the m0vie blog

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this week with special guest Siddhant Adlakha, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every second Saturday at 6pm GMT, with the occasional bonus episode between them.

This week, Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar.

In the wake of a horrific terrorist attack, India initiates the top secret plan “Dhurandhar”, sending a highly skilled operative to infiltrate the Pakistani criminal underworld in the hopes of identifying and stopping potential terrorist attacks before they happen. What follows is a brutal story of betrayal, violence and romance against the backdrop of the political and social turmoil of twenty-first century India.

At time of recording, it was ranked 250th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Show Notes:

• Recorded 1st March 2026.
• Dhurandhar at The Internet Movie Database.
• Follow Siddhant on Twitter.
• Follow Siddhant on BlueSky.
• Visit SiddhantAdlakha.com.
• Read Siddhant’s work at JoySauce.
• Read Siddhant’s work at Inverse.
• Read Siddhant’s work at Polygon.
• Read Siddhant’s work at IGN.
• Naman Ramachandran at Variety reports on the box office success of Dhurandhar, January 2026.
• Naman Ramachandran at Variety reports on how Dhurandhar powered the Indian box office last year, January 2026.
• Naman Ramachandran at Variety reports on the streaming success of Dhurandhar, February 2026.
• Yasser Usman at The BBC reports on the recent trend of hypermasculine Indian films, January 2026.
• Anupreeta Das and Pragati K.B. write at The New York Times about the emergence of women-centric Indian films, November 2024.
• Aditya Dhar talks to Reuters about making Uri: The Surgical Strike, January 2019.
• Michael Safi at The Guardian writes about how the political crisis in Kashmir affected the Indian and Pakistani film industries, October 2016.
• Aljazeera reports on the Pakistani ban on Indian films in the wake of the Kashmir crisis, October 2016.
• The BBC reports on the lifting of the Pakistani ban on Indian films, December 2016.
• Indian Express reports on Salman Khan’s criticism of the ban on Pakistani artists working in the Indian film industry, October 2016.
• Aditya Dhar talks to Republic World about criticisms of Uri: The Surgical Strike as propaganda, November 2019.
• The Times of India reports on the removal of anti-Muslim rhetoric from publicity materials for Uri: The Surgical Strike, December 2018.
• Mahwash Ajaz at The Print criticises the portrayal of Pakistani characters in Uri: The Surgical Strike, January 2019.
• Preminda Jacob at The Conversation considers Bollywood’s role in shaping India’s politics, April 2024.
• Jessie Yeung and Rhea Mogul at CNN report on how Bollywood has embraced Narendra Modi, May 2024.
• Imaan Irfan at Prospect Magazine considers how Narendra Modi is reshaping Bollywood to his own end, March 2026.
• Aditya Dhar talks to Outlook India about making Article 370, February 2024.
• Kaisar Andrabi at The South China Morning Post considers the political firestorm around Article 370, February 2024.
• The Economic Times reports on Narendra Modi’s reaction to Article 370, February 2024.
• NDTV reports on the viral meme of Narendra Modi at “the O.G. Dhurandhar”, December 2025.
• News18 reports on Emmanuel Macron’s use of the Dhurandhar soundtrack during his meetings with Narendra Modi, February 2026.
• Adrian Horton at The Guardian reports on the production of Rush Hour 4 to appease Donald Trump, November 2025.
• Jude Kramer at Fast Company questions the ethics of Amazon’s Melania documentary, March 2026.
• Borys Kit at The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Max Landis is developing a G.I. Joe movie at Paramount, February 2026.
• Matt Donnelly at Variety reports that Paramount has passed on Max Landis’ G.I. Joe movie, March 2026.
• Shomini Sen at WioNews reports on the popularity of Dhurandhar on the Pakistani grey market, February 2026.
• The Times of India reports on the popularity of Dhurandhar as a pirated movie in Pakistan, December 2025.
• Sophie Landrin and Carole Dieterich at Le Monde consider the targetting of Modi’s internal enemies, March 2024.
• Nissim Mannathukkaren at The Hindu considers Dhurandhar as a prime example of government-embedded filmmaking, December 2025.
• The Times of India considers the impact and effect of Narendra Modi’s selfie with the stars of Bollywood, December 2019.
• The New York Times considers Narendra Modi’s banning of high denomination bills, January 2017.
• The BBC considers the controversy around Narendra Modi’s currency purge, November 2017.
• Zoya Mateen and Azadeh Moshiri at The BBC consider how Dhurandhar crafts an alternate history of recent relations between India and Pakistan, December 2025.
• Nicolas Rapold at The New York Times considers how the Dhurandhar films craft a mythology around Narendra Modi’s India, March 2026.
• The BBC reports on allegations that Narendra Modi used the apparatus of the state to spy on a woman, December 2013.
• Narisi Sethi at Masala considers the increasing levels of violence in contemporary mainstream India cinema, January 2026.
• Pathyush Parasuraman discusses the strange state of the censorship of Indian cinema for The Hindu, January 2025.
• Anurag Kashyap talks to mathrubhumi about the targetted harassment of critics of Dhurandhar, February 2026.
• Manjusha Radhakrishnan at Gulf News reports on the Film Critics Guild of India issuing a statement on the harassment of critics by fans of Dhurandhar, December 2025.
• Yashraj Sharma at Aljazeera reports on the controversy swirling around Dhurandhar, December 2025.
• NewsLaundry reports on the taking down of the Hollywood Reporter India‘s review of Dhurandhar, December 2025.
• Sachin T at Free Press Journal reports on the Dhurandhar team’s decision not to attend the Hollywood Reporter India Awards, February 2026.
• Matt Singer writes at IndieWire about the death threats that Avengers fans were sending film critics, April 2012.
• Ben Child at The Guardian writes about Samuel L. Jackson’s targetting of New York Times film critic A.O. Scott, May 2012.
• A.O. Scott writes at The New York Times about his decision to leave film criticism behind, March 2023.
• Devina Gupta at The BBC considers the Hindu nationalist paranoia over “love jihad”, February 2021.
• Rahul Desai reviews Dhurandhar at The Hollywood Reporter India, January 2026.
• Ishita Sengupta considers Dhurandhar at OTT Play, December 2025.
• Uday Bhatia reviews Dhurandhar for Live Mint, December 2025.
• Sucharita Tyagi reviews Dhurandhar for Medium, December 2025.
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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: bjp, bollywood, craft, dhurandhar, hindu nationalism, history, modi, narendra modi, Pakistan, propaganda, siddhant adlakha, violence |