Dhurandhar 2 crashed server in Pakistan After releasing on Netflix. : r/Dhurandhar
It seems despite so much alleged Anti Pakistan content Dhurandhar is doing very well in Pakistan
Dhurandhar crashes Netflix servers in Pakistan: Trending # 1
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we were like is BB back..
A video buffering or slow load times doesn’t mean servers of a massive company like Netflix have crashed, that’s just Indian media hyperbole at it again plus some basic internet illiteracy among Indians.
Of course a lot of Pakistanis will be curious about the movie since its about our country. This is what a lot of Indians and far left (pro-India) Pakistanis don’t seem to understand – if you make content centered around another country or group of people of course they’re going to see what its about. Bollywood has made hundreds of anti-Pakistani movie, it’s a profitable business model. It’s the same reason why a lot of western youtubers/tiktokers make content about various south Asian countries and put their names in the title because it draws a lot of views, it’s classic engagement bat and that’s what Bollywood does, they have a similar obsession with Pakistan as the rest of India does.
But Bollywood is popular in Pakistan; it depends on which demographics.
Its popularity has severely declined across all demographics although this could also be attributed to Bollywood’s overall decline and not just politics. There’s just way too many options in entertainment for people to consume.
Yes, I think most of the upper-middle classes and elite watch Western content rather than Bollywood.
Yeah that is true but I’d say even among the lower-middle class and working classes there’s a lot of other avenues of entertainment that have surpassed Bollywood.
In the video I linked in one of my recent posts, Raza Rumi mentioned that Pakistanis in North America (he’s based in New York) went to theaters to watch “Dhurandhar”. You are right that this reflects curiosity about the movie rather than any agreement with its ideology.
Nachiketa uses the word “alleged” regarding the anti-Pakistan content in the movie. I don’t think it’s really up for debate that these movies are anti-Pakistan. Again, the video I linked goes into quite a lot of detail about how these movies are anti-Pakistan. In fact, there are also references to slaughterhouses in UP which can be seen as anti Indian Muslim.
Pakistanis watching these movies doesn’t mean they agree with the ideology expressed.
I think it would be foolish to deny Bollywood’s popularity in Pakistan. This is only natural since Hindi and Urdu are essentially the same language.
But you are correct that Bollywood has lost a lot of popularity in Pakistan–especially post “Operation Sindoor” which turned a lot of Pakistanis off of India entirely. This includes myself. I will openly admit that India’s crossing of our border to bomb Pakistan made me much more pro-Pakistan Army than I was before.
I did see clips of his interview. The reasons why a lot of Pakistanis in the diaspora watched it is purely out of curiosity. North America also has a big Pakistani diaspora from Karachi and since the movie is centered around the city, a lot of Karachiites did watch the movie since they wanted to see how their city was portrayed, most were not happy with the propaganda.
I’m not denying Bollywoods past popularity or that it still has a large fanbase in Pakistan but it’s not as popular as it used to be neither in Pakistan nor in the diaspora and is especially not the primary source of media people consume anymore. I also don’t think its just because of India’s attacks on Pakistan last year – Bollywood has been losing ground for well over the past 5 years, it has not been the same since the pandemic and even before that they were competing against local content and other foreign media since the early 2010s, it’s no longer the domination they had in the 2000s and before and with the changing media landscape I don’t think any one entertainment industry or even form of entertainment can ever dominate one market like that again.
Yes, I agree that Pakistanis in the diaspora watched “Dhurandhar” mostly out of curiosity. Anyway, someone choosing to watch a movie doesn’t say anything about them agreeing with the ideology. After all, Muslims also watch Hollywood movies in which Muslims are the enemy (I don’t watch these movies but I don’t really like spy or war movies generally).
I think Bollywood has lost a lot of popularity in Pakistan mostly because of the amount of anti-Pakistan and anti-Muslim movies made over the past decade. Also, of course the general downturn in relations with India over that same period has had an impact. But this is an empirical question. There must be data on how these films do in Pakistan. Could make for an interesting post.
The last Bollywood movies I remember watching are “Chandigarh Kare Aashiqi” and “Gangubai Kathiawadi”. Honestly, I’m not a big movie person. I much prefer to read books.
While I have you here, I’d love your comments on some of my translations from the Urdu if you feel inclined.
Bollywood has declined precipitously in India itself. Dhurandar is the huge outlier. By some measures, K-dramas have already eclipsed domestic content for the prized 16-32 yo female demo in metro cities, and rural India has turned towards regional film industries. Feature films will continue to be the preferred format for epic scale stories I would guess, but even there, Bollywood is now just pivoting to being one pillar among many film industries that form a system.
Interesting.
There could definitely be a post on this.
Interesting comment
I liked The Revenge even better than part 1.
Popularity of this film in Pakistan shows that beyond the rhetoric of Pakistani elites and Islamists, majority of Pakistani people want India to rid the terrorist infrastructures, training facilities and terrorist ideologies inside their country.
India should continue to do what it has been doing since 28/09/2016. Do not care about the opinions of few Islamist elites or inheritors of Mughals.
Here is to peace in South Asia.
Just because people watch a movie doesn’t mean they agree with the ideology expressed. This is a foolish conclusion to draw.
As I mentioned above, Muslims watch Hollywood movies in which the enemy is often some Islamic country or the other. This doesn’t mean that they want the USA to invade their countries.
Anyway, it is an empirical question how many Pakistanis actually have access to Netflix. I believe a monthly subscription is now close to $15 or something (I’m not sure since I canceled my subscription more than a year ago). This is quite a lot of money in Pakistan so this platform would only be available to the upper middle classes and the elite.