Director Aditya Dhar is awaiting the release of Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge, the highly-anticipated sequel to his mammoth success Dhurandhar. The film, fronted by Ranveer Singh, is set to debut in theatres on March 19, with paid previews beginning on March 18 evening.
Aditya Dhar, as a director, is only two films old but he has captured the attention of the country like no other filmmaker.
As someone who started out as an assistant director to the great Priyadarshan and also dabbled as a lyricist, Aditya Dhar has come a long way. Besides being a director, he is also a producer who runs B62 Studios, his home banner, with brother Lokesh Dhar.
Aditya Dhar also proved his mettle right from his first film Uri: The Surgical Strike, a 2019 movie based on the real story of India’s retaliation to the 2016 Uri attack by Pakistani terrorists.
Uri: The Surgical Strike, headlined by Vicky Kaushal, was a massive box office success. It also won four National Film Awards, including Best Director, Best Actor for Vicky Kaushal, Best Audiography for Bishwadeep Chatterjee and Best Music Director for Shashwat Sachdev who also returned for the Dhurandhar franchise.
When Uri: The Surgical Strike released, the filmmaker was asked how he would feel if his film didn’t screen in Pakistan.
Aditya Dhar had said, “Mujhe koi farak nahin padta. Agar woh trust karte hain and ek baar ye film dekhein ki iss film mein Pakistani janta ke khilaaf kuch nahin bola hai. Jo bhi bola gaya hai woh terrorism ke khilaaf bola gaya hai. Agar woh yet samajh jaayein ki hum terrorism se lad rahe hain, kisi janta ya kisi individual se nahin, I think unko bhi bahut pasand aayegi.
“(If the Pakistani fans trust us, they should watch this film once. Even they will realise that this film doesn’t say anything negative about the people of Pakistan. Whatever has been spoken it is all about terrorism. If they realise that we are only fighting against terrorism and not against any country or its citizens, then they will also really like the film)”
Just like Uri: The Surgical Strike, which also starred Aditya Dhar’s wife Yami Gautam, Mohit Raina, Paresh Rawal, and Kirti Kulhari, Dhurandhar also didn’t release in Pakistan.
Dhurandhar, however, became popular in the country with pirated DVDs selling for Rs 16. Dhurandhar, in fact, also saw over 2 million illegal downloads in Pakistan within 12 days of its release. The film also remained number one on Netflix Pakistan once it arrived on the streamer in January.
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