Saif Ali Khan believes Dhurandhar has changed the way Bollywood looks at filmmaking, saying the industry now exists in two distinct phases — before and after the blockbuster franchise. The actor praised director Aditya Dhar’s approach to music and storytelling, describing several creative choices in the films as “revolutionary”.
Speaking to Hindustan Times, Saif reflected on how his own perspective on scripts has evolved. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, he said, “I see a time before Dhurandhar and a time after. It’s up to us whether we catch up or not and wake up or not. It seems like an obvious idea to make amazing music rather than creating a new album for each film, and to draw on all kinds of things from all around the world, while not being too frightened of English also.”
The Dhurandhar films featured music by Shashwat Sachdev, who composed original songs such as Shararat and Gehra Hua, while also reworking classic tracks into new versions including Ishq Jalakar, Lutt Le Gaya and Run Down the City – Monica. The same approach continued in Dhurandhar: The Revenge, blending original compositions with recreations and remixes. Both soundtracks received widespread acclaim and topped streaming charts.
Saif singled out Shararat, the dance number featuring Ayesha Khan and Krystle D’Souza, as an example of the films’ fresh approach. He said the song could change the way filmmakers cast actresses for dance numbers. “Something as revolutionary as that, imagine if that was to change the way of hiring a beautiful leading lady to do an ‘item’ for you. If you just treat it as a song and have these two girls performing as you would in a wedding, it doesn’t jar the eyes at all,” he said. The sequence takes place during the wedding of Ranveer Singh’s character, Hamza, with the two actresses performing as dancers while the song is intercut with scenes from the story.
Released in December 2025 and March 2026, the two Dhurandhar films became major box-office successes, earning more than ₹3,100 crore worldwide. Dhurandhar: The Revenge ranks as the second highest-grossing Indian film of all time. Besides Ranveer Singh, the films also feature Akshaye Khanna, Arjun Rampal, Sanjay Dutt, R Madhavan, Rakesh Bedi and Sara Arjun.
Saif was most recently seen in the Netflix crime thriller Kartavya, which earned him praise for his performance. He will next appear in the period drama Hum Hindustani and Priyadarshan’s Haiwaan, which reunites him with Akshay Kumar after nearly two decades.
