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Why Dhurandhar polarises India while Pathaan escaped scrutiny — a look at how politics, nationalism and religion are reshaping mainstream Bollywood.
It’s a leap of faith to presume that everybody reading this has watched Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar and Siddharth Anand’s Pathaan (2023). The second is probably the biggest earner among Hindi originals. The first is catching up fast. It also has a second innings coming up, a pre-announced sequel on March 19, 2026. I take it that not everybody watches movies, but might still be familiar with the buzz, debate, and controversies over both.
The one over Pathaan was confined to Deepika Padukone making her first appearance, dressed in a saffron bikini, to the song “Besharam rang” (shameless colour) in the
