Residents of Pakistan's Lyari divided over town's depiction in Ranveer Singh's Dhurandhar: 'Humse to poochte'

Ranveer Singh's Dhurandhar is set in Lyari, a town in Pakistan's Karachi, and showcases the gang violence that took place there over a decade ago.

When the trailer of Aditya Dhar’s upcoming spy thriller Dhurandhar was released earlier this month, it revealed that the film is set in the famous Pakistani town of Lyari and presents a semi-fictionalised account of the Lyari gang wars, which stretched for a decade from 2009. Now, residents of the town have reacted to how the Ranveer Singh-starrer has depicted their town, and the reactions are mixed.

Ranveer Singh's character walking in Lyari in a still from Dhurandhar.

Lyari shown in Dhurandhar trailer

The Dhurandhar trailer features Ranveer Singh as an Indian spy infiltrating the Lyari gangs, while also introducing real-life figures, including Rehman Dakait (played by Akshaye Khanna) and SP Chaudhary Aslam (Sanjay Dutt). The film’s team has recreated the entire Lyari town on set in India, including its famous arched gate, which features prominently in the trailer.

Ranveer Singh standing before the arched entrance to Lyari Town in Dhurandhar.

Lyari residents react

Pakistani news channel ARY News carried a feature asking residents of Lyari their thoughts on their hometown’s depiction in the Bollywood film. In the video, a local resident says, “India walon ne film bana li hai, humse to poochte. Hum unko dikhaate Lyari ki galiyaan. Rehman Dakait ka bhi bataate. (The Indians made a film. But they should have asked us. We would have shown them the bylanes of Lyari, and told them about Rehman Dakait).” Others said that the look of SP Chaudhary Aslam was recreated perfectly in the film, while Akshaye Khanna’s Rehman Dakait looked nothing like the real gangster. Many invited Sanjay and Ranveer to Lyari, saying, “Usko batayenge Lyari kya cheez hai (We will show them what Lyari is).”

But there were many, who said that the film’s trailer has managed to capture the environment of Lyari. “Jaisa inhone shoot kiya hai, waisa hi environment hai Lyari ka (The way they have shown, the environment of Lyari is exactly like that),” said a local resident who had seen the infamous gang wars.

About Lyari and Dhurandhar

Lyari is a historic locality of Karachi, and one of the oldest inhabited cities in the region. In the 80s and 90s, gangs began to take control of the township, running crime across Karachi from this stronghold. The gang of Uzair Baloch and Rehman Dakait even had political patronage before the local SP, Chaudhary Aslam, carried out an operation against them in the late 2000s.

Dhurandhar shows a fictionalised account of these incidents, while adding elements from India’s war against terror. The film also stars Arjun Rampal as an ISI Major and R Madhavan as an Indian intelligence officer. The film releases in theatres on 5 December.