Nepal, Dec. 8 -- Bollywood can't just stick to making films anymore. Successful films need to be a clarion call for a 'higher' purpose. Whether it's the Kashmiri Pandit exodus in The Kashmir Files (2022), the sadistic torture of a Hindu king by a Mughal emperor in Chhaava (2025), or a visibly deranged man offering his unsolicited opinions on everything, talking at the speed of thought, in Animal (2023).

A similar moment in Aditya Dhar's second directorial feature, Dhurandhar, arrives in the middle of the second half. So much so he pauses his film and splices in the transcripts of actual conversation that took place between 26/11 Mumbai terror attack assailants and their handlers in the ISI, Pakistan's national security agency. The conver...