Dhurandhar Duology Cements Bollywood's Shift Toward Dark Action Blockbusters
Variety reports that the Dhurandhar films have achieved record box office results, signaling a shift in Bollywood toward dark action espionage thrillers that may reflect lasting changes in audience tastes.
According to a review published by Variety, Aditya Dhar’s espionage thriller “Dhurandhar” became the highest-grossing Hindi-language film in India after its December release. Its follow-up, “Dhurandhar: The Revenge,” is currently in cinemas and positioned to equal or surpass the first film’s commercial performance. The publication describes the pair as vicious action blockbusters that cement what it calls Bollywood’s “bleak transformation,” a shift in audience preferences toward gloomy, high-intensity narratives. This development fits a broader pattern observed across Indian cinema in which big-budget thrillers have increasingly overshadowed traditional musicals and family dramas at the domestic box office. The review presents this change as potentially permanent while distinguishing its own critical perspective from the factual record of the films’ earnings. Source: https://variety.com/2026/film/reviews/dhurandhar-duology-review-1236701274/
PRAXIS: Everyday movie fans may soon find Bollywood serving up more hard-edged, shadowy thrillers instead of the usual song-and-dance escapism, which suggests audiences are quietly craving stories that feel closer to the world's real tensions and moral gray zones.
Sources (1)
- [1]The ‘Dhurandhar’ Duology Review: A Pair of Vicious Action Blockbusters Cement Bollywood’s Bleak Transformation(https://variety.com/2026/film/reviews/dhurandhar-duology-review-1236701274/)