Ranveer Singh's 'Dhurandhar' Storms JioHotstar With 50 Million-Viewer Opening Weekend

Ranveer Singh's spy thriller 'Dhurandhar: The Revenge' has translated its theatrical success into a streaming juggernaut, pulling in roughly 50 million viewers on JioHotstar over its first weekend on the platform. The film began streaming on 5 June following a half-hour behind-the-scenes special the previous evening, a launch engineered to build anticipation.

Crucially, the digital version is not the same film audiences saw in cinemas. Billed as the 'Raw & Undekha' cut, it restores scenes and unfiltered dialogue trimmed for the theatrical release, giving the platform a reason to market the premiere as an event in its own right rather than a routine post-box-office drop.

A multilingual play for scale

JioHotstar released the title simultaneously in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada, a strategy that has become central to how Indian platforms chase mass reach. By making a single title available across five languages at once, streamers can tap audiences in multiple regions on the same day rather than rolling out gradually.

By bundling a pan-Indian theatrical hit with exclusive added footage, the service leaned on event-style scheduling to convert curiosity into sign-ups. The approach treats a streaming premiere less like a catalogue addition and more like a marquee occasion, complete with a teaser special timed to draw viewers in ahead of the release.

“The OTT release isn't just the film again; it's a longer, rawer version built to reward the people who already paid to see it once.”

— Industry analyst, on the extended-cut strategy

The extended-cut strategy

The 'Raw & Undekha' framing addresses a perennial challenge for streamers: how to persuade viewers to watch, or pay for, a film many have already seen in theatres. Offering restored scenes and unfiltered dialogue reframes the premiere as a fresh experience, an incentive both for cinema-goers and for those who skipped the theatrical run.

• Around 50 million viewers tuned in over the first streaming weekend
• Streaming began 5 June, preceded by a half-hour behind-the-scenes special
• The 'Raw & Undekha' cut restores scenes and dialogue trimmed for cinemas
• The film launched simultaneously in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada
• A festive-season sequel is planned

Why it matters

For Aditya Dhar and Ranveer Singh, the streaming reception adds momentum ahead of a planned festive-season sequel, while for JioHotstar it offers fresh evidence that exclusive cuts of marquee films can drive headline-grabbing launch figures. The numbers strengthen the case for treating digital premieres as events rather than afterthoughts.

More broadly, the launch illustrates how the line between theatrical and streaming releases is blurring, with platforms using extended cuts, multilingual rollouts and event scheduling to extract maximum value from a single property. If the model continues to deliver figures of this scale, it is likely to shape how India's biggest films are released long after their cinema runs end.

The NE Times View

A 50-million-viewer digital debut across five languages confirms the centre of gravity in Indian entertainment has shifted decisively to streaming. The 'extended cut' strategy is a shrewd way to give a theatrical title a second life and a fresh reason to watch. Our view: the real story is reach, multilingual releases are no longer an afterthought but the engine of scale, and the theatrical-versus-digital debate is effectively over.

This article is original commentary and analysis by The NE Times. Background facts were referenced from India TV News, Republic World.