Dhurandhar: How Aditya Dhar made India sit in theatres for 7 hours in reels era

In an age of dwindling attention span, Aditya Dhar has achieved the remarkable feat of holding Indian audiences captive for over seven hours across two films. His Dhurandhar series blends history and fiction to create a compelling cinematic universe.

In the era of doomscrolling, chatter about a human being's attention span drastically reducing to just a few seconds has made headlines. Sitting through a two and a half hour movie has become a chore for many in recent times. But, Aditya Dhar did the unthinkable.

He got India to sit in theatres for over seven hours, across two films, all engrossed and asking for more. This is not just a box office achievement. This is a thesis and a character study on how one can use the craft to transport people into a world where the lines of reality and fiction are blurred.

Dhurandhar and its sequel, Dhurandhar: The Revenge, have done something that filmmakers are struggling to achieve, especially in the post-Covid-19 era. The success of Dhurandhar is not just entertainment reclaiming its spot. It is essential in this time and age. The films saw millions of people clear their schedules for, dress up for, and argue about, long after the credits roll.

In an era defined by distraction and the memory of a goldfish, Aditya Dhar has done what many filmmakers seem to have forgotten: he has made patience feel rewarding. So, how did he do it?

The foundation of everything Dhar has achieved with Dhurandhar is its world-building. He set out to construct a universe — one backed by history and marrying it with emotional fictional arcs. It also features its own cast of characters whose lives extend far beyond what appears on-screen.

Every detail in Dhar's world feels considered. The world of Lyari, India and Pakistan's politics, internal gang wars, the agencies, hierarchies and geopolitical tensions — none of it feels are added for convenience. Dhar's extensive research shows in every frame. Looking at both films, you feel that Dhar knows as much as our Indian intel does. The result is a world that audiences trust, and trust is the foundation of sustained engagement. You cannot keep people in their seats for seven hours if they do not believe in the world you have created.