Aditya Dhar Rewrites Trailer Rules: Dhurandhar’s Trailer Builds Intrigue and makes a rare mood shift in Indian Film Marketing
Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar has shaken up Indian film marketing with a trailer that reveals almost nothing yet grips everyone. At 4 minutes, it builds high intrigue through mood, tension, and coded moments — marking a rare shift from India’s standard spoiler-heavy trailer culture.
04:19 PM Nov 20, 2025 IST
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Aakash Khuman
In an industry where trailers routinely map out the full story setup, conflict, twist, and often the climax beat - Dhurandhar has taken an unusually disciplined route. The Aditya Dhar film has generated heavy chatter not because of what it shows, but because of how much it deliberately withholds.
Clocking in at 4 minutes and 08 seconds, the Dhurandhar trailer is nothing short of a shockwave. It unfolds and establishes a pace which is relentless, atmospheric, and razor-sharp engaging viewers without revealing too much.
The trailer avoids the standard three-act reveal structure that dominates Indian promo cuts. There is no narrated mission brief, no villain reveal, no relationship arc, and no exposition linking the film’s ensemble of Ranveer Singh, R. Madhavan, Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Rampal, Akshaye Khanna and Sara Arjun. Instead, the cut leans on coded tension and punch lines that don’t give exact context.
This restraint is by design and people familiar with the cut say that, the editorial approach was built to not give away the plot. Source close to the film shares "Shots in the Dhurandhar trailer are stitched without linear progression a break from the ‘storyboarded trailer’ format that gives most major films away months before release. Also, the idea was to set up the characters and who they are as people. We wanted to build intrigue. As a result, viewers are left with intrigue but no clear roadmap of the plot."
Trade watchers have already pointed out that over the past decade, the pressure to maximise opening-day footfall has pushed Hindi films toward revealing trailers, often summarising an entire screenplay in under three minutes. Dhurandhar counters that trend by betting on curiosity and the response suggests it’s working. "The discussion online has centred not on spoilers, but on theories and it is a shift we say is unusual for a major December release," says a trade insider.
The trailer unit positions Dhurandhar as a film that cannot be missed; while there is enough to build momentum, but never enough to decode the film.
Dhurandhar is a star-studded saga inspired by incredible true events set in the gritty criminal vein of underworld with a backdrop of Indian patriotism, featuring action sequences, betrayals, and espionage.
About Dhurandhar
Presented by Jio Studios, a B62 Studios production, Dhurandhar is written, directed, and produced by Aditya Dhar, and produced by Jyoti Deshpande and Lokesh Dhar. The film hits theatres on December 5.
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