When Aditya Dhar Broke Silence On URI Being Tagged As A "Political Propaganda"
Updated on: 20 March, 2026 05:02 PM IST |Shweta Shah
Aditya Dhar`s URI: The Surgical Strike
Aditya Dhar has become India`s favourite director, thanks to his visionary project, Dhurandhar. The sequel of the film has shattered several records and already crossed 100 crore in collections in just two days of its release.
The director who made his debut with URI: The Surgical Strike didn`t have it easy at all despite the film being a blockbuster. Many tagged the film as "political propaganda", with some even calling it a "strategic move" of the then ruling government.
Amid the rise of Dhurandhar 2, an old interview of Dhar has been doing the rounds where he spoke about his films being called brainwashing content.
Aditya Dhar on URI being called `political propaganda`
In a throwback interview with Rajeev Masand, the filmmaker had addressed the criticism and shared his perspective on how the idea of URI was conceived and released.
During the conversation, Aditya was asked about the allegations of the film advertising the ruling government and releasing it around the election season.
Also Read: Dhurandhar 2 First Review Out, Fans Call Ranveer Singh`s Film `Zabardast`
Denying that the film had any political inclination. He said, “See two things: one is that the date is decided by the producer, keeping the business, the economics of films, in mind. It`s not decided according to what, like, the elections are happening, or what is happening, or what party is fighting for it, or no.”
Dhar further explained that URI: The Surgical Strike was simply a film made to narrate the events as they happened. He also emphasised that the film only revolved around the events that unfolded during the 10-11 leading up to the Indian Army`s surgical strike in Pakistan.
“Secondly, when you see the film and most of these people who were calling it propaganda, when they saw the film, they actually realised that it`s not; it`s a very balanced perspective, because the whole point is I am chronologically telling you what happened in those 10-11 days, and if the decision was taken by the current government, how can I negate that? How can I bypass that?" he shared.
Aditya continued, "I have to show it; it was taken. The decision was taken by the current government. So keeping that in mind, I had to keep a very balanced perspective. Now if somebody feels it`s propaganda, then it might be that in their head they have already decided.”
Aditya Dhar on "Naya Bharat" ideology
Rajeev Masand also pointed out that the entire ideology of "New India" has seen some aggressive response. The Dhurandhar director pointed at his Kashmiri roots and said the approach was rather personal to him.
Also Read: Dhurandhar Director Aditya Dhar Says He Has Seen Every `Peak Detailing` Memes
"See, this Nayabharat thing came from a point that, being a Kashmiri, I have heard about terrorism ever since I was a small baby, and I was someone who wanted to get into the army but couldn`t, and keeping both the perspectives in mind, I realised this is the first time we actually took the fight to that enemy, and it has never.”
Following the success of his previous work, Aditya Dhar is now enjoying the success of Dhurandhar: The Revenge, which is running successfully in cinemas near you.
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