Ranveer Singh’s Dhurandhar is out and audiences on both sides of the border are divided
Is it just another flashy propaganda film or a missed opportunity to tell our own stories, X users ask.
Indian audiences watching Dhurandhar in 2026 will be getting a slightly more sanitised version of the film, with a few changes courtesy of pressure from the Baloch community and directives issued by India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
The period spy thriller, now the highest-grossing Hindi film domestically, had to revise some dialogue and mute two words, including “Baloch”, after objections were raised over a line widely criticised as hate speech.
Following the release of the film, protests erupted in Junagadh by the Baloch Makrani community over a line of dialogue spoken by Sanjay Dutt, who played Chaudhry Aslam in the film, according to Bhaskar English.
The dialogue in question: “Magarmachh pe bharosa kar sakte hai, par Baloch pe nahi (You can trust a crocodile, but not a Baloch).“
Ejaz Makrani, president of the Junagadh Baloch Makrani Society and an advocate, filed an application at the police station seeking legal action against the actor, dialogue writer and director, blaming the film for having damaged the community’s reputation.
In case of a lack of appropriate action by the police, Makrani warned that he would approach the Gujarat High Court.
Around two weeks ago, The Times of India reported that another lawyer, Nabil Baloch, issued a legal notice to director Aditya Dhar and Dutt, also accusing them of defaming the Baloch community.
Objecting to Dutt’s dialogue, the lawyer demanded a public apology in addition to the censorship of the film.
The notice stated: “The deliberate use of vulgar and abusive language against a community constitutes hate-oriented speech, promotes social disharmony, and violates the fundamental principles of equality, dignity and respect.”
It called on the makers of the film, to “remove, delete or censor all defamatory, vulgar and derogatory references to the Baloch community from the film Dhurandhar, including trailers, promotional material and online content.”
While hearing a petition last week filed in the Gujarat High Court by Yasin Allarakha Baloch and Ayub Balekhan Baloch, Justice A P Mayee asked the petitioners to substantiate how dialogue in Dhurandhar defamed the Baloch community, The Indian Express reported.
India Today confirmed this morning that the film’s revised version has been released in cinemas. According to their sources, the makers have muted the word ‘Baloch’ in one or two dialogue instances after concerns were raised by members of the Baloch community.
As per a source quoted by Bollywood Hungama, theatres across India received an email from distributors on December 31 informing them that the film’s DCP was being replaced. “The reason for the change is that the makers have muted two words and changed a dialogue in the film, as per the directives received from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of India,” the source said.
Despite the revision, Dhurandhar’s commercial momentum shows no signs of slowing down. With approximately INR 7.4 billion generated in just 29 days, Aditya Dhar’s film has surpassed the previous record-holder, Chhaava — itself a film criticised earlier this year for fuelling unrest in Nagpur due to its portrayal of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
Taken together, the runaway success of films like Chhaava and now Dhurandhar offer a telling snapshot of the current Bollywood ecosystem — where spectacle, aggressive nationalism and state-aligned narratives continue to translate into massive box-office returns, even when insensitivity trails closely behind.