The anticipation and excitement that fans had been building for the Dhurandhar 2 teaser release, today at 12:12 PM, could hardly be matched. The crowd was hanging on the edge of their seats, itching to get a glimpse of what the sequel had to offer. Instead they got a teaser that left many feeling pretty underwhelmed.
A Déjà Vu Feeling of Disappointment: The trouble is that the teaser is barely different from the first teaser. Rather than showing off any real new footage, the filmmakers just took the post-credits sequence from the first Dhurandhar and rehashed it with a new background score. Fans have been pretty vocal on social media, and a lot of them feel they've been ripped off by the lack of any new content. And it's not like it was a long teaser, just a minute and a half - still a lot of people who'd seen the film on it’s recent Netflix OTT debut will have been familiar with these scenes.
Why the Rush to Release? Industry insiders are naturally trying to work out why they brought out a rehashed teaser so quickly. There are reports out of Mumbai that Dhurandhar 2 isn’t actually ready to be fully revealed yet. Director Aditya Dhar is bogged down in the post-production edit and is putting in a lot of hours on the VFX. There just wasn’t the time to make a brand new teaser, I think.
What the Makers Are Trying to Get Out of It: According to Bollywood media, the main reason for the teaser release was to send a very clear message: that the March 19 release date is for real, and it’s not getting pushed with the makers under heavy pressure to meet that deadline, which seems a pretty reasonable move.
Box Office Battle Looms on the Horizon: March 19 is just around the corner and the countdown to release has officially begun. The release calendar is looking pretty interesting:
- Exit Strategy: One film that was previously eyeing the same date as Dhurandhar 2 has now decided to pull back. Adivi Sesh’s Dacoit (which was previously known as Decoy) has now been pushed back out of fear of getting caught up in the release of the other film.
- Clash Looms: As for Yash’s Toxic, the signs are that it’s not going to back down. Booking agreements have already started to be made, and it seems highly unlikely that the release date would be changed at this stage.
If both films stick to their guns, then in most places outside of Karnataka, Toxic will be looking at a real tough fight against Dhurandhar 2. One interesting fact is that Dhurandhar 2 is slated to run for 3 and a half hours - that’s a long sit, but the first film proved that audiences are up for the journey if the content delivers.