Dhurandhar: The Revenge, directed by Aditya Dhar and released on 19 March 2026, has crossed ₹1,000 crore at the global box office, broken every Bollywood opening record, and managed to get itself simultaneously banned in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries while being pirated over 2 million times in Pakistan. The characters sitting at the centre of this storm are the real reason. Each one is linked, sometimes directly, to a real person, a real operation, or a real tragedy. Here is every major character explained, fact-checked, and placed inside the controversy they have sparked.
What is Dhurandhar 2 and Is It Based on a True Story?
Dhurandhar: The Revenge is a 2026 Indian Hindi-language spy action-thriller film written and directed by Aditya Dhar. It is the sequel to the 2025 film Dhurandhar and the final instalment of the duology. Both films were shot concurrently and then split into two parts during post-production due to the scale of the footage.
The film’s disclaimer states clearly that it is a work of fiction inspired by certain real-life events, and that characters, institutions, dialogues, and events have been fictionalised and dramatised for cinematic purposes. However, the film’s storyline loosely draws inspiration from multiple real-life geopolitical events, including Operation Lyari, the 2014 Indian general election, the 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation, and the broader context of Indian intelligence operations against Pakistan-based militant groups.
The controversy is that the disclaimer does not stop audiences from treating the film’s version of events as historical fact. Critics have specifically pointed out that the film is so emotionally convincing, and its real-world references so precise, that it functions as what one cultural theorist called an “emotional documentary” for large sections of the audience, regardless of what the title card says.
Who Is Hamza Ali Mazari in Dhurandhar 2?
Hamza Ali Mazari is the central character of the Dhurandhar duology, played by Ranveer Singh. He is an undercover Indian intelligence operative embedded deep inside Karachi’s criminal and political underworld, working to dismantle the ISI-underworld nexus responsible for facilitating the 26/11 attacks.
But Hamza Ali Mazari is not his real name. His real identity is Jaskirat Singh Rangi, a young man from Pathankot whose life falls apart after a local politician orchestrates violence against his family. He exacts revenge, is jailed, and placed on death row. Before his execution, he is recruited by covert operative Ajay Sanyal and offered a second life through a secret intelligence mission called Operation Dhurandhar. After accepting, he undergoes rigorous RAW training and is given a new identity — Hamza Ali Mazari.
The central controversy around this character: is Hamza a progressive, layered portrayal that transcends Bollywood’s usual treatment of Muslim identity — or is the film only comfortable with a Muslim character once he is working for Indian intelligence against his own country of origin? Both readings have strong and serious arguments. Neither disappears on closer viewing.
Is Hamza Ali Mazari Based on a Real Person?
There is no publicly confirmed single real-life figure that Hamza is directly based on. However, fan and media speculation has pointed to several real individuals. YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia’s podcast suggested the character may represent not one spy but a composite of several real-life operatives, and referenced Kulbhushan Jadhav — an Indian national incarcerated in Pakistan since 2016 on charges of espionage — as a possible reference point. No official confirmation of any such link has been made by the filmmakers or the Indian government.
The film’s production team has confirmed that senior journalist and geopolitics expert Aditya Raj Kaul, executive editor at NDTV for national security and strategic affairs, served as the film’s research consultant. He became involved after making a documentary on the 2022 assassination of Zahoor Mistry, one of the hijackers of Indian Airlines Flight 814 in 1999. The level of research and insider access this implies has added significantly to the film’s authenticity — and to its controversy.
Who Is Ajay Sanyal in Dhurandhar 2 and Is He Based on Ajit Doval?
R. Madhavan plays Ajay Sanyal, Director of the Intelligence Bureau, a character explicitly based on Ajit Doval — India’s National Security Advisor since 2014 and a former IB Director, widely credited with reshaping India’s counter-terrorism posture after the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Sanyal is the architect of Operation Dhurandhar — the man who recruits Jaskirat off death row, strips him of his identity, sends him into Pakistan, and manages his extraction fifteen years later. In both films, he is portrayed as an unambiguous patriot whose extreme methods are presented as justified by results.
The real Ajit Doval is a decorated intelligence officer of the Indian Police Service, awarded the Kirti Chakra — the first police officer to receive it. He played a central role in the negotiation during the IC-814 hijacking to Kandahar in 1999, and has been credited with key roles in the 2016 surgical strikes, the 2019 Balakot airstrike, and most recently Operation Sindoor following the Pahalgam terror attack in 2025.
The political controversy is significant: by building a heroic fictional character directly modelled on a sitting, serving NSA, Dhurandhar effectively turns a current government official into a cinematic legend while he is still in office. The film never asks whether the human cost of Operation Dhurandhar — what it does to Jaskirat personally — was worth it. Neither, notably, does the Ajay Sanyal character.
Who Is Major Iqbal in Dhurandhar 2 and Is He a Real Person?
Arjun Rampal plays Major Iqbal, an ISI officer who serves as the film’s primary antagonist in the second half. The character is based on two real figures: the real-life Major Iqbal, a Pakistani military intelligence operative linked to the planning of the 26/11 attacks, and Ilyas Kashmiri — one of the most feared militant commanders in South Asia.
The real Ilyas Kashmiri was a Pakistani Army Special Services Group operator turned jihadist militant leader. He fought against Indian troops in Kashmir, trained Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet-Afghan War, and eventually became the operational commander of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami’s 313 Brigade. A CNN headline once described him as “the most dangerous man on Earth.” He was reportedly killed in a US drone strike in South Waziristan on 3 June 2011. Analysts at West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center identified him as a key operational figure in al-Qaeda’s network and directly linked him to plots against the United States and Europe.
In the film, when Major Iqbal discovers the truth about Hamza being an Indian spy, he sets a trap to have him killed. The climax involves a brutal one-on-one combat at a Lashkar-e-Taiba camp in Muridke, where Hamza kills Iqbal before being captured by the ISI.
Who Is Dawood Ibrahim in Dhurandhar 2 and Why Is the Casting So Controversial?
Danish Iqbal plays Dawood Ibrahim, referred to throughout the film as “Bade Sahab” — confirmed as the overarching mastermind and main villain behind the central terror conspiracy of both films.
The real Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar is an Indian gangster, mob boss, drug lord, and narcoterrorist. He is the leader of the organised crime syndicate D-Company, which he founded in Mumbai in the 1970s. He is wanted on multiple charges including murder, extortion, drug trafficking, and terrorism. He was designated a global terrorist by the United Nations Security Council and by the United States in 2003 for masterminding the 1993 Bombay bombings and is said to have had influence in the 26/11 attacks. He has been reported to live in Karachi, Pakistan, though the Government of Pakistan denies it. In 2011, the FBI named him the world’s second most wanted fugitive.
In Dhurandhar 2, Dawood is portrayed as old, bedridden, and slowly being poisoned by an Indian intelligence plant embedded in his inner circle. The film presents this extrajudicial killing of a real, living, named fugitive as heroic entertainment. Pakistan specifically cited this depiction in refusing any theatrical release. The Gulf states’ diplomatic objections are similarly linked to the real-world identities of the characters depicted.
For a full profile of Dawood’s documented criminal history, the Jamestown Foundation’s investigative report remains one of the most comprehensive independent accounts available.
Who Is SP Chaudhary Aslam in Dhurandhar 2 and Is He Real?
Sanjay Dutt plays SSP Chaudhary Aslam of the Lyari Task Force, Sindh Police. The character is based on a real person: Chaudhry Aslam Khan, a senior Karachi police officer who ran genuine anti-gang operations in Lyari before being killed in a suicide bombing in January 2014. His family is still alive.
In the film, Sanjay Dutt’s Aslam is portrayed as a morally grey law enforcement officer operating in the overlap between legitimate policing and extrajudicial violence. He assists Hamza’s mission, including in some of the film’s most brutal scenes. Using a named, recognisable real person whose family can watch the film, and taking significant creative liberties with his story, is an ethical question that has received almost no mainstream critical attention in India — despite being one of the most pointed real-world interventions the film makes.
Who Is Uzair Baloch in Dhurandhar 2?
Danish Pandor plays Uzair Baloch, a Lyari gang leader. The character is based on the real Uzair Baloch, a genuine Karachi criminal figure whose gang empire and eventual cooperation with Pakistani authorities became one of the most significant organised crime stories in the city’s recent history. The film uses his name and authentic criminal setting but dramatically alters what happens to him, inventing a more cinematically satisfying conclusion than his real-life story provided.
Who Is Jameel Jamali and What Is His Twist in Dhurandhar 2?
Rakesh Bedi plays Jameel Jamali, a senior politician of the Pakistani Awami Party and Member of the National Assembly. He is Hamza’s father-in-law and appears throughout as a cunning political operator.
The film’s most genuinely shocking twist belongs to him. It is revealed that Jameel Jamali was also a long-term Indian secret agent who had been slowly poisoning Dawood Ibrahim while embedded in his network — a deeper-cover operative than Hamza himself. He was, in other words, a plant inside the Pakistani political establishment whose loyalty to India was invisible to the audience throughout both films.
This twist has divided audiences sharply. Half found it the most satisfying narrative payoff in either film. The other half found it the most irresponsible — a fantasy in which Indian intelligence has successfully infiltrated the highest levels of Pakistani democratic politics, presented not as satire but as triumphant wish-fulfilment.
Who Is Yalina in Dhurandhar 2 and Why Is Her Character Important?
Sara Arjun plays Yalina Jamali, Hamza’s wife in Pakistan and the daughter of Jameel Jamali. She is the film’s central emotional complication. She later discovers that Hamza is actually Jaskirat, an Indian spy, prompting a dramatic confrontation where she must choose between her love for him and her loyalty to her country. She keeps silent until a situation arises where her child is directly threatened.
Yalina is also the character through whom the film is most vulnerable to criticism. She is Pakistani, Muslim, and was deceived about her husband’s identity for the entirety of their marriage. She had a child with him. The film’s ending has Hamza simply leave — returning to India, resuming his identity, and disappearing from her life without consequence or acknowledgement of what was done to her. The question asked repeatedly online: is Yalina’s silence a genuinely moving character choice, or is it the film asking a Pakistani woman to betray her country so that an Indian audience can feel good about the ending?
What Does Hamza Ali Mazari Do at the End of Dhurandhar 2?
Having completed his mission, Hamza abandons his alias and returns to India as Jaskirat Singh Rangi, severing all ties with Yalina. Though commended for his service, he disappears before formal debriefing and returns to his childhood home in Pathankot. He watches his mother and surviving sister from a distance — settled in their lives — and weeps. But he does not approach them. He was declared dead to them long ago.
The closing line of his original training echoes through the final scene: Balidan Parmo Dharma — Sacrifice is the Highest Duty.
It is not a happy ending. It is not meant to be. The film earns its patriotic sentiment by making Jaskirat pay for it with everything he had — his name, his family, his ability to ever go home.
What Are the Post-Credits Scenes in Dhurandhar 2?
There are two post-credits scenes. In the first, flashbacks from Jaskirat’s original training with the Research and Analysis Wing are shown. It recontextualises several moments from both films and works as an emotional full stop for audiences who invested in Jaskirat’s complete arc.
In the second post-credits scene, Pakistan General Shamshad orders his subordinate Omar into a mental asylum after Omar threatens to reveal to the National Assembly that Shamshad personally authorised Hamza’s release. Omar was the one who had uncovered Hamza as Jaskirat, and the General was forced to release him under threat from Ajay Sanyal. The scene shows Shamshad using institutional power to silence the only man who can expose him — the film’s final, quietly devastating observation about how states protect themselves from accountability.
Will There Be a Dhurandhar 3?
The official position from director Aditya Dhar is no. He has described the Dhurandhar duology as a complete two-part story. The internet has not accepted this. Multiple viral images claiming “Dhurandhar: Mayhem” and “Dhurandhar: The Final Chapter” as third instalments circulated within days of The Revenge’s release, both confirmed as fake. Neither post-credits scene hints at any direct continuation of the story.
Fan communities on Reddit’s Bollywood forum and across social media have proposed that a third film could explore Jaskirat’s attempt to rebuild a life after returning to India, or could revisit the political machinery that used him and then disappeared him. Whether any such film materialises remains entirely unconfirmed.
How Much Money Has Dhurandhar 2 Made at the Box Office?
The numbers are historic by every meaningful measure. The film grossed ₹75 crore from paid previews alone — the highest preview collection for any Indian film in history, breaking the previous records set by Stree 2 in 2024. It opened to an estimated ₹196–240 crore worldwide including premieres — the highest opening for any Bollywood film. By the end of its first weekend it had earned ₹759.91 crore worldwide.
It is currently the tenth-highest grossing Indian film of all time, the highest grossing Indian film of 2026, and the tenth-highest grossing film of 2026 globally. You can track its full box office performance at IMDb and Sacnilk.
Why Was Dhurandhar 2 Banned in Gulf Countries?
Like its predecessor, Dhurandhar: The Revenge was banned across Gulf Cooperation Council countries. No official statement has specified the exact reasons scene by scene, but multiple reports point to three overlapping factors: the film’s direct depiction of Dawood Ibrahim as a named, living fugitive being poisoned to death by Indian intelligence; the portrayal of Pakistani state institutions as active sponsors of terrorism; and the wider diplomatic sensitivities around the real-world identities of both heroes and villains in the film.
The ban is commercially significant. The UAE is one of the most important overseas markets for Bollywood due to the large Indian diaspora concentrated there. Both Dhurandhar films were denied access to this market while still breaking overseas box office records, suggesting diaspora audiences in North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia compensated substantially.
Is Dhurandhar 2 Propaganda — What Do Critics and Fact-Checkers Say?
This is the question that has generated the most heat online, and the critical consensus is genuinely and unusually split. The film received praise from Hindustan Times (four out of five stars), Rediff (four out of five), and NDTV for its performances and storytelling. It received two out of five stars from Outlook, which observed that it “leans heavily into gore, violence and strong pro-government messaging.”
The most visible public criticism came from YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, who called Dhurandhar 2 “a WhatsApp forward masquerading as cinema” and labelled it BJP propaganda. His video went viral and triggered an equally viral counter-response from the film’s defenders, who argued that describing any patriotic Indian film as propaganda because it is pro-India is itself a political act.
The Wikipedia page for the film was also briefly edited to describe it as “a spy action thriller propaganda film” before being reverted — a moment that generated its own news cycle and added a layer of meta-controversy on top of the film’s content controversy.
Anurag Kashyap publicly defended the film and compared it to international spy thrillers like Zero Dark Thirty, arguing that the propaganda label is applied selectively to Indian films in ways it is never applied to their Western equivalents.
The honest answer — supported by the evidence — is that both sides are describing the same film accurately. Which description matters more depends entirely on what you brought with you when you walked into the cinema.
Where Can You Watch Dhurandhar 2 Online?
The digital streaming rights for Dhurandhar: The Revenge were acquired by JioHotstar for ₹150 crore. The first film, Dhurandhar, is currently streaming on Netflix, where it became the first Indian film to cross 7 million views on the platform in its opening weekend and trended at number one in 22 countries globally.
Tags: Dhurandhar2 · RanveerSingh · AdityaDhar · AjitDoval · DawoodIbrahim · MajorIqbal · RAW · KulbhushanJadhav · CharactersExplained · AEO · PropagandaOrArt · Bollywood2026
