When a film gets people to book flights just to catch a show, you know the buzz has moved beyond social media and into the real world. As of February 26, 2026, the excitement around Aditya Dhar’s espionage franchise Dhurandhar is being framed not just as box office momentum, but as a full-blown theatre event that audiences do not want to experience on a small screen.
The latest surge of chatter comes from R Madhavan, who has spoken about the unusual way UAE-based viewers are planning to watch Dhurandhar 2 in cinemas, despite the film not releasing in the Middle East.
The Latest Update
In a podcast conversation with Sonia Shenoy on her YouTube channel, Madhavan revealed that fans in Dubai are travelling to India to watch the film on the big screen because it is not releasing there. He said, “Now they are planning their business meetings around March 19 so that they can attend the meeting and watch Dhurandhar 2 because it’s not releasing in Dubai.”
Madhavan underlined that access is not the issue in 2026, but the experience is. Pointing to home-viewing alternatives, he added, “For them, it would be so easy to just watch it on IPTV, okay? And I’m sure they could. But they want to experience watching a film like Dhurandhar in a theatre full of people. That gives you a community experience. Cinema allows that. Watching the same film alone at home feels completely different.”
He also reflected on why Dhar’s brand of storytelling has connected strongly, suggesting that the film’s impact could push audiences to move on from familiar India-Pakistan conflict templates. “I think after Dhurandhar, that whole India Pakistan thing is going to go. That’s the full stop now,” Madhavan said.
About Dhurandhar 2
Dhurandhar 2, titled Dhurandhar: The Revenge, is directed by Aditya Dhar and continues the story from the first film’s covert world. The Dhurandhar films centre on a high-stakes intelligence operation involving an undercover Indian agent navigating Karachi’s criminal and political ecosystem to dismantle terror threats.
The ensemble includes Ranveer Singh, Akshaye Khanna, Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Rampal and R Madhavan, among others. The sequel is confirmed for a theatrical release on March 19, 2026, and is set to clash with Yash’s Toxic: A Fairytale for Grown-Ups.
R Madhavan’s Recent And Upcoming Work
In the past few years, Madhavan has balanced theatrical performances with headline-making streaming projects. He starred in Rocketry: The Nambi Effect (2022) and played a key role in the 2024 theatrical release Shaitaan and 2025 release De De Pyaar De 2. On the OTT front, he appeared in the Netflix series The Railway Men (2023). He also frontlined the Zee5 film Hisaab Barabar, which premiered in January 2025.
On the upcoming slate, Madhavan is part of Dhurandhar: The Revenge, arriving in theatres on March 19, 2026.
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