Aditya Dhar’s “Dhurandhar” duology has emerged as a landmark achievement for Hindi cinema, marking a dramatic shift in Bollywood’s thematic preoccupations and political leanings. The first instalment, released in December 2025, became the biggest box office success in India prior to being divided into two parts during post-production. Now, with the follow-up “Dhurandhar: The Revenge” currently dominating cinemas across the country, the espionage thriller is poised to cement what various commentators regard as a worrying change in Indian popular cinema: the comprehensive adoption of patriotic-inflected tales that openly seek state approval and leverage national pride. The films’ overt blending of entertainment and governmental messaging has rekindled debates about Bollywood’s relationship with political power, especially during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration.
From Intelligence Thriller to Political Statement
The storytelling framework of the “Dhurandhar” duology demonstrates a calculated progression from entertainment to ideological advocacy. The first film strategically set before Modi’s 2014 electoral triumph, establishes its political foundation through characters who repeatedly voice their desperation for a figure prepared to pursue forceful measures against both foreign and domestic threats. This temporal positioning enables the story to frame Modi’s later ascent to leadership as the solution for the country’s aspirations, transforming what seems like a standard espionage film into an elaborate endorsement of the ruling government’s stance on national security and military aggression.
The sequel amplifies this promotional agenda by presenting Modi himself as an near-constant supporting character through strategically placed news footage and government broadcasts. Rather than enabling the fictional narrative to operate on its own, the filmmakers have threaded the Prime Minister’s real likeness and rhetoric throughout the story, substantially obscuring the boundaries between entertainment and state communication. This calculated narrative approach distinguishes the “Dhurandhar” films from earlier examples of Bollywood’s ideological affiliation, advancing them from understated ideological messaging to explicit governmental advocacy that transforms cinema into a vehicle for political legitimacy.
- First film calls for a strong leader ahead of Modi’s electoral triumph
- Sequel presents Modi as a supporting character through news clips
- Narrative blends fictional heroism with government policy endorsement
- Films erase the distinction between entertainment and state propaganda intentionally
The Evolution of Bollywood’s Ideological Shift
The commercial success of the “Dhurandhar” duology indicates a significant shift in Bollywood’s connection to nationalist thought and state power. Whilst the Indian film industry has traditionally upheld strong connections to political structures, the explicit character of these films constitutes a meaningful change in how directly cinema now conveys governmental messaging. The franchise’s box office dominance—with the first instalment emerging as the highest-grossing Hindi-language film in India following its December launch—shows that audiences are increasingly receptive to entertainment that seamlessly integrates political propaganda. This receptiveness indicates a basic shift in what Indian audiences consider acceptable film content, moving beyond the subtle ideological positioning of prior cinema toward direct governmental promotion.
The implications of this transition go beyond simple entertainment metrics. By attaining remarkable box office gains whilst explicitly merging fictional heroism with state policy, the “Dhurandhar” films have successfully established a new template for Indian film production. Future filmmakers now possess a proven blueprint for merging patriotic feeling with box office returns, arguably creating propagandistic cinema as a viable and lucrative category. This development demonstrates larger cultural shifts within India, where the boundaries between entertainment, nationalism, and state messaging have become increasingly porous, prompting critical questions about cinema’s role in forming political consciousness and sense of nationhood.
A Pattern of Patriotic Cinema
The “Dhurandhar” duology does not appear in a vacuum but rather constitutes the apotheosis of a expanding movement within modern Indian film. Recent years have seen a surge of films utilising nationalist rhetoric and anti-Muslim narratives, including “The Kashmir Files,” “The Kerala Story,” and “The Taj Story.” These productions possess a common ideological framework that reinterprets Indian history through a Hindu-centric lens whilst portraying Muslims as fundamental dangers. However, what distinguishes the “Dhurandhar” films from these predecessors is their superior cinematic execution and production quality, which give their propaganda a sheen of artistic credibility that more artless Islamophobic films do not possess.
This distinction proves particularly problematic because the “Dhurandhar” duology’s cinematic craft and popular appeal conceal its essentially propagandist nature. Where films like “The Kashmir Files” function as crude ideological instruments, the “Dhurandhar” series employs filmmaking expertise to present its nationalist agenda appealing to mass audiences. The franchise thus represents a troubling progression: propaganda elevated through professional filmmaking into something approaching government-endorsed filmmaking. This refined method to ideological content may exert greater influence in shaping public opinion than more obviously inflammatory films, as audiences may embrace ideological content when it is presented in compelling entertainment.
Cinematic Technique Versus Political Communication
The “Dhurandhar” duology’s most pernicious quality lies in its combination of cinematic mastery with nationalist ideology. Director Aditya Dhar displays impressive command of the action thriller genre, constructing sequences of visceral intensity and plot propulsion that captivate audiences. This cinematic proficiency becomes problematic precisely because it functions as a vehicle for nationalist propaganda, reshaping what might otherwise be blunt political content into something far more compelling and influential. The films’ refined visual presentation, accomplished visual composition, and powerful acting by actors like Ranveer Singh lend credibility to their fundamentally divisive narratives, making their political content more acceptable to wider audiences who might otherwise spurn blatantly incendiary messaging.
This convergence of creative excellence and propagandistic intent presents a distinctive difficulty for film criticism and cultural analysis. Audiences frequently struggle to separate artistic enjoyment from political analysis, especially when entertainment appeal proves genuinely compelling. The “Dhurandhar” films leverage this conflict deliberately, relying on the notion that audiences engaged with exciting action scenes will absorb their underlying messages without critical scrutiny. The risk intensifies because the films’ technical accomplishments grant them legitimacy within critical conversation, enabling their nationalist ideology to circulate more widely and shape public consciousness more effectively than earlier, more simplistic examples ever could.
| Film | Narrative Strength |
|---|---|
| Dhurandhar | Espionage intrigue with compelling character development and moral ambiguity |
| Dhurandhar: The Revenge | Political thriller capitalising on nationalist sentiment and state apparatus mythology |
| The Kashmir Files | Historical narrative lacking cinematic sophistication or narrative complexity |
- Professional quality transforms propagandistic content into popular media
- Sophisticated filmmaking masks ideological messaging from rigorous analysis
- Filmmaking skill lifts nationalist rhetoric past raw inflammatory speech
The Troubling Ramifications for Indian Cinema
The commercial and critical success of the “Dhurandhar” duology suggests a worrying trajectory for Indian cinema, one in which patriotic fervor progressively shapes box office performance and cultural relevance. Where once Bollywood served as a forum for varied storytelling and differing opinions, the ascendancy of these patriotic suspense films suggests a contraction in acceptable discourse. The films’ remarkable achievement indicates that audiences are growing more accepting of entertainment that explicitly validates state power and positions dissent as treachery. This shift reflects wider social division, yet cinema’s unique capacity to shape public imagination means its ideological leanings carry significant influence in shaping popular opinion and political attitudes.
The consequences extend beyond simple viewing habits. When a country’s film industry consistently produces stories that glorify state power and demonise external enemies, it runs the danger of ossifying public opinion and limiting critical engagement with complex geopolitical realities. The “Dhurandhar” movies demonstrate this threat by portraying their worldview not as a single viewpoint amongst others, but as objective truth combined with production quality and star power. For commentators and media analysts, this constitutes a pivotal turning point: Indian cinema’s transition from sometimes serving government objectives to deliberately operating as a propaganda machine, albeit one far more sophisticated than its earlier incarnations.
Propaganda Dressed up as Entertainment
The troubling nature of the “Dhurandhar” duology lies in its intentional concealment of political messaging within layers of cinematic craft. Director Aditya Dhar crafts complex action scenes and character arcs that demand viewer engagement, effectively distracting from the films’ constant endorsement of nationalist ideology and blind faith in state institutions. The protagonist’s journey, purportedly a personal quest for redemption, functions simultaneously as a exaltation of governmental power and military might. By incorporating propagandistic content within entertaining narratives, the films achieve what cruder political messaging cannot: they reshape ideology into spectacle, rendering viewers complicit in their own ideological conditioning whilst regarding themselves as merely entertained.
This strategy demonstrates particularly compelling because it operates beneath active perception. Viewers absorbed in exhilarating action sequences and poignant character development absorb the films’ underlying messages—that decisive governmental control is required, that adversaries lack redemption, that self-sacrifice for national priorities is worthy—without recognising the manipulation taking place. The polished camera work, engaging portrayals, and genuine technical accomplishment add legitimacy to these narratives, causing them to seem less like persuasive messaging and more like authentic storytelling. This surface credibility enables the films’ divisive ideology to penetrate popular awareness far more effectively than openly divisive messaging ever could.
What This Signifies for Global Audiences
The global success of the “Dhurandhar” duology raises a concerning precedent for how state-backed cinema can cross geographic borders and cultural differences. As streaming services like Netflix distribute these films globally, audiences in Western countries and elsewhere encounter advanced propagandistic content wrapped in the familiar language of espionage thrillers and action cinema. Without the understanding of cultural and political contexts needed to interpret the films’ nationalist messaging, overseas audiences may unknowingly absorb and validate Indian state ideology, substantially broadening the reach of propagandistic content far outside their intended domestic audience. This globalisation of politically charged content poses critical concerns about platform accountability and the moral dimensions of circulating state-backed films to unsuspecting international audiences.
Furthermore, the “Dhurandhar” films create a troubling template that other countries might attempt to emulate. If state-aligned cinema can attain both critical praise and commercial success whilst promoting nationalist agendas, other states—particularly those with authoritarian leanings—may acknowledge cinema as a distinctly potent tool for ideological propagation. The films demonstrate that propaganda need not be crude or obvious to be effective; rather, when paired with authentic creative talent and significant funding, it becomes virtually unavoidable. For global audiences and movie reviewers, the duology’s success suggests a worrying prospect where entertainment and government messaging become progressively harder to distinguish.
