As Dhurandhar crossed the Rs 900 crore mark at the global box office within just 19 days of its release, filmmaker-writer-producer Aditya Dhar took pride in the film’s success by resharing multiple Instagram stories praising his work. One such note also referenced a recent video by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, who described the film as “well-made propaganda” and said it was dangerous precisely because of how engaging it is. He had compared Dhar and director Vivek Agnihotri’s cinema. While Aditya did not directly respond to Rathee’s statements, his resharing of the note appeared to be a cryptic dig at the YouTuber.
Aditya reshared several stories on Instagram, one of which read: “History is being rewritten in Indian cinema. By men and women who have fire in their hearts and love for their country. They wanted to tell a story to their country people. The best part of the box office success of Dhurandhar is that it’s organic. All those crying ‘corporate bookings’ in the week of release have suddenly become silent now.”
Aditya Dhar’s Instagram Story.
The note further stated: “A video maker tried to criticise it recently and got swept away by a wave of criticism against him. Dhurandhar is a craze today. A tsunami which will sweep away any other release in its path. A tsunami which will roll into 2026. It is not going to stop soon.”
Praising the filmmaker and his team, the story added: “A tsunami created by a young director from Delhi, Aditya Dhar, and his team of actors and technicians. All united in vision and approach, passionate about storytelling and immense confidence in this director’s work.”
While Aditya Dhar did not comment on the praise, his decision to reshare the post was widely interpreted as a subtle response to Dhruv Rathee’s criticism.
Earlier, in a video discussing the film, Dhruv Rathee said: “Well-made propaganda is more dangerous. Films like The Taj Story and The Bengal Films were not dangerous, kyunki wo bakwaas films thi (because they were bad films). But Dhurandhar is an engaging film.”
He also expressed disappointment over the film repeatedly emphasising that the events shown are real.
“It shows the real footage from the 26/11 attacks. The real audio recordings of conversations between the terrorists and their handlers have been used. It also uses real-life gangsters and cops based in Pakistan’s Lyari.”
Rathee accused the makers of mixing facts with fiction and turning it into a “gospel truth.”
Previously, actor Hrithik Roshan—who had earlier supported Yami Gautam’s criticism of the “so-called trend of giving money to ensure good ‘hype’ (even before the film is released), until you pay ‘them’ money feels nothing but kind of extortion”—praised Dhurandhar while questioning the responsibilities of filmmakers.
In his review, Hrithik wrote: “I love cinema, I love people who climb into a vortex and let the story take control, spin them, shake them until what they want to say is purged out of them onto that screen. DHURANDHAR is an example of that. Loved the storytelling. It’s cinema. I may disagree with the politics of it, and argue about the responsibilities us filmmakers should bear as citizens of the world. Nevertheless, can’t ignore how I loved and learnt from this one as a student of cinema. Amazing.”
Both Yami Gautam and Aditya Dhar are yet to react to Hrithik’s comments. However, actors Ankit Sagar and Danish Pandor came out in defence of the film. Ankit stated, “That was the situation in India at the time,” while Danish said, “As far as the political aspect goes, these are all the research things. Even if you take into consideration the 26/11 attack, you can’t deny that. It had happened and the voice notes of handlers and terrorists were there on the screen. It literally gives you goosebumps and, at the same time, disheartens you as a person… what exactly have they done.”
In 18 days, the film had earned Rs 876.50 crore, surpassing Kantara: Chapter 1 to become the highest-grossing Indian film of 2025. With an additional collection of Rs 17.25 crore, Dhurandhar has now crossed the Rs 900 crore mark worldwide, with overseas collections exceeding Rs 10 crore on day 19.
The makers have announced that the second part of the film will release on March 19. Dhurandhar features Ranveer Singh, Sara Arjun, R Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, Akshaye Khanna, Sanjay Dutt, and Rakesh Bedi, among others.