Blood. Torture. Rage. Revenge.
Four words that barely scratch the surface of what just exploded onto the internet. On November 17, 2025, the Dhurandhar trailer dropped like a grenade in the middle of Bollywood’s usually sanitized action space. And within 24 hours, it became the most talked about, most controversial, and most polarizing four minutes of footage this year.
Ranveer Singh, the man who danced his way through Gully Boy and romanced his way through Ram Leela, has transformed into something unrecognizable. Long hair. Thick beard. Cigarette dangling from his lips. Eyes filled with a fury that feels less like acting and more like genuine wrath.
The tagline calls him “The Wrath of God.” After watching the trailer, that might be underselling it.
Director Aditya Dhar, who made waves with Uri The Surgical Strike, has clearly decided that subtlety is for amateurs. This isn’t your typical patriotic action film with sanitized violence and feel good nationalism. This is raw, brutal, and so graphically violent that one of India’s most prominent content creators compared it to ISIS execution videos.
Yes. You read that correctly. ISIS execution videos.
Welcome to the most controversial Bollywood film of 2025 and it hasn’t even released yet. Tag your friend who thought Animal was too violent. They haven’t seen anything yet.
The Trailer That Broke The Internet In 24 Hours
The four minute Dhurandhar trailer currently sits at over 5 million views and counting. Every frame is drenched in blood, rage, and the kind of violence that makes you physically uncomfortable watching it.
The footage opens with Ranveer Singh’s character being introduced as a spy who infiltrates Pakistan to dismantle terrorism from within. But this isn’t a clean, James Bond style espionage film with gadgets and charm. This is dirty, gritty, and horrifyingly realistic.
Torture sequences dominate the trailer. People getting beaten. Characters screaming in agony. Blood splattering across walls. Knives piercing flesh. The kind of graphic imagery that usually gets edited out of mainstream Bollywood releases.
The background score pounds like a war drum. The cinematography is dark, shadowy, and claustrophobic. Every shot feels designed to make audiences squirm. And Ranveer Singh, normally Bollywood’s most energetic and charming star, becomes an apex predator hunting his enemies with methodical brutality.
His dialogue delivery is chilling. “Ghayal hoon isliye Ghatak hoon,” he growls. Translated: I’m wounded, that’s why I’m deadly. It’s not a heroic declaration. It’s a threat.
The ensemble cast gets moments to shine. Sanjay Dutt plays SP Chaudhary Aslam, based on a real Pakistani police officer known for eliminating terrorists. Akshaye Khanna portrays Rehman Dakait, a notorious criminal turned ally. R Madhavan appears as the National Security Advisor, likely based on Ajit Doval. Arjun Rampal rounds out the star studded lineup.
But make no mistake. This is Ranveer Singh’s show. And he’s weaponizing every ounce of his acting ability to create something audiences have never seen from him before.
Share this with everyone who thinks Bollywood can’t do dark, gritty action. They’re about to be proven very wrong.
Aditya Dhar Is Not Playing Safe
Remember Uri The Surgical Strike? Aditya Dhar’s 2019 directorial debut that became a massive blockbuster earning over 245 crore rupees domestically? That film about the 2016 surgical strikes India conducted in response to the Uri terror attack?
That movie feels like a Disney production compared to Dhurandhar.
Uri had action. It had tension. It had moments of violence. But it was fundamentally a patriotic crowd pleaser designed to make audiences cheer. Dhurandhar, based on the trailer alone, is designed to make audiences recoil.
Dhar won the National Film Award for Best Director for Uri. He earned multiple Filmfare, Screen, and IIFA Awards. He could have easily repeated that formula, made Uri 2.0, collected his box office earnings, and called it a day.
Instead, he chose violence. Literal, graphic, unrelenting violence.
The decision to show torture sequences so explicitly is shocking. Bollywood has historically shied away from graphic violence, preferring stylized action where heroes barely get scratched and villains die cleanly. Even films labeled as violent like Gangs of Wasseypur or Animal used their brutality for shock value within a larger narrative.
Dhurandhar seems to marinate in its violence. The torture isn’t quick. It’s prolonged. The pain feels real. Characters don’t die heroically. They die screaming.
This is either genius filmmaking that will redefine Bollywood action cinema, or career suicide that will alienate mainstream audiences. There’s almost no middle ground.
And Aditya Dhar seems perfectly fine with that gamble.
The True Story That Inspired This Nightmare
Dhurandhar is officially described as “inspired by incredible true events.” That’s Bollywood code for we took real stories and dramatized them beyond recognition.
But the source material here is genuinely fascinating.
R Madhavan reportedly plays a character based on Ajit Doval, India’s current National Security Advisor and former Intelligence Bureau officer. Doval is a legendary figure in Indian intelligence circles, having conducted numerous undercover operations in Pakistan during the 1970s and 1980s. He infiltrated terrorist networks, gathered crucial intelligence, and survived situations that would destroy most people.
Ranveer Singh’s character appears to be inspired by Major Mohit Sharma, an Indian Army officer who went undercover in Kashmir in 2005. Sharma adopted the alias Iftikhar Bhatt, grew out his hair and beard, and infiltrated the terrorist organization Hizbul Mujahideen. He convinced terrorists he wanted revenge against the Indian Army for allegedly killing his brother.
The fabricated story worked. Sharma gained their trust and gathered intelligence on their networks, operations, and leadership. When his cover was eventually blown, he managed to kill two high value terrorist targets, Abu Torara and Abu Sabzar, before being martyred in 2009.
That’s the kind of real life courage Dhurandhar is drawing from. Except the trailer suggests the film will focus heavily on the psychological toll, the physical torture, and the moral compromises these spies had to make.
It’s not a glorified action fantasy. It’s a descent into hell disguised as a spy thriller.
Don’t miss what the massive controversy says about Bollywood’s boundaries next.
The Dhruv Rathee Controversy That Exploded Everything
Within hours of the trailer release, Dhruv Rathee, one of India’s most prominent YouTubers and political commentators with millions of followers, absolutely destroyed the film on social media.
His critique wasn’t mild. It was scathing.
Rathee posted on X (formerly Twitter): “Aditya Dhar has truly crossed the limits of vulgarity in Bollywood. The trailer for his new film contains so much violence, bloodshed, and torture that watching it is like watching ISIS beheading videos and then calling it entertainment.”
ISIS beheading videos. Let that comparison sink in for a moment.
He continued: “In his greed for money, he has poisoned the minds of the younger generation, making them insensitive and careless towards bloodshed.”
Rathee directly called out the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to take action, questioning how such graphic content could be approved for mainstream release. He accused Dhar of prioritizing profit over social responsibility and warned about desensitizing young audiences to extreme violence.
The backlash was immediate and divided. Some agreed with Rathee, saying Bollywood is racing toward increasingly graphic content without considering psychological impacts. Others defended the film, arguing artistic freedom allows filmmakers to explore dark themes and that adults can handle mature content.
The debate mirrors the controversy that surrounded Ranbir Kapoor’s Animal, which faced similar criticism for glorifying toxic masculinity and extreme violence. Animal became a massive box office success despite the backlash, proving that controversy doesn’t necessarily hurt commercial prospects.
But Rathee’s ISIS comparison takes things to another level. That’s not saying the film is too violent. That’s saying it resembles terrorist propaganda. That’s questioning whether this type of content should exist at all.
Aditya Dhar and the Dhurandhar team haven’t officially responded to Rathee’s critique yet. Their silence is strategic. Any response either validates the criticism or escalates the controversy further.
Either way, Dhurandhar is now the most talked about film in India. And sometimes, any publicity is good publicity.
A Three Hour Runtime That’s Either Brilliant Or Insane
According to reports from Bollywood Hungama, Dhurandhar’s current runtime sits at approximately three hours and five minutes. Final duration will be locked within the next 10 days, but even if trimmed, this will be Ranveer Singh’s longest film to date.
Three hours of graphic spy thriller violence is an absolutely bold choice.
Modern Bollywood has trended toward tighter runtimes. Even epic films like Pathaan (146 minutes) and Jawan (169 minutes) stayed under three hours. Going longer risks audience fatigue, especially for intense action thrillers that maintain high tension throughout.
But sources close to the production insist the length is necessary. One insider told Bollywood Hungama: “Dhurandhar has a vast and expansive storyline. The focus is on Ranveer Singh’s character and what he undergoes, while other actors also play crucial parts. Director Aditya Dhar is clear that he does not want to rush through the narrative but, at the same time, wants to ensure that every scene engages and excites the audience.”
That’s either confidence or hubris. Three hours of sustained intensity could create an immersive experience unlike anything Bollywood has attempted. Or it could exhaust audiences who came for action and end up watching a psychological endurance test.
The comparison to classic epics like Once Upon a Time in America (229 minutes) or modern long films like Killers of the Flower Moon (206 minutes) is inevitable. But those are slow burn character studies. Dhurandhar is marketed as a high octane action thriller. Maintaining that energy for three hours is incredibly difficult.
If Aditya Dhar pulls it off, he’ll have created a landmark in Indian action cinema. If he doesn’t, critics will tear apart every unnecessary minute.
The Star Cast That Guarantees Box Office Fire
Let’s talk about the ensemble Aditya Dhar assembled. This isn’t just a Ranveer Singh vehicle. This is a murderer’s row of Bollywood talent.
Ranveer Singh is obviously the centerpiece. After delivering a solid performance in Rohit Shetty’s Singham Again, he’s clearly hungry to prove his dramatic range. The physical transformation alone is impressive. But can he sustain a three hour performance that requires intense emotional darkness? That’s the billion rupee question.
Sanjay Dutt as SP Chaudhary Aslam is inspired casting. The real Chaudhary Aslam Khan was a Pakistani police officer in Karachi who became legendary for his encounter killings of terrorists and criminals. Dutt has built a career playing tough guys and morally complex characters. This role feels tailor made for him.
R Madhavan playing a character based on Ajit Doval is fascinating. Madhavan typically does understated, intelligent performances. As the National Security Advisor pulling strings behind the scenes, he could provide the film’s strategic brain to Ranveer’s brutal brawn.
Akshaye Khanna as Rehman Dakait is the wildcard. The real Rehman Dakait was one of Karachi’s most notorious gangsters. Khanna hasn’t done a role this dark in years. His presence suggests moral ambiguity and complex character dynamics.
Arjun Rampal rounds out the main cast. He’s proven he can do intense action (Rock On, Ra One) and morally grey characters (Daddy). His exact role remains mysterious from the trailer, but he appears to be an antagonist or complicated ally.
This cast has collective box office power. But more importantly, they have acting chops to potentially elevate what could be a simple action film into something genuinely compelling.
December 5 Release Date Is Strategic Brilliance
Dhurandhar releases December 5, 2025. That’s early December, right before the year end holiday season kicks into full gear.
The positioning is smart. It avoids the Diwali blockbuster season that was dominated by Singham Again and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3. It comes out before Christmas releases that typically target family audiences. It has the December opening weekend entirely to itself.
More importantly, December has become surprisingly lucrative for adult oriented action films. Dunki released in December 2023. Tiger 3 released in November 2023. The window works if you’re targeting male audiences looking for intense theatrical experiences.
The December release also suggests confidence. Filmmakers dump movies they’re unsure about into crowded weekends hoping to grab quick cash before collapsing. Solo December releases signal the studio believes this film can sustain multiple weeks through word of mouth.
Jio Studios and B62 Studios are backing this with serious money. The production value visible in the trailer alone suggests a massive budget. They wouldn’t release in December unless they believed Dhurandhar could become the year’s final blockbuster.
Early December also positions it perfectly for award consideration if it receives critical acclaim alongside commercial success. The National Film Awards deadline would include it for the next cycle.
Everything about this release strategy screams ambition.
The Question Nobody Wants To Ask
Here’s the uncomfortable reality. Dhurandhar is being marketed as based on true events about Indian intelligence officers fighting terrorism. The trailer is drowning in Pakistani villains, torture sequences, and graphic violence all justified by nationalist sentiment.
In the current political climate, that’s either perfectly timed or incredibly problematic depending on your perspective.
Films like Uri worked because they balanced patriotism with restraint. The violence served the story without overwhelming it. Dhurandhar seems to be the violence, with story wrapped around it.
When content creator Dhruv Rathee compared it to ISIS propaganda, he wasn’t just criticizing graphic content. He was questioning whether this type of nationalistic violence porn serves any purpose beyond making money off people’s worst instincts.
But here’s the counterargument. Art is supposed to make people uncomfortable. War is horrifying. Espionage involves morally compromised situations. Pretending spies are clean cut heroes doing tidy work is dishonest. Maybe showing the brutal reality of what intelligence officers endure is actually more honest than sanitized versions.
The debate comes down to this: Does showing graphic violence in service of a true story educate audiences about harsh realities? Or does it exploit trauma for entertainment?
Dhurandhar will force audiences to grapple with that question. And the answer will probably depend on individual tolerance for violence and nationalism.
What This Means For Bollywood
If Dhurandhar succeeds commercially, it will permanently change what Bollywood action films can show. The boundaries will shift. More filmmakers will push toward graphic content. The sanitized action of the 1990s and 2000s will seem quaint in comparison.
If it fails, studios will learn that audiences have limits. That controversy doesn’t always translate to ticket sales. That three hour violent thrillers are too niche for mainstream success.
Either way, this film matters. It represents a crossroads for Hindi cinema. How much violence is too much? How dark can mainstream blockbusters go? At what point does artistic freedom become irresponsible content creation?
These aren’t easy questions. And Dhurandhar isn’t offering easy answers.
Drop a comment: Will you watch Dhurandhar in theaters? Is the violence too much or exactly what Bollywood needs? Share this with everyone debating whether to see it opening weekend.
Follow for more updates on the most controversial films reshaping Indian cinema. Because December 5 is going to be explosive. Literally.
When the director of Uri makes something this brutal, you either trust his vision or question his judgment. There’s no in between. And that’s exactly what makes Dhurandhar the most fascinating Bollywood release of 2025.
