There are big releases, and then there are moments that feel like events, and Dhurandhar 2 is clearly the latter. Before it hits theatres across India, this Ranveer Singh film has affected almost every theatre’s schedule to accommodate this film’s massive advance ticket sales, something not many Bollywood films have accomplished thus far. That’s because the buzz around the film has led to record-breaking advance ticket sales; reports say the pre-booking have crossed 100,000 tickets just days into sales.
Dhurandhar 2 is a spy thriller starring Ranveer Singh, and this film is generating more demand than any previous Bollywood film in history. Because of this massive demand, theatre owners and exhibitors have created all kinds of ways to accommodate as many fans as possible, including adding late-night and evening shows, and even some early-morning shows, which are rare for Hindi films.
The drive for this unprecedented demand is not only from Ranveer Singh’s popularity but also from the sheer size of the film itself. Because of the film’s running time of approximately 3 hours and 40 minutes long, they can only accommodate a certain number of regular shows every day based on the theatre’s capacity, and as a result of that, to keep up with the massive ticket demand for Dhurandhar 2, the theatres will be programming the shows during times normally not seen with Hindi films, including starting at 2 AM in some cities.
However, the best representation of Dhurandhar 2’s influence comes from Mumbai’s iconic Maratha Mandir – a traditional cinema associated with the classic romantic movie, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. For nearly 30 years, DDLJ has enjoyed an uninterrupted daily screening at its fixed time slot, becoming a ritual for movie lovers.
That changed this week.
The adjustment made by Maratha Mandir to accommodate Dhurandhar 2 resulted in moving the long-established (delayed) time slot for DDLJ to an earlier time, something that seemed unfathomable until now. While this may appear to be merely a new schedule for Maratha Mandir, it symbolises a changing of generations as a new style of blockbuster motion picture stirs up one of Bollywood’s most celebrated legacies.
According to trade analysts, this change is more than just hype but represents the evolution of event films in the Indian marketplace. Massive pre-ticket sales, atypical screening schedules, and nationwide anticipation have become standard in the marketplace for big-budget films. Dhurandhar 2 appears to have checked all these boxes.
As the film’s premier approaches, one thing is already clear: this isn’t just a film opening, it’s a full-blown cinematic takeover.
