December 5, 2025. Aditya Dhar — the man who gave us Uri: The Surgical Strike and single-handedly made “How’s the josh?” a national catchphrase — walks back into Indian cinema with a 214-minute spy thriller set in the back alleys of Karachi’s Lyari neighbourhood. The film is called Dhurandhar. Ranveer Singh plays an undercover RAW agent. Akshaye Khanna plays a terrifyingly calm gang lord. And somewhere in that sprawling, violent, chest-thumping epic, a character named Uzair Baloch appears — played by Danish Pandor — as the gang’s cold-blooded second-in-command.
- Dhurandhar: Quick Stats Table
- The Real Story: Lyari, Rehman Dakait, and Uzair Baloch
- The Uzair Baloch Character: Danish Pandor’s Breakout Role
- The Controversies: Baloch Community, Gulf Ban, and the Propaganda Debate
- Full Cast List
- Film vs. Reality: What Dhurandhar Changed and What It Kept
- 3 Things Most Viewers Completely Missed About Dhurandhar
- 1. Akshaye Khanna’s Fa9la Entry Was Entirely Improvised
- 2. The Film Was Partially Shot in Thailand Doubling as Pakistan
- 3. Part 2 Is the Eighth Longest Indian Film Ever Made
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Dhurandhar based on a true story?
- Who plays Uzair Baloch in Dhurandhar?
- Why was Dhurandhar banned in Gulf countries?
- Why did they mute the word “Baloch” in the re-released version?
- How much did Dhurandhar earn at the box office?
- Final Verdict: Why Dhurandhar Is More Important Than Its Box Office
Within days, every Indian entertainment forum and Pakistani news outlet was asking the same question: who is Uzair Baloch, and how much of this is actually real? I have been covering Bollywood for over twenty years, and I have rarely seen a film generate this specific kind of curiosity — where audiences are simultaneously asking about the movie and about the real-world story underneath it. So let me break both down for you. The film. The reality. The controversy. And why this duology is one of the most important pieces of Indian cinema in years — propaganda label and all.
Dhurandhar: Quick Stats Table
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Film Title | Dhurandhar (Part 1) | Dhurandhar: The Revenge (Part 2) |
| Director | Aditya Dhar |
| Producer | Jyoti Deshpande, Aditya Dhar, Lokesh Dhar |
| Production Banners | Jio Studios, B62 Studios |
| Part 1 Release | December 5, 2025 |
| Part 2 Release | March 19, 2026 (Gudi Padwa / Ugadi / Eid) |
| Part 1 Runtime | 214 minutes (after CBFC cuts) |
| Part 2 Runtime | 229 minutes |
| CBFC Certificate | A (Adults Only) — strong violence |
| Worldwide Box Office (Part 1) | ₹1,350.83 crore ($160 million USD) |
| Part 2 Day 1 Collection | ₹102.55 crore net across 21,728 shows |
| Overseas (Part 1) | ₹293.03 crore — topped ₹200 crore in overseas alone |
| Gulf GCC Countries | De facto banned in all GCC countries |
| Real Uzair Baloch (actor) | Danish Pandor |
| Rank in Indian Cinema History | Highest-grossing Indian film of 2025; 2nd highest-grossing Hindi film all-time; 4th highest-grossing Indian film all-time |
| Inspiration | Operation Lyari, IC-814 hijacking (1999), 2001 Parliament attack, 2008 Mumbai attacks |
The Real Story: Lyari, Rehman Dakait, and Uzair Baloch
Before the film, there was Lyari. And before Lyari became a Bollywood set piece, it was one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods in one of the most dangerous cities on earth. Karachi. Lyari specifically — a cramped, dense, historically Baloch-populated neighbourhood that was once known for football and community and slowly became synonymous with gang warfare, drug trafficking, and political violence on an industrial scale.
The real Rehman Dakait — on whom Akshaye Khanna’s character is based — was a genuine Lyari gang lord who was killed in a police confrontation in 2009. Uzair Jan Baloch, his cousin and deputy in the real world, was captured by Interpol in late 2014 while in Dubai. He was subsequently tried and convicted in Pakistan on multiple serious charges, and is currently in Karachi Central Jail. That is the factual skeleton underneath the film’s fiction.
Most fans miss this crucial detail: the film draws loose inspiration from multiple real-life geopolitical events, including the 1999 IC-814 hijacking, the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, and the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Aditya Dhar did not make a documentary. He took a real geography, real gang names, real operation names, and built a fictional Indian intelligence operative at the centre of all of it. The RAW agent Hamza Ali Mazari — played by Ranveer Singh — is not a real person. The world around him has real roots.
Operation Lyari, one of Pakistan’s longest-running clandestine operations, provides the narrative backbone of both films. The operation — a crackdown on Lyari’s criminal networks — is a real chapter in Pakistani law enforcement history. The film imagines Indian intelligence embedded at its heart. That is the fictional leap. Everything else — the neighbourhood, the gang structures, the key real-world names — is grounded in documented reality.
The Uzair Baloch Character: Danish Pandor’s Breakout Role
Danish Pandor plays Uzair Baloch across both films — Rehman Dakait’s cousin and the gang’s second-in-command. In the film’s narrative, Uzair functions as the connective tissue between the Lyari gang’s street-level brutality and its political connections. He is not the apex predator — that is Akshaye Khanna’s Rehman — but he is the enforcer, the strategist, the man who keeps the machine running when the boss is unavailable.
I remember watching Danish Pandor’s scenes in Part 1 and thinking: this man is doing something very specific with the character. He is not playing Uzair as a cartoon villain. There is a loyalty there, an almost brotherly devotion to Rehman, that makes him more unsettling than a purely evil character would be. Pandor himself described his experience working with Ranveer Singh as transformative, noting “we had a great camaraderie on and off the set.”
When Part 1 released and audiences started asking what happens to Uzair in the sequel, Danish smiled and told India TV: “Ab kya hoga? March 19 ko khulasa hoga” — meaning what happens will be revealed on March 19, the Part 2 release date. That response went viral. Beautifully played. The character’s fate in Part 2 — Uzair is manipulated into becoming a scapegoat by Indian intelligence, framed as a patsy for their covert operation — is one of the sequel’s most dramatically satisfying turns.
The Controversies: Baloch Community, Gulf Ban, and the Propaganda Debate
No Aditya Dhar film arrives without controversy. That is not a criticism — it is a pattern. Uri was called propaganda. Dhurandhar got the same treatment, except louder and from more directions simultaneously.
The Baloch Community Legal Notice. The filmmakers received a legal notice from members of the Baloch community, which accused them of defaming the Baloch people. The community’s concern was that using “Baloch” as a surname for multiple criminal characters — Uzair Baloch, Rehman Baloch, Faizal Baloch — painted an ethnic community as synonymous with gang criminality. The filmmakers’ response was to make post-release edits. On December 31, 2025, distributors replaced the film’s Digital Cinema Package across India with an altered version that muted words like “Baloch” and “intelligence” after they were “found to be offensive to certain communities.” That mid-run edit of a blockbuster film is genuinely unprecedented in Indian cinema history.
The Gulf GCC Ban. The film was de facto banned across countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council — Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman. The reasons were not officially stated by individual governments, but the film’s depiction of Pakistani state actors, ISI operations, and Pakistani political figures in deeply unflattering terms made its GCC distribution politically untenable. This cost the film a significant international market. It still crossed ₹1,350 crore worldwide. The Gulf would have pushed it further. That context matters when reading the box office numbers.
The Propaganda Debate. Critics were split — not on whether the film was entertaining, but on whether entertainment and nationalism had been blurred uncomfortably. Uday Bhatia of Mint described it as “propaganda in service of a hawkish India, designed to flatter the ruling BJP leadership.” Anuj Kumar of The Hindu called it “ambitious but overstretched and chest-thumping.” And yet the audience gave it an 8.3 on IMDb and made it the highest-grossing Indian film of 2025. The industry insiders will tell you both things can be true simultaneously: a film can be politically pointed AND genuinely gripping entertainment. Dhurandhar is both.
Full Cast List
- Ranveer Singh as Hamza Ali Mazari / Jaskirat Singh Rangi — the undercover RAW agent at the heart of both films
- Akshaye Khanna as Rehman Dakait — the film’s apex antagonist; based on the real Lyari gang lord. His “Fa9la” entry scene went viral and defined the cultural moment of Part 1
- R. Madhavan as Ajay Sanyal — the intelligence chief who authorises Operation Dhurandhar; modelled on India’s NSA Ajit Doval
- Arjun Rampal as Major Iqbal — introduced as the “Angel of Death” in the film’s opening
- Sanjay Dutt as S.P. Chaudhary Aslam — the Pakistani police superintendent; a complex, morally layered character
- Sara Arjun as Yalina Jamali — Hamza’s love interest who eventually uncovers his true identity
- Rakesh Bedi as Jameel Jamali — revealed to also be an Indian agent embedded in Dawood Ibrahim’s network
- Danish Pandor as Uzair Baloch — Rehman’s cousin and deputy; the character based on the real Uzair Jan Baloch
- Gaurav Gera as Mohammad Aalam — the juice-shop owner who befriends Hamza and gives him cover in Lyari
- Saumya Tandon as Ulfat — Rehman Dakait’s wife
- Manav Gohil as Sushant Bansal — Indian intelligence side of the operation
- Asif Ali Haider Khan as Babu Dakait — leader of the rival Pathan gang; rumoured to be Rehman’s biological father
- Ashwin Dhar as Arshad Pappu — rival gang leader whose death consolidates Rehman’s dominance
Film vs. Reality: What Dhurandhar Changed and What It Kept
| Element | Real World | Dhurandhar’s Version |
|---|---|---|
| Rehman Dakait | Real Lyari gang lord; killed in police encounter, 2009 | Akshaye Khanna; depicted as an intellectual apex predator |
| Uzair Baloch | Real cousin and deputy; arrested Dubai 2014; in Karachi jail | Danish Pandor; framed as scapegoat by Indian intelligence in Part 2 |
| Operation Lyari | Real Pakistani crackdown on Lyari gang networks | Reimagined as an Indian RAW covert operation from within |
| Hamza Ali Mazari | Fictional character — no real RAW agent publicly identified | Ranveer Singh — composite fictional undercover operative |
| IC-814 Hijacking (1999) | Real — Indian Airlines flight hijacked to Kandahar | Used as the film’s opening catalyst for Operation Dhurandhar |
| 2001 Parliament Attack | Real — 14 people killed including 5 terrorists | The event that pushes intelligence chief to authorise the operation |
| Dawood Ibrahim | Real — India’s most wanted fugitive | Appears as a character; Hamza embedded in his network in Part 2 |
| Ajay Sanyal (R. Madhavan) | Modelled on NSA Ajit Doval — not a direct portrayal | Fictional name, clearly drawn from real figure |
3 Things Most Viewers Completely Missed About Dhurandhar
1. Akshaye Khanna’s Fa9la Entry Was Entirely Improvised
The single most viral moment from Part 1 was not a gunfight or an explosion. It was Akshaye Khanna’s entry sequence to the song “Fa9la” — a swaggering, almost choreographic introduction that had audiences losing their minds in theatres. Reportedly, Khanna improvised the steps himself. The director filmed it and kept it exactly as it happened. That spontaneous decision became the cultural centrepiece of a ₹1,350 crore film. Ranveer Singh later recreated it on social media. That is how you know a moment has genuinely landed.
2. The Film Was Partially Shot in Thailand Doubling as Pakistan
Principal photography began in July 2024 in Bangkok, Thailand, and concluded in October 2025. For practical and political reasons — you cannot exactly film a movie about Indian intelligence infiltrating Pakistan on location in Pakistan — the production used Bangkok and Thai locations to recreate the streets of Karachi’s Lyari neighbourhood. The production design team did an extraordinary job. Most viewers had no idea they were watching Thailand playing Karachi. That level of technical deception is a genuine filmmaking achievement.
3. Part 2 Is the Eighth Longest Indian Film Ever Made
With a runtime of 229 minutes, Dhurandhar: The Revenge is the eighth longest Indian film ever produced. That is three hours and forty-nine minutes. In a multiplex environment where studios fight for screens and exhibitors want maximum shows per day, convincing Jio Studios and theatre chains to run a nearly four-hour sequel takes either extraordinary confidence or a Part 1 that crossed ₹1,350 crore worldwide. Aditya Dhar had both.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Dhurandhar based on a true story?
Partially. The film draws loose inspiration from real events — the IC-814 hijacking, the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2008 Mumbai attacks, and the real Operation Lyari crackdown in Karachi. The characters of Rehman Dakait and Uzair Baloch are based on real gang figures. However, the central character — RAW agent Hamza Ali Mazari — is entirely fictional. Aditya Dhar has described the film as “inspired by real geopolitical events” rather than a direct account of any specific operation.
Who plays Uzair Baloch in Dhurandhar?
Danish Pandor plays Uzair Baloch in both Dhurandhar (Part 1, December 2025) and Dhurandhar: The Revenge (Part 2, March 2026). The character is Rehman Dakait’s cousin and gang deputy — and in Part 2, he is manipulated into becoming a scapegoat by Indian intelligence operatives.
Why was Dhurandhar banned in Gulf countries?
The film was de facto banned across GCC countries — Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman. No official reason was publicly stated by individual governments, but the film’s portrayal of Pakistani state institutions, ISI operations, and political figures in deeply critical terms made distribution politically untenable in Gulf states with close ties to Pakistan.
Why did they mute the word “Baloch” in the re-released version?
On December 31, 2025, distributors replaced the film’s Digital Cinema Package with an altered version that muted the words “Baloch” and “intelligence” after the filmmakers received a legal notice from members of the Baloch community accusing them of defaming the Baloch people by associating their ethnic name with criminal characters. It was an unprecedented mid-run edit of a major blockbuster.
How much did Dhurandhar earn at the box office?
Dhurandhar grossed ₹1,056.62 crore in India and ₹293.03 crore in other territories for a worldwide total of ₹1,350.83 crore — making it the highest-grossing Indian film of 2025, the second highest-grossing Hindi film of all time, and the fourth highest-grossing Indian film of all time. Part 2 opened with ₹102.55 crore net on Day 1, signalling that the sequel’s appetite was equally enormous.
Final Verdict: Why Dhurandhar Is More Important Than Its Box Office
I have sat through enough Bollywood spy thrillers to know that most of them mistake noise for tension and flag-waving for emotion. Dhurandhar is different — not because it avoids nationalism, but because it earns its emotional beats through craft rather than just sentiment. Akshaye Khanna is terrifyingly calm as Rehman Dakait, and the face-off scenes between Singh and Khanna are masterclasses in tension, relying on psychological warfare rather than just explosions.
The real Uzair Baloch story — a convicted gang lord sitting in a Karachi prison — gave Aditya Dhar a framework. What he built on top of it is a 443-minute two-part epic that forced Indian audiences to sit with moral complexity, geographic specificity, and a protagonist who wins through deception rather than heroism. That is genuinely interesting filmmaking, propaganda accusations and all.
My prediction? When the dust settles on both parts and the complete duology is available to stream, Dhurandhar will be reassessed as one of the defining Indian spy films of this decade. The controversies — the Baloch legal notice, the Gulf ban, the mid-run mute edit — will become footnotes in a story about a film that was ambitious enough to anger multiple governments and beloved enough to gross ₹1,350 crore regardless. That is a rare combination. Aditya Dhar earned it. So did Akshaye Khanna. And yes — so did Danish Pandor, whose quietly menacing Uzair Baloch turned a supporting role into the most googled character of the December 2025 box office season.
