From theatre bans to Netflix No. 1: Dhurandhar trends at the top in Pakistan and Gulf countries

Dhurandhar, directed by Aditya Dhar, is drawing big numbers on Netflix across the world. The film is topping charts in Pakistan and several Gulf countries, even though it was not released in theatres there because of its sensitive political themes.

Netflix’s Tudum weekly rankings for January 26 to February 1 show that the film is No. 1 on the global Top 10 list for non-English films, with 7.6 million views. The film began streaming on January 30. Before coming to OTT, it had a long theatrical run and earned over ₹1,300 crore at the box office.

The response in Pakistan has stood out. Indian films have not been screened in Pakistani theatres for years due to restrictions, but Dhurandhar still topped Netflix’s Top 10 Movies list there. With theatres closed to Indian titles, platforms like Netflix have become the main way people in the country watch Indian films, Variety reported.

The film is also doing well across the Gulf. Netflix data shows it at No. 1 in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman, and in the Top 10 in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. This is despite the film being restricted from theatrical release in several of these places because of its geopolitical themes.

Netflix India shared the list of countries where the film is trending at No. 1 on X. It wrote: “Taking 22 countries by storm, Dhurandhar trends at # 1 globally…(sic)…Trending countries: Canada, United Kingdom, Morocco, Mauritius, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Hong Kong, India, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Maldives. Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Australia, New Zealand…(sic).”

Data from FlixPatrol from early February 2026 shows that the film entered the global Top 10 within 48 hours of its digital debut. It held the No. 8 and No. 9 spots worldwide during its opening weekend. The film has since entered the Top 10 in 32 countries, including Australia, Canada, the UK and the US, where it charted on its first day of streaming. Sacnilk reported that the film is No. 1 in 10 countries: India, Pakistan, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Maldives, Mauritius, Kuwait and Oman. It also holds a Top 5 spot in 23 more countries.

Set largely in Lyari, Karachi, the film is built around covert intelligence missions linked to real events such as the Kandahar hijacking, the 2001 Parliament attack and the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. The themes in the film have led to online debates around how real it feels, along with the performances and its political messaging.

Ranveer Singh plays undercover agent Hamza Ali Mazari. The cast also includes R. Madhavan as Indian spymaster Ajay Sanyal, Sanjay Dutt as SP Chaudhary Aslam, Akshaye Khanna as gangster Rehman Dakait and Arjun Rampal as ISI Major Iqbal, reportedly inspired by terrorist Ilyas Kashmiri. The film marks Sara Arjun’s debut opposite Ranveer. Rakesh Bedi, Manav Gohil, Gaurav Gera, Danish Pandor, Raj Zutshi and Saumya Tandon appear in key roles.

The sequel, Dhurandhar: The Revenge, is also set to release in theatres on March 19 in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam.