It is often said that “content is king.” When a film has powerful content, nothing can stop it, and it does not need heavy publicity to succeed.
Dhurandhar is one such example. Initially, very little was known about the film, and even the director was not widely recognized.
Yet, the film’s making style, strong content, and gripping screenplay and dialogues elevated it to the next level and helped it break several records in 2025.
Now, its sequel, Dhurandhar: The Revenge, is set to release in a week.
Advance bookings have already opened, and in many Indian cities several shows are already houseful; something rarely seen in recent years.
Interestingly, the makers and actors are not conducting any major promotional events. Apart from releasing the trailer, there has been minimal publicity. It is purely the strength of the content that has captured the audience’s attention.
On the other hand, Rajamouli has been working hard to build hype for his upcoming film Varanasi right from the beginning.
The grand event held at Ramoji Film City to reveal the title and showcase the film’s ambience reportedly cost a huge amount. Similar large-scale promotional strategies were also seen during the promotions of RRR.
Rajamouli spent heavily on national media promotions for RRR, followed by massive international campaigns during the film’s Oscar run.
Even now, promotions for Varanasi appear to be focused on large-scale publicity, including international media exposure.
However, despite such massive promotional efforts, films like Dhurandhar and Pushpa 2 have reportedly surpassed RRR in terms of collections and footfalls.
In fact, Dhurandhar broke several records set by RRR, and that too without any ticket price hikes, unlike RRR.
The number of footfalls for Dhurandhar is also said to be higher than even Baahubali 2. Now, with Dhurandhar: The Revenge, the film is expected to set new records once again.
That said, Rajamouli undoubtedly deserves immense credit for what he has achieved in Indian cinema so far. However, as time passes, new filmmakers and fresh storytelling styles emerge, often challenging the dominance of earlier leaders.
Just as Ram Gopal Varma, once celebrated as a revolutionary filmmaker, was eventually overtaken by a new generation of directors, some observers feel that Rajamouli may now be facing increasing competition from new-age filmmakers like Aditya Dhar, whose fast-paced and intense storytelling style is gaining strong audience acceptance.