Aditya Dhar’s blockbuster spy thriller, Dhurandhar, has been credited for pushing the envelope when it comes to realism in depicting the country’s socio-political scenario. The film, which tells the story of an Indian spy in Karachi, uses many real names and references to real figures from the world of politics, bureaucracy, and even terrorism. However, viewers have realised that director Dhar removed at least one plot point that had connections with a real-life tragedy from Indian history – the anti-Sikh 1984 riots.
The Khalistan angle in the original Dhurandhar 2
Dhurandhar 2’s uncut version, called Raw and Undekha, was released on Netflix and JioHotstar recently. Following this, many viewers have discovered Easter eggs or small modifications in the film. One such change is in the pivotal interval scene that features a confrontation between Hamza aka Jaskirat (Ranveer Singh) and his childhood friend Pinda (Udaybir Sandhu). In the film, when Jaskirat confronts Pinda for peddling drugs and smuggling them to India, Pinda admonishes him. After Jaskirat hints that Pinda is betraying his desh (country), Pinda shoots back, “Keda desh, wo Desh jinne hume apna maneya hi nahi (The country that never accepted us as one of its own).”
Now, viewers have realised that Pinda’s line is dubbed over the original line of dialogue. Internet sleuths on Reddit have uncovered that the original line, in Punjabi, was, “Keda desh? Wo desh jinne chaurasi vich apne bhaiyo nu mareya tha.” This translates to: The same country that killed our brothers in ’84. The line is a reference to the anti-Sikh riots in 1984, which left thousands dead, and is considered the peak of Khalistani insurgency in Punjab.
The film also changed the name of a character. The first Dhurandhar featured a character named Hppy PhD in its credits. In part 2, the character was renamed to Sunny DVD. Happy PhD was an actual Khalistani militant. Harmeet Singh, the chief of Khalistan Liberation Force, was declared a terrorist by India, and killed in 2020 under mysterious circumstances.
Internet reacts to changes
After screengrabs and details of the changes were posted on Reddit on Tuesday, many Redditors shared their thoughts. “ Man I really wanna know what was the original movie like without any scenes cut, removed, or altered,” wrote one. Another argued that the changes were to keep the content safe. “Aditya Dhar played it safe, keeping the focus on the Pakistani terror angle,” argued another.
However, a few felt that the changes were unnecessary. “But did these changes really help. Sunny DVD part was anyway not the main thing in that chapter. As for pinda, it was evident he is khalistani. So I don’t think dubbing those dialogues did any help. The khalistani angle was pretty evident. Someone in Canada slashed the screen on day 1, so you can imagine the message has been conveyed.”
About Dhurandhar 2
Written and directed by Aditya Dhar, Dhurandhar 2 stars Ranveer Singh as an Indian spy infilitrating the gangs and terror networks of Pakistan. The film also stars Arjun Rampal, Sanjay Dutt, R Madhavan, Rakesh Bedi, and Sara Arjun. The film made ₹1800 crore worldwide, the second-most by any Indian film.