There’s a Cold War joke when two rival agents – a KGB one and a CIA one – find themselves in the same bar. The American tells his Russian counterpart: “I have to hand it to you – your propaganda is very impressive.” The Soviet smiles and replies: “It’s nothing compared to American propaganda.” Flummoxed, the American replies: “But we don’t have propaganda.” The Soviet winks and says: “Exactly.”There’s a line: “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn’t exist.”The same goes for American propaganda, which is why most people know the aforementioned line from The Usual Suspects and not French poet Charles Baudelaire’s The Generous Gambler. Like the devil, the greatest trick American propaganda managed was to convince even the doyens who consume it or produce it that it doesn’t exist. It wraps up this illusion in the fig leaves of morality, economics, neo-liberalism, and the devil’s favourite sleight of hand: free will.The Nazis had Riefenstahl. Americans have Michael Bay movies.Communists have agitprop; Americans have “free press.”The interesting thing about the term agitprop is that it is the amalgamation of agitation and propaganda and is named after an actual Soviet department from the 1920s.One recently came across the term “agitprop” used to describe the sequel to Dhurandhar, Aditya Dhar’s magnum opus. It was one of the many words used to describe the Dhurandhar duology, along with ‘majoritarian’, ‘Islamophobic’, all the synonyms for intolerant, and some more polysyllabic jawbreakers that would make even India’s most loquacious politician call it an “exasperating farrago of distortions, misrepresentations and outright nonsense masquerading as movie reviews.”The most common epithet shoved on Dhar’s shelf is ‘propaganda’, a term which can be construed and tortured to describe almost every single movie, if one tortures logic enough.Read: How Hollywood mastered the art of propaganda Rang De Basanti can be viewed as anarcho-pacifist propaganda wrapped in the fig leaf of patriotism.Chak De India can be construed as ‘transphobic’ anti-cooperative federalism where the antagonist’s religion is flipped to create a victim complex. Three Idiots is clearly anti-engineering school propaganda.And Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is fat-shaming people for not being able to run.Jokes apart, whether you consider the Dhurandhar duology propaganda or not depends completely upon your availability heuristic, worldview, and what you think constitutes propaganda, and is frankly beyond the scope of this piece.What the duology does brilliantly is show that Bollywood – which we discovered post the internet boom is mostly borrowed, inspired, or plagiarised from cinema across the world – appears capable of civilisational myth-making.Every nation needs a foundational myth to agree on, a story that brings its denizens together. Post its independence from the British, the US had ‘Manifest Destiny’, the expansionist belief that it was their task to spread the American way of life across the North American continent. The belief was backed by great American novels like The Last of the Mohicans and gun-slinging cowboy movies about the American frontier, which cleverly hid the genocide of indigenous people.

For India – post and pre-independence – from Buddha to Gandhi, the foundational myth has been one of ahimsa, or non-violence, which was treated as the basic operating system of our nation, even the accepted truth. Of course that particular myth ignores both the two of the foundational text of Indic civilisation: the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.One of those pernicious lies that is downstream from that myth is that India has ‘never’ invaded any nation, something that actor Priyanka Chopra repeated on the Joe Rogan podcast while showing wilful ignorance about the seafaring incursions of the Cholas and other dynasties. One doesn’t blame her; Hollywood and Bollywood actors aren’t supposed to be experts in history, but the view just shows a popular consensus that has existed among people.When India finally won independence from the war-ravaged and tottering British Empire, the myth clung to our national DNA and even shaped our initial foreign policy.As geopolitical expert Brahma Chellaney argued in a TOI piece from 2019: “Had post-1947 India been proactive and forward-looking in securing its frontiers, it could have averted both the Kashmir and Himalayan border problems. China was in deep turmoil until October 1949, and India had ample time and space to assert control over the Himalayan borders. But India’s pernicious founding myth gave rise to a pacifist country that believed it could get peace merely by seeking peace, instead of building the capability to defend peace.”Of course, hindsight is 20/20, and it is very easy to look back at the man in the arena and make judgement calls from the comfort of our keyboards. But we have learnt the hard way that peace comes from having a bigger stick than the other side, or at least a nuclear weapon, which Indian governments of all ideological hues have worked together to pursue.The ahimsa foundational myth persisted in mainstream cinema and was in vogue till the last decade. Some commonly held beliefs were simply that Indians and Pakistanis are the same, who want to bond over biryani and Fawad Khan’s chiselled jaw. In the early part of the noughties, the notion was so firm that Farah Khan’s debut movie showcased an antagonist who considered Pakistan the enemy and a protagonist who, much like Neville Chamberlain, just wanted peace.

It was a notion that the Indian public also believed in to a certain extent, till the Overton window shifted after terror attack upon terror attack. But Bollywood’s worldview did not change, and it continued to serve up movies from assorted spy universes where Indian and Pakistani agents often broke into dance before thwarting faceless and non-religious threats against both nations.Movies that departed from this worldview, on the other hand, were so poorly executed that they appeared to be exploitation cinema trying to make a quick buck from current political sentiment.That is why the Dhurandhar duology stands on its own, because it is a rare instance of competent myth-making that is completely attuned to the availability heuristic of its audience.Dhar’s duology rejects Bollywood’s mass, formulaic approaches to war movies or spy thrillers, eschewing escapist item-number fantasies or surreal jamborees, with a level of peak detailing that would gladden Frederick Forsyth’s heart. The movie uses enough real-life examples to serve a delicious Quentin Tarantino-style revenge fantasy, the kind we have seen in Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, or Kill Bill.The music is sublime, mixing hits old and new, from far-off genres. Golden-era Bollywood classics jostle with qawwalis, as Punjabi pop, Arabic rap, Indian hip-hop, and Western rock come together, coupled with a background score that could have been developed by Hans Zimmer.There are so many scenes – subtle and not-so-subtle – that go out of their way to push the phantasmagoria of revenge, the kind that Hollywood has used to sublime effect over the years. All in all, it is competent myth-making. And your availability heuristic will decide whether it is myth-making for a particular spymaster, regime, religion, nation, or civilisation.This is not the first Indian movie to do that. The Baahubali duology and RRR are both sublime artefacts of civilisational pride wrapped in grand filmmaking, but the difference is that they are either set in fantastical lands or in history. Dhurandhar, on the other hand, is set in contemporary times – in the not-so-distant future – one that is the lived reality for many people watching the movie.Dhurandhar is balm for the civilisational wound, or, as Arjun Rampal, a Mumbai denizen who saw the atrocities during 26/11, put it: “This is my revenge.”Which brings us to the final question: why is there so much hysterical anger against the movie? Recently, when an Indian national pleaded guilty in an American court to a plot to assassinate an American citizen and bona fide Khalistani, social media was full of people mocking Aditya Dhar. The simple answer is that Dhurandhar Derangement Syndrome is the sigh of the former oppressor, facing civilisational erasure. The democratisation of art is a tad too much for a class that could long control the channels of communication, one that could decide what is a genteel worldview and what is not. Dhurandhar is a clean break from that past. Bollywood has some way to go before it can compete with Hollywood when it comes to myth-making, à la Top Gun or American Sniper, but this is definitely a start.In Dhurandhar’s title track, there is a line: “You are not ready for this.” In the sequel, there is a follow-up: “You are still not ready for this.” The old population might not be, but it is clear that the audience, and many denizens of new India, are definitely ready for it.

‘Dhurandhar 2’ has found itself in the midst of a controversy following criticism of a particular scene featuring R Madhavan and Ranveer Singh. An FIR was lodged at Mumbai’s Mulund Police Station by Gurjyot Singh Keer, a Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) leader and president of the group ‘Sikhs in Maharashtra’ raising objection to a scene in the film. The sequence in question shows Madhavan’s character holding a cigarette while lines from the Guru Gobind Singh Dasam Granth, which has not gone down well with the community. The complaint names Madhavan, Ranveer Singh, and filmmaker Aditya Dhar, accusing them of disrespecting Gurbani.Dhurandhar 2 Movie ReviewTaking to Instagram, Gurjyot shared a video outlining his objections, writing: “I strongly condemn the blatant disrespect shown towards Gurbani by the makers of Dhurandhar 2. Portraying a character, played by @actormaddy, talking to @ranveersingh while holding a cigarette and reciting sacred Gurbani is deeply hurtful and unacceptable. Gurbani is not mere dialogue, it is divine, sacred, and holds immense spiritual significance for the Sikh community. Such depiction reflects ignorance and a lack of sensitivity towards our faith. I urge the Sikh community to stand united and peacefully protest this insult. Show black flags to those responsible, Aditya Dhar, R. Madhavan, and Ranveer Singh, if they fail to issue a sincere apology to the SGPC and the Sikh community. Respect every faith. This is not creativity, this is disrespect.” R Madhavan has now addressed the issue and clarified the situation. In a video shared on social media, he explained that there may have been a misunderstanding regarding the scene. He said, “Dhurandhar ke pure parivar ke taraf se aapko bohot dhanyawaad ke aapne hamari film ko itna pyaar diya. Haal hi mein mujhe pataa chala hai ke kuch logon ko iss baat se takleef pahunchi hai ke Guru Govind ke dasam granth se kuch lines bolte waqt maine cigarette smoke ki hai aur isse un logon ko takleef pahunchi hai. Main aapko batana chahta hu ke yeh bilkul sahi nahi hai. Thodi galat faimi hai kyunki mujhe pura yakeen hai iss scene ke daruan aur bolte huye, Aditya Dhar ji ne joh ki mujhse zyada dhyaan rakhte hai in sab cheezon ka. Unhone kahaa tha mujhse ke yeh line bolte waqt aap cigarette bujha dijiyega aur naahi screen mein dhuaan dikhaaye dega aur naahi aapke haath mein cigarette hogi kyunki yeh hamare liye paak aur Pavitra hai. Maine bakaayda cigarette bujha diya tha aur naahi mere munh se dhuaan hai aur naahi pure scene mein cigarette ka naam o nishaan hai. (On behalf of the entire Dhurandhar team, I sincerely thank you for giving our film so much love. Recently, I came to know that some people were hurt by the perception that I was smoking a cigarette while reciting lines from Guru Gobind Singh’s Dasam Granth. I want to clarify that this is absolutely not true. There seems to be a misunderstanding because I am certain that during this scene, while delivering those lines, Aditya Dhar—who is even more mindful about such matters than I am—had clearly instructed me to put out the cigarette. He ensured that there would be no smoke visible on screen and that I would not be holding a cigarette while reciting those lines, as they are sacred and pure for u. I had properly extinguished the cigarette, and there is no smoke coming from my mouth, nor is there any trace of a cigarette in the entire scene).” He further added, “Jaane anjaane mein bhi hum kisiko takleef nahi pahunchana chaahte. Puri sikh community ke saath hum hai aur hamesha rahenge. Hum unka bohot aadar karte hai. Har film ke release ke Pehle main khud hi golden temple jaata hu joh sabko pataa hai. Main phir se kehta hu ke scene ke shuruaat mein mere haath mein cigarette thi par uske baad scene shuru hoti hai, main bakaayda bujhaa deta hu. Aur mere line mein bohot Pehle se hi scene pe bilkul dhuaan nai hai. Maaf kijiyega par humne yakeenan yeh kaam nai kiya hai. (We never want to hurt anyone, knowingly or unknowingly. We stand with the entire Sikh community and always will. We have immense respect for them. Before the release of every film, I personally visit the Golden Temple, which everyone knows. I want to reiterate that at the beginning of the scene, I did have a cigarette in my hand, but as the scene begins, I properly put it out. Even while delivering my lines, there is absolutely no smoke visible. I apologise, but we certainly have not done what is being claimed).”

Mumbai: Maharashtra recorded a modest but significant improvement in road safety in the first two months of the year, with both fatal crashes and deaths declining by nearly 8% compared to the same period last year, according to statistics released by the transport department on Tuesday.The data, accessed by TOI, showed that fatal crashes across the state fell from 2,556 in Jan-Feb 2025 to 2,362 in the corresponding period this year. Fatalities dipped from 2,753 to 2,539, marking an 8% reduction. Overall crashes, including both fatal and non-fatal incidents, dipped by 2%, from 6,209 cases last year to 6,113. Mumbai and Navi Mumbai reported sharper declines in road crash deaths than the state’s average. Fatalities in Mumbai dropped by 24%, while Navi Mumbai saw a 29% fall. The department did not provide absolute numbers for Mumbai and Navi Mumbai in the report. Among other regions, Nashik city recorded the steepest decline at 53%, followed by Sindhudurg at 47%, Washim district at 45%, Nagpur city at 35%, Solapur city at 31%, Akola at 23% and Gadchiroli at 22%. Additional transport commissioner Bharat Kalaskar attributed part of the improvement to stronger enforcement and technology-led monitoring. The official said the intelligent traffic management system on Mumbai-Pune expressway helped reduce crashes by 19% over the past year, and similar systems would soon be introduced on state highways. The transport department’s enforcement drive has also gathered pace. Advanced interceptor radar vehicles equipped with AI-powered 360° cameras detected 1,65,303 riders without helmets and 22,017 pillion riders without helmets over the past year, taking the total two-wheeler helmet violations to nearly 1.9 lakh. Authorities also booked 12,362 motorists for not wearing front seatbelts, 14,658 for speeding, 10,262 for invalid pollution certificates and 4,637 for triple riding. Officials said sustained preventive measures and penalties on offenders contributed to the decline in crashes across Maharashtra.

NEW DELHI: Sanju Samson enjoyed a stellar ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, playing a key role in India’s title triumph. After an impressive campaign, the wicketkeeper-batter now shifts focus to a new challenge — the IPL — and that too with a new team, Chennai Super Kings.Having represented Rajasthan Royals for over a decade, Samson will don CSK colours in IPL 2026 after being traded last year. The right-hander will also share the dressing room with legendary MS Dhoni.

Recently, during an exhibition match between CSK veterans and current players, Samson faced off against spin great Muttiah Muralitharan — a moment that fans found both special and emotional.With Samson at the crease, Dhoni behind the stumps, and Muralitharan bowling, the atmosphere grew electric with every delivery.Samson defended the first ball from Muralitharan, and then blocked the second as well. On the third delivery, he stepped down the track looking for a big hit but missed it completely, with Dhoni collecting the ball and nearly effecting a stumping.The near-dismissal was followed by a shared laugh between Samson and Dhoni, delighting the crowd.Samson made sure not to miss the next opportunity, as he came back strongly to smash Muralitharan for a big six.After the match, Dhoni honoured T20 World Cup winners Samson, Shivam Dube, and U-19 World Cup-winning captain Ayush Mhatre during a CSK pre-season fan event at Chepauk. He presented special mementoes as part of the celebrations.India clinched the T20 World Cup 2026 title with a dominant 96-run win over New Zealand national cricket team in the final in Ahmedabad. It was India’s third T20 World Cup title, having previously won in 2007 and 2024.The five-time champions CSK will begin their IPL 2026 campaign against Rajasthan Royals at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium on March 30. CSK last lifted the IPL trophy in 2023 and had finished at the bottom of the points table last season.