Ranveer Singh’s monster hit Dhurandhar is still on a dream theatrical run at the Indian Box Office and has been one of the biggest Bollywood successes in recent years. Anticipation for the film’s OTT release was high as it made its debut on Netflix but fans are expressing disappointment on the platform’s official Instagram page after realizing that the film wasn’t released in its entirety on streaming – several scenes were cut and abuse words censored for a movie rated A.
Starring Ranveer Singh in the titular role and supported by an incredibly talented supporting cast comprising R Madhavan, Akshaye Khanna, Sara Arjun, Arjun Rampal, Rakesh Bedi and others, the film follows an undercover agent on a covert operation as he tries to infiltrate Karachi’s criminal and political underworld. The film was a critical and commercial hit upon release, though its OTT debut has massively disappointed audiences hoping to catch it from the comfort of their homes.
“Why censor the movie?”
When Dhurandhar premiered on Netflix, first time and repeat watchers realized that there were discrepancies between what was shown in theatres and what they were viewing on their screens. The film, which received an A certification due to its mature content was released in theatres as is, however on Netflix, it was subject to massive scene cuts and muted dialogues leading to a visible shortening of it’s run time – down by 10 minutes. Fans were annoyed as they hoped that an OTT release would bypass censorship and allow the film to have more material rather than less.
Viewers took to social media to express their frustration and what better than to directly approach the source. On their Instagram post about Dhurandhar’s Netflix debut, fans commented in annoyance and exasperation at the debacle. One user remarked, “Why mute dialogues? Why censor the movie? Animal was uncensored. Kabir Singh was uncensored. Hollywood nude scenes and violent scenes are uncensored. Whose brilliant idea was to release Dhurandhar on Netflix with this many cuts? How does it make sense and in what universe? Completely moronic.”
Another user demanded, “It’s censored 😭 please release the uncensored version😭” And yet another user commented, “You certify the film as A, but you have muted/censored words! Like, are we a bunch of 5y/o or what? Everyone in this app is over 18; there’s no meaning in watching a film with lots of cuts and censoring. You’re just stealing the natural raw vibe from it.” The disappointment was palpable even as others celebrated the release of the movie on Netflix.
A theatrical success for the ages
Despite the backlash, Dhurandhar continues to perform well in theatres and still has many shows up for those who want to watch the raw, unedited version versus the sanitized one for Netflix. It has become the highest earning Hindi film of all time at the domestic Box Office, raking in collections of Rs 890.67 crore and the fourth highest earning Hindi film at th global Box Office with collections of Rs 1428 crore according to Sacnilk.
Dhurandar is the first part of a two-film series and the sequel Dhurandar 2: The revenge is eyeing an Eid release on March 19, 2026. Apart from Hindi, The film will also be released simultaneously in these languages: Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam; This move signifies that the filmmakers are hoping for the sequel to surpass the success of the first film by a massive margin.
Dhurandar 2 is expected to pick up directly from the first part’s cliffhanger, focusing on Hamza’s (Ranveer Singh) deeper infiltration into the geopolitical web and his inevitable confrontation with the ruthless Major Iqbal, played by Arjun Rampal.