When Dhurandhar Director Aditya Dhar Revealed His Dyslexia Struggles: 'I Still Read Slow, It's A Miracle I'm Here'

Aditya Dhar is riding high on the success of Dhurandhar. Headlined by Ranveer Singh, the film has become the highest-grossing Indian film of 2025 by crossing the Rs 850 crore-mark at the worldwide box office. 

While the film continues to grab massive attention, there is also growing curiosity around the personal journey of the man behind it – director Aditya Dhar.

Not many know about Aditya Dhar's struggles with dyslexia.

In a 2019 interview with Robin Bhatt for the Screenwriters Association, Aditya Dhar said, “I shouldn't have been here. It's a miracle I'm here. I was severely dyslexic, I couldn't read. Even today if I have to read, it takes me almost a whole day to read 2-3 pages. I was academically weak, but was very interested in dramatics.”

Speaking about his delayed debut, the director revealed, “I was supposed to mark my debut in 2013 first and attempted again in 2016, but it could be possible only in 2019.”

One of the major reasons for this delay, according to Aditya Dhar, was betrayal from within the industry.

“I have been betrayed a lot of times. People have stolen my scripts and ended up making Rs 100 crore films from the same scripts. I gave up so many times. When I met Robin Bhatt and Priyadarshan who motivated me and saw something in me. My older brother (Lokesh Dhar) too supported me.”

Despite the encouragement, setbacks continued. “A lot of times my films were shelved just 15 days before the shoot day,” he recalled.

Elaborating on one such instance, Aditya Dhar said, “I was making a film called Raat Baki in 2016. It starred Katrina Kaif and Fawad Khan in the lead roles with Dharma producing the film. In the same year, the news of the Uri attack came and people started to throw stones at Dharma office which forced Karan Johar to declare that he won't work with Pakistani actors.”

Aditya Dhar eventually made his directorial debut with Uri: The Surgical Strike. The 2019 film, headlined by Vicky Kaushal, turned out to be a massive box office success and went on to win four National Awards.

Also Read | Before Sitaare Zameen Par, How Aamir Khan's Taare Zameen Par Made India Wake Up And Take Note Of Dyslexia