Having stirred controversy in South Asia, mainly in its home country of India, the divisive spy blockbuster Dhurandhar has largely flown under the radar domestically. Despite playing in a maximum of only 390 theaters nationwide — for context, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is still playing in over 3,500 locations — Dhurandhar has quietly overpowered a handful of more popular movies. The epic spy movie, which runs three and a half hours, has not only grossed more domestically than the Oscar frontrunner Hamnet, starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, but has alsomade more than the buzzy World War 2 action sequel Sisu: Road to Revenge. Dhurandhar follows an Indian spy who infiltrates the criminal underbelly of Karachi, in Pakistan, and provides delicate intelligence to his handlers at great personal risk.

The movie has made nearly $8 million domestically, compared to the $7 million that Hamnet is sitting on, and the $4.5 million that Sisu 2 seems to have concluded its run with. Directed by Aditya Dhar, Dhurandhar, which roughly translates to “stalwart,” stars Ranveer Singh in the lead role, with veteran Bollywood stars such as R. Madhavan, Akshaye Khanna, and Sanjay Dutt appearing as supporting characters. The movie has grossed over $65 million at the worldwide box office, with the majority of its revenue coming from India, where it’s set to become one of the year’s top-grossing hits. That said, Dhurandhar has been highly controversial for its perceived propagandist tone, which paints the Muslim minority in a rather negative light and puts the ruling Hindu nationalist political party on a pedestal.

‘Dhurandhar’ Has Been Embraced by Audiences

A Hindi-language “Bollywood” movie, Dhurandhar is sitting at a 54% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. However, the film’s audience score is perched at a “verified hot” 96%. By comparison, Sisu 2 holds a 94% score on RT, where the critics’ consensus reads, “Sisu: Road to Revenge consistently and creatively kills the competition.” Directed by Jalmari Helander, the movie features Jorma Tommila as the Nazi-beating former commando that audiences embraced so wholeheartedly in the first Sisu, which debuted in 2022. This time around, his adversaries are the Soviets. It remains unclear whether Sisu 3 will ever materialize, but Dhurandhar 2 will be released in March, completing the epic two-part saga at over six hours. You can now watch Sisu 2 at home. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

Release Date

November 21, 2025

Runtime

89 minutes

Director

Jalmari Helander

Writers

Jalmari Helander

Producers

Petri Jokiranta, Mike Goodridge