Movie · 2025 · Action, Crime, Thriller · 3h 32m · NR · HI
Curator score: 5.7/10 (237.1K ratings)
Overview
A mysterious traveler slips into the heart of Karachi's underbelly and rises through its ranks with lethal precision, only to tear the notorious ISI-Underworld nexus apart from within.
Ratings
Curator score: 5.7/10
IMDb: 8.3/10
Letterboxd: 3.56/5
TMDB: 7.1/10
Director
Aditya Dhar
Production
B62 Studios, Jio Studios
Cast
Ranveer Singh, Akshaye Khanna, R. Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, Sanjay Dutt, Sara Arjun, Rakesh Bedi, Danish Pandor, Gaurav Gera, Naveen Kaushik, Saumya Tandon, Manav Gohil, Akash Khurana, Aliraza Namdar, Ankit Sagar, Bimal Oberoi, Asif Ali Haider Khan, Ashwin Dhar, Gitikka Ganju Dhar, Rouhallah Gazi
Where to watch
Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A muscular, high-voltage spy-crime thriller with standout performances and a vivid sense of Karachi’s criminal underworld, but it also leans hard into chest-thumping rhetoric, uneven character depth, and a long runtime that can feel overstuffed. If you want scale, swagger, and a star-driven espionage spectacle, it delivers; if you want nuance or a tightly earned spy narrative, it may frustrate.
Best for
fans of big-screen Indian action thrillers
viewers who like undercover/inside-the-ranks crime stories
audiences drawn to charismatic villain performances
people okay with political intensity and melodrama
Skip if
you want subtle, character-first spy storytelling
you’re sensitive to overt nationalist messaging
you prefer lean runtimes and tightly plotted thrillers
you dislike films that set up Part 2-style payoffs
Overview
Dhurandhar plays like a swaggering infiltration thriller that wants to be both a spy movie and a criminal underworld epic. Its strongest asset is atmosphere: the film drops you into a dangerous, unfamiliar ecosystem and keeps the tension alive with action, music, and a sense of escalating menace.
Worth noting
The cast gives it real force, especially in the scenes built around presence and intimidation rather than exposition. The film’s best stretches are the ones that let the power games breathe, where the undercover premise and gangland politics feel genuinely combustible.
Bottom line
But the movie is also weighed down by its own grandstanding. It often prefers slogans and ideological signaling to character development, and the long chaptered structure can make the momentum feel uneven. By the end, it feels more like a forceful setup for a larger saga than a fully satisfying standalone thriller.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Anurag Kashyap · 4737 likes
A spy can not be a spy if he doesnt have hate and angst against the enemy state . A soldier also can not be soldier if He doesnt have angst against the enemystate. . On those two counts I have no issues. I have two sequences that I hava problem with. Madhwan saying - ek. Din aisa ayega jab jo desh ke bare me koi sochaga and another in the end when ranveer says ye naya India hai. Take… more A spy can not be a spy if he doesnt have hate and angst against the enemy state . A soldier also can not be soldier if He doesnt have angst against the enemystate. . On those two counts I have no issues. I have two sequences that I hava problem with. Madhwan saying - ek. Din aisa ayega jab jo desh ke bare me koi sochaga and another in the end when ranveer says ye naya India hai. Take… more
Nikhil (4.5★) · 2357 likes
imagine you're in the middle of making out, whispering her "i'm gonna blast you tonight baby" then suddenly you remember sanchar saathi app is installed in your phone, and ajit doval is already outside your house with a cigarette in his hand !
Tarush Harris (4.5★) · 2285 likes
call him akshaye KHAANA because he ATE
Maddog (4★) · 1287 likes
Akshaye Khanna's Dhurandhar.
adi (4.5★) · 1286 likes
the biggest takeaways from dhurandhar :
1. akshaye khanna’s walk
2. mad mad music
3. akshaye khanna’s smirk
4. the bike chase scene
5. akshaye khanna’s whole existence actually