Bollywood bets on Dhurandhar 2 to script a box office redemption

MUmbai : The bill for the endorse instalment of Dhurandhar which releases on th has a hirsute Ranveer Singh walking grimly through and through go off. It could be an apt metaphor for a crisis-ridden Hindi film industry awaiting salvation.Financially and creatively, 2026 has been dismal for Bollywood. The 32 Hindi films released since January—including the hyper jingoistic Border 2 — have cumulatively earned a measly ₹577 crore, incurring massive losses for producers and stalling new projects in Mumbai.Unsurprisingly — given that the original film amassed ₹1,350 crore to become one of Hindi cinema’s biggest hits — all hopes now rest on Dhurandhar part 2 which has the tagline The Revenge. And the makers are pulling out all stops to get the maximum footfall in theatres. The sequel, with a run time of 3 hours and 55 minutes, will be shown in over 6,000 screens across 4,500 locations in India in five languages — Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. Deepak Sharma who heads distribution at Jio Studios, which is the producer, told HT: “This will be Hindi cinema’s biggest release. We are negotiating for more screens across the country. The first show is expected to start at 6am and we are negotiating with cops and administrations for a last show that can begin as late as 1am.”Given the buzz around the sequel, Jio Studios have also re-released the original film in 1,200 screens across India. “It’s the perfect build-up to the sequel,” says Sharma.“Bollywood has been in an existential crisis since the pandemic,” says NR Pachisia, an old-time producer-exhibitor. “Such is the crisis that there have been no significant new releases in the last three weeks. A lot is riding on the Dhurandhar sequel.”The film’s producers Jio Studios and B62 Studios are treating the film like an entertainment event rather than just a film release. A day ahead of the film’s release on Gudi Padwa and Ugadi, which is a holiday in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka, they have organised paid previews for ₹1,700 per ticket which are already sold out. Subsequently, ticket prices in the multiplexes will go up to ₹3,100, officially, the highest for a film in India.The buzz is that film exhibitors have happily blocked theatres for ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’ for the next six weeks, elbowing out all other releases.But it’s not the exhibitors alone who are looking to cash in. Following the smashing success of the original film’s sound track, Bhushan Kumar’s T series have bought the music rights of the sequel for ₹27 crore. SaReGaMa paid ₹15 crore for the music rights of the original film.“When we heard the soundtrack of the sequel, we instantly knew Shashwat Sachdev’s score has the potential to create a massive musical, cultural and commercial impact. It will be a meaningful addition to our slate,” said T-series boss Bhushan Kumar.And Netflix which was believed to have paid the producers ₹285 crore for the original, lost out on the sequel with Jio Studios deciding that a film produced by it should be released on Jio-Hotstar and not a rival platform, it was decided. Reliance Retail, part of the same group, has also created Dhurandhar-inspired merchandise and clothing.“Conversations leading to great conversions is as good as marketing can get…be it film, food, or fashion. And the Dhurandhar franchise has got it bang on. The Dhurandhar franchise has re-engineered film marketing architecture. The product has been engineered to demand communal viewing: nearly four hours, Dolby-only, 2am shows. The paid premieres, the trailer and music launch — these aren’t just events — they’re conversion tools. And the promotions for the sequel started with the first show of Dhurandhar 1…glimpses of Part 2 seeded right inside Part 1,” says Sandeep Dahiya, Founder and CEO, Branquila Brand Ventures.