing raw adrenaline rather than quiet reflection. Trends do change, but they can rarely be forced.

The Spy Movie Double Standard

By definition, all mainstream spy and action films show one perspective from the hero's side. The audience experiences events through them.

And yes, Pakistan's spy films cast India as the villain. One of their biggest blockbusters, Waar (2013), revolves around Indian agents planning a terror attack in Pakistan. They go as far as depicting extremist Taliban outfits being secretly funded by India. To their audience, that's a gripping thriller.

In the West, James Bond has spent more than sixty years saving the world for the British Crown, mostly through impossible stunts and a fair bit of old-school sexism. Mission Impossible's Ethan Hunt regularly presents the CIA as the thin line between civilisation and chaos. Do we label Top Gun: Maverick as U.S military propaganda in popular discourse? No, the reviews mostly admire the cinematography and enjoy the adrenaline rush in these films. So why deny Dhurandhar the same courtesy?

The Backlash Mostly Centres On Two Specific Lines

Madhavan's character Sanyal (based on NSA Ajit Doval) is dreaming of a future government that "actually cares," (Ek din aisi sarkar aayegi jisey des ki fikr hogi) and Ranveer Singh's declaration 'Ye naya India hai.' It's fair to say these sequences feel like clear, retrospective additions designed to lean into the current political climate. An obvious nod to the popular discourse of the day.

Unfortunately, the film will also be remembered for the severe online trolling of critics who dared to question the film. Entirely unnecessary, yet a grim reminder that this, too, is part of the 'New India' where we've traded civil debate for digital trolling.

Even filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who praised the film's courageous craft, admitted these sequences were his only real issue. Calling Dhurandhar a 'significant' film, Anurag Kashyap added: If you love The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty or House Of Dynamite. They are Oscar-winning propaganda films about the USA. I ignored the two propaganda dialogues and loved the filmmaking and stubbornness of the filmmaker. And Ranveer Singh being my favourite performance.

But honestly, did those two lines really make the film a phenomenon? Remove them, and you still have the same massive hit. In fact, the 'Ek din aisi sarkar aayegi' has already been turned into a meme by many to criticise the government on various issues. That's how audiences work. They take what they want from a film.

The film wins because it doesn't blink, giving the audience exactly what it currently craves: unbridled violence and loud, unapologetic nationalism. Its primary language remains that of spectacle, revenge, and heroism.

In Dhurandhar 2, with the new mantra of "Honsla, Eendhan, Badla" (Courage, Fuel, Vengeance), and an expected four-hour runtime, it seems Aditya Dhar and Ranveer Singh are set to make history all over again. But it is also worth examining the film within the long tradition of the Bollywood masala entertainer rather than treating it purely as a political manifesto.