YouTuber Dhurv Rathee’s latest X posts and a new YouTube video have sparked controversy after he slammed Ranveer Singh-starrer Dhurandhar for pushing a political narrative while shielding itself under the label of ‘fiction’.
In his video, Rathee repeatedly argues that although Dhurandhar carries a “fictional / inspired by real events” disclaimer, it uses real terror attacks, real dates, locations, real footage, real names or near-identical stand-ins to spread a dangerous political propaganda.
“Director of the film Dhurandhar, Aditya Dhar, has made a false claim and tried to spread nonsense propaganda through his film,” says Rathee in the video.
He argues that well-made propaganda is more dangerous than crude films. He rejects the defence that “good filmmaking” can be separated from political intent, criticises actors for ignoring social responsibility, and warns that cinema is being weaponised to shape political narratives and communal hatred.
“We can debate the responsibility of filmmakers... No matter how good the film is, but in the end it is propaganda like Nazi propaganda film during Hitler's time...These false propaganda films in their time were also very profitable,” he continues.
Rathee also questions the use of violence and glorification of criminals in the Aditya Dhar directorial. The action drama, Rathee argues, features a “cool” portrayal of gangsters and terrorists, choreographed gunfights and viral dance clips as well as sensationalised scenes of gore and cruelty.
“Dhurandhar is an engaging film. Keeping this in mind, the film shows that our country’s Intelligence agencies hire criminals. There is another big problem in the film Dhurandhar — gangsters' depiction. Rehman Dakait. He was a devilish kind of guy. But in the film, his character has a different cool swagger. He delivers dialogues and the dance goes viral on Instagram... This is crazy,” he says.
Before releasing the video on his YouTube channel, Rathee had posted on X, “It takes 1 YouTube video to destroy a Rs 300 crore propaganda film and I guarantee you that the MELTDOWN after this video will be so bad. They’re not ready for this. Releasing tonight.”
Though he did not name the film in his X post, the tweet came days after Dhurandhar breached the Rs 300-crore mark at the domestic box office. At the time the report was published on Sunday, the film had already crossed the Rs 500-crore mark in India since its 5 December release.
Rathee’s X post has since been flooded with comments from social media users. “Dhruv, I enjoy some of your videos, however this is a poor take. I didn’t find any so-called propaganda in Dhurandhar. We have long suffered from state sponsored terrorism. The movie gave good insights of the inner workings of the network,” wrote one.
“He thinks he is a revolutionary YouTuber who can change everything he wants with his Pakistani and Bangladeshi followers. Sit down clown, your opinion doesn't matter to us, it's just that we want to expose you, how big hypocrite you are. No one takes you seriously in India,” posted another.
Set in Pakistan in the early 2000s, Dhurandhar follows an Indian spy working to dismantle Karachi’s mafia network. The film features Akshaye Khanna, Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Rampal, Sara Arjun, and R. Madhavan alongside Ranveer.