Karan Johar applauds Ranveer Singh's 'Dhurandhar' makers; calls it 'My favourite film of the year'

Dhurandhar has sparked fresh debate at the Hindi box office after its makers declared it the highest-grossing Hindi film of all time. The announcement came as filmmaker Karan Johar publicly celebrated the film’s success and called it his favorite of the year. Led by Ranveer Singh, the film has reportedly crossed a major milestone and moved ahead of ‘Pushpa 2: The Rise’ in Hindi collections, placing it at the top of the charts and triggering wide industry discussion about final numbers and benchmarks.According to figures shared by the makers and reported by trade coverage, ‘Dhurandhar’ has officially gone past the Hindi-language total of ‘Pushpa 2: The Rise’, which starred Allu Arjun. On Wednesday afternoon, Jio Studios, which produced the film, released a celebratory poster declaring it India’s highest-grossing Hindi film. The poster showed Ranveer Singh in a commanding pose and carried the message, “Thank you, India. Ganpati Bappa morya (Hail Lord Ganpati).” The graphic stated that the film’s net domestic collection after 33 days stood at Rs 831 crore. Based on this count, ‘Dhurandhar’ has crossed ‘Pushpa 2: The Rise’, which collected Rs 821 crore in Hindi. However, industry trackers cited by several outlets have placed ‘Dhurandhar’s’ Hindi total closer to Rs 782 crore as of Tuesday, noting that it still needs about Rs 40 crore more to clearly surpass ‘Pushpa 2’ on independent trade charts.Karan Johar shared his reaction on Instagram, writing, “Congratulations to Team Dhurandhar for being the no 1 film in Hindi! So incredibly deserving… My favourite film of the year!!!” He has also spoken at length about the film at public events. At one such appearance, he said, “I was like, blown away by Dhurandhar. It makes you feel like, ‘Oh my craft is limited compared to this.’ Oh my god, look at the use of background music.” Johar added, “What I loved about Dhurandhar was that I didn’t feel that the director was self-aware. I felt his intention was only to tell the story.” He concluded by saying, “It made me question my ability as a filmmaker, and that’s always a good thing for me. So I began the year loving ‘Saiyaara’ and ended the year loving ‘Dhurandhar’. I loved ‘Lokah’.”