Ranveer SinghThe Dhurandhar franchise has rewritten the box office record books, Dhurandhar and Dhurandhar: Revenge have together grossed over 3 billion worldwide. But according to producer Jyoti Deshpande, the journey to create one of the biggest franchises in Indian cinema was not an easy one.Speaking to ET Digital, Deshpande revealed how the makers navigated budgets, remade the project as a two-part saga midway through production and adopted a unique risk-sharing model with the lead star. Ranveer Singh and Director Aditya Dhar.
Ranveer Singh and Aditya Dhar were betting on the success of the film
Instead of opting for huge upfront fees, Ranveer and Aditya agreed to back profit-sharing deals, allowing them to share in the film’s financial success.“In Dhurandhar, Ranveer came in with a lower fixed fee and a backend deal, so he benefited from that arrangement. It was the same with Aditya, he came in with a lower fixed fee and a backend. He ended up getting a significant raise with us. That’s how you split the risk and the reward.”Deshpande explained that this approach aligned the interests of the entire team and helped support the film’s ambitious scale.
The budget went beyond initial projections
The producer admitted that the film ended up costing almost twice as much as originally budgeted.“In Dhurandhar, we went all in. The film ended up being made for almost double the amount we spent initially. Of course, we ended up with a two-part film, so it became a journey. In the end, we all went to the bank laughing.”Although the increased spending was a big gamble, the producer said that in the end the result justified the risk, with both films becoming huge commercial successes.
A one-film story that grew into two films
Deshpande revealed that Dhurandhar never intended to start a franchise.“Dhurandhar was written as a single story. It was planned as a single film and it was planned as a single film. But after the first shooting schedule was over, we realized that the budget had exceeded the budget.”The turning point came when the team reviewed footage from the first program.“The footage from that first program was beautiful. The pace of the narration made us feel that the story had the legs to turn it into a two-part movie.”Even then, turning the project into a franchise was not an obvious decision.“When we decided to finance it, making two films was not a certainty. We took that call somewhere along the journey. We had to commit capital before it became a slam dunk, although we felt there was a big opportunity and we worked to make it happen.”
Why the script immediately stood out
For Deshpande, the subject of the film was unlike anything he had encountered before.“It was fully established in Pakistan to begin with. We were talking about the deep state, which is actually a concept that has existed for years and years.”The challenge of presenting such a complex geopolitical idea to a mainstream audience was one of the reasons the project seemed compelling.“However, it’s abstract enough that you have to explain what the deep state means to the average viewer. And it would break all the conventional rules of storytelling. That idea excited me.”
OTT stories and inspired by global franchises
Deshpande said another aspect that appealed to him was the film’s chapter-based narrative structure.“The chapter format got me excited. I’m a fan of that kind of storytelling, and Western films have done it very well. People today are used to watching content on OTT platforms. It’s episodic, it’s immersive, and it allows the audience to spend more time in those worlds and with those characters. So I liked making a movie that isn’t just a beginning, middle and end story, but one that really immerses the audience in that world.“The makers also saw the possibility of Dhurandhar becoming a long-term franchise.“We thought that if we got it right, it could become a franchise that would be credible for years to come. Look at Bond or Mission: Impossible – they’re franchises that have stood the test of time.”
“How patriotic I thought”
Despite its action-packed, gangster film exterior, Deshpande said she connected with the film on a deeper emotional level.“Although it looks like a gangster film on the surface, I found it very moving and deeply patriotic. That gave me the purpose of making this film.”
