‘Dhurandhar’ shines at the box office: Crosses ₹1100 crore, but faces setback due to Gulf ban

Entertainment: India’s highest-grossing film of 2025, Dhurandhar, continues its strong run even as the new year arrives. Ranveer Singh’s film has already grossed nearly ₹11 billion worldwide, creating history at the Bollywood box office. Remarkably, even 25 days after its release, this groundbreaking spy thriller is still earning double-digit revenues daily. Amidst this tremendous box office success, the film suffered a major setback. Dhurandhar was banned in several Gulf countries, resulting in an estimated revenue loss of approximately ₹90 crore. Despite performing well in other overseas markets, its lack of release in the Middle East significantly impacted its overall earnings. The film is said to have been blocked in six Gulf countries—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Censor officials in these regions objected to the film’s perceived anti-Pakistan message, as the story is inspired by Operation Lyari, which involved Indian intelligence operations in Pakistan. According to the film’s overseas distributor, the Gulf ban was a major missed opportunity. Given the strong word-of-mouth following its release on December 5th, Dhurandhar could easily have grossed around ₹100 crore in the Middle East alone during its entire theatrical run. Traditionally, Indian action and patriotic films perform well in Gulf countries due to the large Indian diaspora there, and Dhurandhar was expected to follow this trend. Previously, several Bollywood films, including Fighter, Sky Force, The Diplomat, Article 370, Tiger 3, and The Kashmir Files, have faced similar bans in Gulf territories. Nevertheless, Dhurandhar has become a hit at the global box office, becoming the highest-grossing Indian film of the year. In overseas markets like North America, it has become the highest-grossing Hindi film of all time, surpassing previous blockbusters like Jawaan and Pathan. The film’s patriotic premise and electrifying action sequences struck a chord with audiences, leading to record-breaking theatrical runs across all its release locations.