New Delhi: Aditya Dhar’s much-anticipated sequel to Dhurandhar was sent to the Central Board of Film Certification a day before its paid preview premiere. The CBFC granted the film an “A” certificate with 21 suggested modifications. The film, Dhurandhar: The Revenge, is set to hit theatres across the country on 19 March.
The CBFC asked for multiple edits, scene cuts, and replacements that shorten the runtime for the film’s domestic release. The suggested edits have already caused a series of cancellations and delays in paid preview screenings across India.
Dhar’s Dhurandhar (2025), starring Ranveer Singh as the lead character with an ensemble cast featuring Akshaye Khanna, Arjun Rampal, and Sara Arjun, among others, was an immediate box office success. It has, however, remained a controversial and trending topic since its release in December last year, with some dubbing the film as “propaganda.” The film’s final box office collection exceeded Rs 1,300 crore, according to Sacnilk.
The film’s final runtime in India is three hours, 49 minutes, and 36 seconds. The version submitted to the CBFC for clearance was three hours and 51 minutes. With the board’s additional cuts of around 1.3 minutes, the domestic version is now more than six minutes shorter than the overseas cut.
Four of the scenes, which were asked to remove, showed extreme violence, including reductions in moments described as “smashing the eye,” “beheading and kicking”, “hitting the head with a cement block”, and “hitting the head with a hammer,” suggested reports circulating online.
Reports also note that dates of demonetisation in the subtitles have been corrected, and “Lahore” has been replaced with “Delhi” in the information text to ensure the narrative aligns with Indian settings.
The makers, however, have asked the CBFC for permissionto keep references to the then prime minister as well as news footage in the film. Though there is no official confirmation, some reports claiming that CBFC has granted permission have surfaced in the last couple of hours.
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Social media reactions
Meanwhile, the internet isn’t pleased with the suggested “modifications”. X users pointed out the board’s hypocrisy for allowing Nora Fatehi’s “vulgar” song ‘Sarke Chunar’ to remain in the film, while suggesting the removal of scenes considered too “violent”.
One X user, Krishna Anand, said, “When you realise the CBFC allowed a vulgar Nora Fatehi song but made cuts in Dhurandhar 2, for being violent.”
When you realise the CBFC allowed a vulgar Nora Fatehi song but made cuts in Dhurandhar 2, for being violent. pic.twitter.com/si0CicgYl1
— Krishna Anand (@KrishnaAnand_) March 18, 2026
Another X user said: “Duniya bhar ki cheeje censor karwa bas Nora Fatehi ka gaana censor naa ho raha inse (They can censor all sorts of things but not Nora Fatehi’s song).”
Others reflected the chaos through memes.
CBFC with crucial scene of Dhurandhar 2 before it’s release pic.twitter.com/xkqpHillwQ
— SwatKat💃 (@swatic12) March 17, 2026
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Past controversies over Dhurandhar’s certification
The CBFC faced backlash in 2025 as well after they allowed a censored version of the film for streaming platform Netflix. The runtime of the “modified” version was reduced by four minutes.
The original duration of the film was three hours and 34 minutes. But the board had asked to mute two words and one dialogue in reference to Balochistan. The revised version of Dhurandhar started playing in theatres from 1 January. According to the revised censor certificate, its new runtime is three hours and 28 minutes.
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)