Aditya Dhar’s spy thriller Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge is one of the most anticipated films of the year. It will continue the story from the first part, Dhurandhar, which released in theaters last December and became the highest-grossing Indian film ever at the domestic box office. It’s no surprise that the sequel will probably do even better and make history again.
One of the finer details in the recently released trailer of Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge reveals that it will eventually stream on JioHotstar and air on Star Gold TV channel after its theatrical release on March 19. This is a strategic change from the first part, which launched on Netflix India on January 30, eight weeks after its theatrical release on December 5, 2025.
Dhurandhar immediately entered Netflix India’s Top 10, and even Netflix Pakistan despite his supposedly jingoistic politics. However, the response to the film on streaming was still relatively muted than its theatrical release. A large number of users also pointed out problems with screen proportions, color grading, and other technical issues on the streaming platform which hindered the ideal viewing experience of the film.
With their move to JioHotstar, the makers hope to rectify those issues and make Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge a smoother streaming viewing experience. Another reason could be the fact that due to the historic theatrical response to the first film and the subsequent tremendous buzz for its sequel, JioHotstar could have offered a higher price in the streamers’ bidding war to claim the digital rights of the second part.
A third reason behind this change could be because both JioHotstar and Star Gold belong to the same parent company as Jio Studios, the production house behind both parts of Dhurandhar. For the economy of the first part to work, the creators needed to earn at least a significant fraction of their budget of around Rs 300 crore on the planning table itself. Therefore, it could afford to sell it only to the highest bidder, which happened to be Netflix India, unlike its parent company’s streaming.
With Rs 1390 cr in the bank with Dhurandhar…
But with the Rs 890 crore and over Rs 500 crore that Dhurandhar has earned at the domestic and foreign box office respectively, the makers believe that the sequel will be as confident or even more confident when it releases in theaters next month. They also expanded the reach of Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge, releasing it in five languages in India: Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada. Furthermore, they also secured a big launch window on March 19, on the occasion of festivals like Eid, Gudi Padwa and Ugadi.
While the exact terms of the streaming rights deal between Jio Studios and JioHotstar are not known, it could also be the case that since the digital rights are within the same ecosystem, the production house could control when to release the sequel on streaming. That would allow it to extend the usual eight-week gap between theatrical and streaming releases should the film continue to perform well at the box office even beyond its eighth week.
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For example, Dhurandhar maintained its strength at the domestic box office for seven weeks, earning even more in its second week than its first week. It also became the first Indian film to score double digits every day domestically for 28 days in a row. It also had the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh highest grossing weeks at the Indian box office. It started slowing down in its eighth week, only thanks to competition from Anurag Singh’s period war drama Border 2, starring Sunny Deol, which released in theaters on January 23 ahead of Republic Day.
Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge will have a formidable competitor in Geethu Mohandas’ Kannada action thriller Toxic: A Fairy Tale, starring KGF’s Yash, which is scheduled to release on the same date. It will have fresh competition in Shaneil Deo’s bilingual (Telugu and Hindi) action thriller Dacoit: A Love Story, starring Major’s Adivi Sesh, on April 10, and Apoorva Lakhia’s military action film Battle of Galwan, starring Salman Khan, on April 17, four weeks after its theatrical release.
Music from Saregama to T-Series
JioStudios has not only opted for a new streaming platform for Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge, but also for a new musical partner. The popular music of the first part, by composer Shashwat Sachdev, was presented by Saregama, but that of the sequel will be presented by Bhushan Kumar’s T-Series. The latter has one of the largest global footprints on YouTube and is also instrumental in featuring some of the most memorable and successful albums of all time, most recently Border 2.
T-Series also reportedly paid a whopping Rs 27 crore for the music rights to Dhurandhar’s sequel, given the wide and deep impact the music from the first part had on business and pop culture, and continues to have even now. Since the cost also includes promotional expenses, the makers of Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge benefited not only from higher returns in their music vertical but also secured an end-to-end marketing partner in T-Series.
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However, one drawback the sequel may have in ditching Saregama is the vast musical catalog it has, thanks to properties like Saregama Caravan. This may cost Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge the opportunity to cash in on retro classics like “Na Toh Caravan Ki Talash Hai” from Barsaat Ki Raat (1960) and “Rambha Ho” from Armaan (1981) as the first part. While T-Series has a large number of old songs of its own, it is not as extensive as Saregama.