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‘Dhurandhar’ politics explodes: 'Lyari raj' posters in UP to PM Modi's Kerala jab, Raghav Chadha's AAP attack
RS MP Chadha deployed its dialogue in friction with own party AAP; the film was part of PM's speech at BJP rally in Kerala too
A Bollywood spy thriller has become a political weapon, deployed by all sides across the vast expanse of India — from states like Kerala and Assam where elections are being held this week, to the country’s most populous state Uttar Pradesh that’s set to vote early next year.
Since the release of its first part in December 2025, ‘Dhurandhar’, directed by Aditya Dhar and starring Ranveer Singh, has broken box office records. The sequel, ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’, released on March 19, 2026; and has only turned up the heat. The imagery, dialogues, and its own politics are now being cited in election campaigns and social media battles.
‘Lyari’ Posters in Lucknow and Amethi
The most recent flashpoint came from Uttar Pradesh. Ahead of the 2027 Vidhan Sabha elections in which the ruling BJP hopes to continue its reign, posters inspired by the film have appeared in parts of Lucknow and Amethi, targeting opposition leader Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party.
"Aap ko kya chahiye? Akhilesh ka Lyari raj," says the slogan on these posters, asking if people would want lawlessness. Yogi Adityanath is called “Dhurandhar CM”. The word ‘dhurandhar’ essentially transaltes to ‘stalwart’.
The Pakistan reference, Lyari, is a neighbourhood of Karachi notorious for gang violence, and a major location in ‘Dhurandhar’.
The hoardings, reported at multiple intersections in Lucknow and outside the Amethi railway station, have been put up by a group calling itself ‘Youth Against Mafia’. Names and photographs of the organisation's office-bearers are displayed on them too.
The Samajwadi Party has hit back, though. A party spokesperson in Amethi, Rajesh Mishra, said the posters reflected the "frustration and desperation" of the ruling BJP. "Such tactics are being used because the BJP has realised it would not return to power," he said, and claimed the public was "aware of these attempts to mislead”.
Amethi police station in-charge Ravi Singh confirmed that authorities had received information about the posters and that a team had been sent to the locations.
PM Modi joins the fray
The film reached the very top of Indian politics, too, a couple of days earlier when, at a public meeting in Thiruvalla, Kerala, Prime Minister Narendra Modi invoked ‘Dhurandhar’ alongside some earlier controversial films to accuse the Congress and the Left of “habitual dishonesty”.
"Congress, UDF, LDF have developed a habit of lying about everything," he said. "When we brought in CAA — (the Citizenship Amendment Act that sparked protests in 2019-20 over alleged discrimination against Muslims) — they spread so many lies; today, CAA has been implemented, and the country has suffered no harm. When the film ‘Kerala Files’ came out, they started saying ‘it's all lies’; when ‘Kashmir Files’ came out, they started saying ‘it's all lies’; when the film ‘Dhurandhar’ came, they again said it was based on lies.”
Himanta brings it to Assam
In Assam, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma of the BJP was unapologetic about the political reading of the film's box office success.
"Just look at how many people are going to watch it," he said, "It means that there are several BJP-RSS people around the world. People are going to watch it in large numbers. That means those who are going to watch 'Dhurandhar' are going to vote for the BJP. It is good for us."
It was an explicit acknowledgement of what critics had long argued — that the film served a political purpose by praising the BJP and Modi’s regime even at the cost of twisting facts in taking artistic liberty.
Congress attacks BJP, plus the film and its politics
From the opposition’s side, Congress MP Tariq Anwar launched one of the sharpest attacks on ‘Dhurandhar’, and by extension the BJP. Anwar said in the week of the sequel’s release: "It is clear that people who made the film are basically hatemongers. They have taken the contract to spread hatred across the country.”
He added, “Through the violence shown in the film, an attempt to create an atmosphere against a particular community has been made. This is BJP's agenda. The film has been made to promote that agenda. Those who are doing these things, the BJP and the RSS, are forgetting that this will turn out to be a major problem for India in the time to come."
Raghav Chadha vs AAP
Perhaps the most unusual use of ‘Dhurandhar’ came not from the BJP or Congress, but from an Aam Aadmi Party leader — directed at the AAP itself.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha, who was removed as the party's deputy leader in the Upper House, released a video response to allegations from party seniors including Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj, and Sanjay Singh, who have said he’s been raising “soft issues” and not targeting PM Modi and the BJP-led NDA over real issues.
"There is a scripted campaign against me. They are using the same language, the same issues, the same allegations,” Chadha said.
He ended the video with a line lifted straight from ‘Dhurandhar’: "Ghayal hoon, isliye ghatak hoon." — "I am wounded, therefore I am dangerous." The dialogue further references two Sunny Deol action films.
What’s in ‘Dhurandhar’
At the centre of all this is the film itself. ‘Dhurandhar’ follows an Indian intelligence operative, Hamza Ali Mazari, who infiltrates the Lyari neighbourhood of Karachi to dismantle a terror network. The film draws loose inspiration from real events including the 1999 IC-814 hijacking, the 2001 Parliament attack, and the 2008 Mumbai attacks. It became the highest-grossing Hindi film of 2025. Its sequel has already broken those records.
Critics have noted that the film's timeline is selective. Key events including the Kandahar hijack, the Parliament attack, and the Pahalgam attack of 2025 all took place under BJP-led governments. The covert operation depicted in the film was reportedly initiated during the Congress era. The film, critics argue, presents a different impression.
Aditya Dhar has contested the propaganda label. “I genuinely feel that the current government doesn't need a small film like ours to win an election. They built the Ram Mandir — something that took 500 years to achieve — so I don't think they rely on us for votes." On his intent, he said the film was made with “patriotic purpose. “Audiences are smart enough not to fall for such claims," he said.
On Tuesday, cricket entered the fray too, completing India's troika of obsession with politics and cinema, when Team India star Virat Kohli lavished praise on 'Dhurandhar: The Revenge'.
He said on Instagram: "Dare I say that I have never ever seen a cinematic experience like this made in India. It brought out every kind of emotion to the surface and I didn't flinch once for almost 4 hours… Aditya Dhar your talent and conviction is reflected in what you've created. Hats off to you. You're a genius."
Dhar responded with a “Woooowww!”, and wrote, "Watching a once-in-a-generation legend show love like this just hits different."
He mentioned Kohli's influence beyond cricket: "The way you carry the country every time you step out inspires us, in our own small way, we'll try and make India proud with our film Jai Hind."
