Cross-media recommendations across film, TV, games, books & music — picked by taste.
Dhurandhar sends an Indian intelligence agent deep into Karachi's criminal and political networks, where dismantling a terror nexus from inside means erasing every marker of who he actually is. The film turns on the slow cost of that erasure — loyalty tested against survival, the state's machinery interlocked with organised crime, and the question of what's left of a person when the mission is done. These picks across film, TV, and books sit in the same zone of infiltration, moral compromise, and shadow-war.
Dhurandhar is a 2025 Indian Hindi-language spy action thriller film written and directed by Aditya Dhar. It is produced by Aditya Dhar, Lokesh Dhar and Jyoti Deshpande under Jio Studios and B62 Studios. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Ranveer Singh, Akshaye Khanna, Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Rampal, R. Madhavan, Sara Arjun, Rakesh Bedi, Gaurav Gera, and Danish Pandor alongside several supporting actors. The first instalment of a duology, it centres on a high-stakes covert counter-terrorism operation. The film follows an undercover Indian intelligence agent who infiltrates Karachi's criminal syndicates and political power structures in Pakistan in an effort to dismantle a terror network targeting India.
From the Wikipedia article Dhurandhar, available under CC BY-SA.
Series
Mirzapur
A ruthless criminal dynasty and its power-hungry heir reveal how organised crime entangles with political and social structures.
Series
Shaktimaan
When darkness threatens the world, the Suryanshis deploy Shaktimaan as the chosen fighter against the forces of evil.
Series
Raktanchal
A criminal empire built on corrupt state contracts is challenged from within a society shaped by real political violence.
Series
The Ba***ds of Bollywood
An ambitious outsider and his friends navigate the chaotic, high-stakes, uncertain world of Bollywood.
Series
Indian Police Force
Delhi police officer Kabir Malik battles the terrorist Zarar through a world of threat, deception, and institutional pressure.
Series
Mahkum
A prosecutor convicted of killing his family wakes with amnesia and must escape prison to recover the truth and his name.
Book
Sindh revisited
A journey deep into British India and Sindh traces Richard Francis Burton's remarkable early life through contested territory.
Book
Travels in a dervish cloak
An on-the-ground account of Pakistan offers the human texture absent from geopolitical analyses of radical Islam and the Taliban.
Film
Dhurandhar: The Revenge
As rival gangs, corrupt officials, and Major Iqbal close in, Hamza's mission spirals into a bloody personal war in Lyari.
Film
Dhaakad
Agent Agni's mission to eliminate a human trafficker turns personal when she uncovers a truth connecting her to him.
Film
Baramulla
A cop probing child kidnappings in Baramulla stumbles into supernatural horrors that begin threatening his own family.
Film
Chatrapathi
Separated from his mother fleeing Pakistan, Shivaji grows into a respected and feared figure navigating dangerous power structures.
Film
Petta
A hostel warden targeted by a politician and his gangster son turns out to be far more dangerous than they bargained for.
Film
Dheeram
A detective unraveling a killer's scheme confronts the tension between legal process and the justice a grieving parent deserves.
If you want more South Asian underworld action, Mirzapur delivers the same brutal crime-empire atmosphere across two gripping seasons, while Indian Police Force keeps the counter-terrorism tension alive with a Delhi cop hunting a terrorist network.
Raktanchal is a strong pick — it's a crime drama rooted in real events where rival power brokers clash over criminal territory, echoing Dhurandhar's theme of dismantling a corrupt nexus from within.
Travels in a Dervish Cloak offers an immersive, ground-level portrait of Pakistani society and its hidden worlds, making it a natural companion read for anyone drawn to Dhurandhar's Karachi underworld backdrop.