A Spy Story Set In Karachi's Underworld

Dhurandhar follows an undercover Indian intelligence operative who infiltrates Karachi's criminal underworld to gather intelligence and prevent future attacks against India. Ranveer Singh plays Hamza Ali Mazari, the operative at the centre of that mission. Akshaye Khanna plays gangster Rehman Dakait, Sanjay Dutt, R. Madhavan, and Arjun Rampal appear in key roles, and director Aditya Dhar, known for Uri: The Surgical Strike, writes and directs the film. The story blends espionage with gritty crime drama, set against gang rivalries, covert operations, and geopolitical tension. It is not a light film. Reports put its runtime at about four hours, a length that would scare most makers, and that Dhurandhar turned into a talking point in itself.
That runtime matters because it changed the conversation around the film. Casting director Mukesh Chhabra said Dhurandhar shifted how Bollywood thinks about film length, arguing that conviction in storytelling now outweighs pressure to cut films short. He praised the team for holding audience attention across four hours in an era dominated by short form content. You can agree or disagree with that claim, but the film's awards run suggests the industry heard it. A four hour spy film is a gamble. It asks viewers to stay, to follow a complex undercover plot, and to accept a pace that is slower than a standard action film. Dhurandhar asked for that patience, and its audience, at least in awards season, rewarded it.

Twelve Trophies At IIFA 2026

The 26th International Indian Film Academy Awards, announced on October 30, 2026, turned into a Dhurandhar night. The film won 12 awards, including Best Film, Best Director for Aditya Dhar, and Best Actor in a Leading Role for Ranveer Singh. Aditya Dhar also won Best Original Story, Best Screenplay, and Best Dialogues, a rare sweep for a single writer director in one night. Sanjay Dutt won Best Supporting Actor, Akshaye Khanna won Best Actor in a Negative Role, and Shashwat Sachdev won Best Music Direction. Technical wins followed for cinematography by Vikash Nowlakha, editing by Shivkumar V. Panicker, and sound design by Bishwadeep Chatterjee. Producers Jyoti Deshpande, Aditya Dhar, and Lokesh Dhar were recognised for Best Film.
That list is worth reading slowly, because it shows a film winning across popular, writing, and technical categories, not just in one area. A film can win Best Actor on star power alone. A film that also wins story, screenplay, dialogues, cinematography, editing, and sound has convinced voters in very different parts of the craft. Ranveer Singh's win is the headline, but Dhar's four writing and direction wins are the story underneath. They suggest the industry saw Dhurandhar as a director's film, not just a star vehicle. For Ranveer, the win adds a major Best Actor trophy to a career built on high energy roles, and it does so for a restrained, undercover performance rather than a loud, showy one.

Why The Film Divided And United Viewers

Dhurandhar's success at IIFA sits next to a more divided public conversation. Spy thrillers set around India and Pakistan always draw strong reactions, and a film that runs four hours will always have viewers who love its depth and viewers who find it long. The IIFA sweep does not erase that split. It shows how the industry, voting through its own academy, read the film, not how every viewer read it. That distinction matters when you report awards. Awards are a verdict from a specific group, at a specific time, not a universal verdict for all time. Dhurandhar's 12 trophies say the film dominated IIFA 2026. They do not say every viewer will love a four hour undercover story.
The film also sits in a larger 2025 and 2026 story about nationalistic hits in Hindi cinema. Trade and year end coverage noted that films like Chhaava and Dhurandhar bookended a mixed year for Bollywood, with star driven vehicles like Sikandar and War 2 fizzling while Dhurandhar and Saiyaara resonated. That context helps explain why Dhurandhar felt bigger than its own box office. It became a symbol of a certain kind of Hindi film, large, serious, and rooted in national security themes, at a moment when lighter franchise films were struggling. Whether you like that trend or not, Dhurandhar is now its clearest awards example.

What Comes Next For Dhurandhar

The next chapter for Dhurandhar is already in motion in public conversation. A sequel, Dhurandhar 2, is the subject of separate reporting and a separate article on this site, and it leads India in 2026 in some trade tallies. That sequel talk shows how quickly a successful first film becomes a franchise question in Bollywood. For now, the first film's legacy is clearer. It proved that a long, dense spy thriller could win the industry's biggest popular awards, it gave Ranveer Singh a Best Actor win for a different kind of role, and it gave Aditya Dhar a night that most directors never get. If you have not seen Dhurandhar, set aside time, watch it in parts if you need to, and judge the four hours for yourself. Awards can point you to a film, but only your own viewing can tell you whether its length felt earned.
For viewers who like spy stories, Dhurandhar offers a detailed undercover world, a strong ensemble, and a director who trusts his audience to follow complexity. For viewers who prefer shorter films, it offers a test of patience that may feel rewarding or may feel long. Either way, its IIFA sweep means it will be talked about in every future discussion of 2026 Hindi cinema. That is a legacy few films earn, and Dhurandhar earned it in one night in October 2026.

Sources and reporting

  1. Business Today — 2026-10-31 · Verifies 12 awards, Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and October 30 2026 announcement
  2. Khaleej Times — 2026-10-30 · Verifies Dhar story screenplay dialogues wins and supporting and negative role wins
  3. Nation Press — 2026-10-10 · Verifies four hour runtime, Hamza Ali Mazari role, Rehman Dakait role, and cast