'After Sholay, I can't think of a film which has been as successful': Dhurandhar producer on film's success

Aditya Dhar's Dhurandhar won hearts and broke box office records. Now fans are eagerly waiting to watch what part 2 has in store for them.

Filmmaker Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar created a stir at the box office by breaking records and emerging as the first Bollywood film to earn ₹1000 crore at the domestic box office. Now, fans are eagerly awaiting the release of the sequel. In a recent interview with Fortune India, Jyoti Despande, the producer of the film, said that the sequel will be bigger and compared Dhurandhar’s success to that of Sholay.

Jyoti Deshpande compares Dhurandhar to Sholay,

Jyoti Despande compares Dhurandhar to Sholay

Jyoti Deshpande, president (media and content business), Reliance Industries, compared Dhurandhar’s success to Sholay and said, “This is not just a maker’s success; it is as much the audience's success. It has been decades since we saw a film that has taken up the imagination of the movie-going public. They have made it a success by watching the film multiple times and talking about it. It has been in the theatres for 60-plus days. After Sholay, I can't think of a film which has been as successful. There is no greater accolade as film-makers we can receive than this. It is something that we can’t script, it’s something marketing money can’t buy, something that money can’t achieve."

She added that Part 2 would be bigger and said, "Had the first part not fired, the second one would have sat in our cupboard. However, we were sure the first part would fire, so we put that energy out. We are so happy the audience took a shine to it. We believe Dhurandhar-2 would be bigger than the first part. It’s going to be in five languages. The success of Dhurandhar 1 in just one language has been so unprecedented. It has left behind South films. The contribution from the southern states, even for the Hindi original, is three times that of another successful Hindi film. It is the most-watched film in Pakistan too. Many people from the industry who I deeply respect have told me that there is life before Dhurandhar and there is life after Dhurandhar; you have changed the grammar of storytelling."

About Dhurandhar and its sequel

Helmed by Aditya Dhar, Dhurandhar is a spy action thriller starring Ranveer Singh, Akshaye Khanna, Arjun Rampal, Sanjay Dutt and R Madhavan in lead roles. The film tells the story of an Indian spy who infiltrates the criminal syndicate of Pakistan’s Lyari to dismantle the terror network targeting India. Backed by Jyoti Despande under the banner of Jio Studios and Aditya and Lokesh Dhar under B62 Studios, the film emerged as a blockbuster, collecting over ₹1300 crore worldwide at the box office.

The sequel will tell the backstory of Ranveer’s spy and a showdown between Arjun Rampal and Ranveer. The film is scheduled to release in theatres on March 19 and clash with Yash’s Toxic: A Fairytale for Grown-Ups.