‘Dhurandhar’ tops Netflix worldwide, is number 1 in India and Pakistan
“Dhurandhar,” the Ranveer Singh-led spy thriller about an Indian undercover agent who infiltrates Karachi’s criminal underworld, has landed at No. 1 on Netflix’s global Top 10 Non-English Films list — and is also No. 1 in both India and Pakistan, a streaming achievement that cuts through the region’s long-frozen theatrical politics.
On Netflix’s Tudum weekly chart (January 26 – February 1), ‘Dhurandhar’ ranked No. 1 worldwide among non-English films with 7.6 million views. The chart shows that the film is ranked No. 1 in India and No. 1 in Pakistan on Netflix’s Top 10 Movies charts. The title is also performing highly in South Asia, including high or near-top rankings in markets such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, strengthening the film’s regional appeal beyond its home base.
The Pakistani result comes at an additional cost as Indian films have been banned from Pakistani cinemas for years, a situation that has worsened in recent years after both countries blocked each other’s titles theatrically amid renewed bilateral tensions. In other words, a film designed around India’s intelligence footprint in Pakistan — the kind of premise that would normally be dead on arrival at the cinema across the border — is now reaching Pakistani audiences widely through Netflix’s frictionless pipeline.
And it’s not just South Asia. The film also fares strongly in parts of the Middle East, where political sensitivities between India and Pakistan can make theatrical release of this kind of material complicated or commercially risky – leaving streaming as the cleaner route to audiences in expat-heavy areas.
Aditya Dhar directed the film, while Jio Studios and B62 Studios produced. Singh leads the cast, with Akshaye Khanna playing the antagonist. The cast also includes Sanjay Dutt, R. Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, Sara Arjun, Rakesh Bedi, Manav Gohil, Danish Pandor, Saumya Tandon, Gaurav Gera and Naveen Kaushik.
“Dhurandhar” is told in two parts, with the first part following a decade-long Indian intelligence operation in which an undercover agent (Singh) infiltrates Karachi’s criminal and political underworld. “Dhurandhar: The Revenge,” which hits theaters on March 19, is expected to continue the saga and also provide the backstory of Singh’s character.
The first part of the saga has become the highest-grossing Hindi film in India. It has raised $116 million locally and $32 million internationally.
India and Pakistan have fought four wars since partition in 1947 – in 1947-48, 1965, 1971 and 1999 – with the territory of Kashmir remaining the central flashpoint in a relationship marked by military confrontation, diplomatic failures and periodic escalations.
