On Monday, the Delhi High Court declined to stop the release of Dhurandhar, the Ranveer Singh espionage thriller scheduled for theatrical release on December 5, 2025. The lawsuit, which was filed by the parents of the late Major Mohit Sharma, Ashoka Chakra (posthumous), and Sena Medal awardee, alleged that the filmmakers took unapproved inspiration from the life of the decorated officer and used it for a commercial portrayal.
Ranveer Singh’s Dhurandhar In Legal Trouble
The case came to court after the film’s trailer sparked speculation for several weeks. It showed Ranveer Singh as a secret agent who carries out covert military missions. These clips quickly led people to compare Major Sharma, a highly respected member of the Indian Army’s 1 Para (Special Forces), who was martyred in Kupwara, Jammu & Kashmir, in March 2009, to the character in the trailer. While director Aditya Dhar had a public announcement on November 26 that the film is purely fictional, the officer’s parents insisted that the plot is their son’s life story in disguise.
Before Justice Sachin Datta, the petitioners – 77-year-old Sushila Sharma and 75-year-old Rajendra Prasad Sharma said that the movie was an insult to their son’s memory. In their declaration, which was done with the assistance of advocates Roopenshu Pratap Singh and Manish Sharmaa, they mentioned that the film not only encroached on their privacy rights under Article 21 of the Constitution but also posed national security risks. The application further cautioned that if the film shows the Special Forces’ work even as fiction, it might lead to the leakage of highly sensitive operational details.
The petition instructed the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), the Additional Directorate General of Public Information (ADGPI), Jio Studios, producer Jyoti Deshpande, and director Aditya Dhar as respondents, seeking a halt on release till the time when the court could have a look at the charges.
Producer’s side, Senior Advocate Saurabh Kirpal rejected the charges leveled against them, calling the suit misconceived, and maintaining that the movie does not correspond to the real life of Major Sharma literally or symbolically. The Board’s Counsel also agreed that the CBFC had evaluated the film as a work of fiction.
High Court, in its ruling, refused to impose a release injunction but asked the CBFC to expedite the certification with “due regard” to the deceased officer’s family’s concerns. The board is instructed to look at the film’s content again, and if clearing the film finally, they may even have to take the Indian Army’s approval.