Dhurandhar's Lyari Representation Was True: Pakistani Journalist Makes BIG Claim About Ranveer Singh Film

Aditya

Dhar’s Dhurandhar franchise sparked outrage in Pakistan. Ministers and politicians called out the espionage thriller for misrepresentation of Lyari town. In fact, the Sindh Government released the film titled Mera Lyari to counter the Hindi blockbuster. Now, months after Dhurandhar 2’s release, a Pakistani journalist named Arif Ajakia declared at a journalism summit that whatever was shown in the film was absolutely real. Instead of raising a political debate between India and Pakistan, the journalist called himself an Indian as his parents were born in Junagadh, Gujarat.

Pakistani journalist approves Lyari representation in Dhurandhar

At the Talk Journalism event in London, Arif spoke to host, journalist Saurabh Dwivedi, and said, “I was the mayor of a town in Karachi, elected mayor during the period when Dhurandhar was done. I was born and raised in Lyari, so I knew that everything shown was true.” He added that though he was born in Karachi, his parents are from Gujarat. “I consider myself to be of Indian origin, not Pakistani,” he shared.

Dhurandhar banned in Pakistan

The Dhurandhar franchise was officially banned in Pakistani and Gulf theatres. However, through pirated versions and premiere on Netflix, the audience in the neighbouring countries could watch the movie. When Dhurandhar released in 2025, there were videos of people drawing comparisons between actual Lyari and the set created for the shoot. The similarities were evident and much appreciated too.

Dhurandhar's counter film Mera Lyari flops

In December 2025, Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon announced a project titled Mera Lyari. It was in response to Dhurandhar’s ‘negative’ projection of the locality. Sharing posters of Mera Lyari on X, Memon wrote, "Indian movie Dhurandhar is yet another example of negative propaganda by the Indian film industry against Pakistan, especially targeting Lyari. Lyari is not violence—it is culture, peace, talent, and resilience. Next month Mera Lyari will release, showing the true face of Lyari: peace, prosperity, and pride. #MeraLyari."

However, when Mera Lyari released, the film tanked badly at the box office in Pakistan. It starred Ayesha Omar, Dananeer Mobeen and Samiya Mumtaz. According to reports, it sold only 22 tickets. The Dhurandhar franchise, including both films, earned over Rs 3000 crore globally.

Dhurandhar cast

Dhurandhar 2 starred Ranveer Singh, R Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, Danish Pandor, Rakesh Bedi, Sara Arjun, Sanjay Dutt, Manav Gohil, Gaurav Gera, Udaybir and others. The film has been produced by B62 Studios and JioStudios. It released in Hindi on March 19. The first part released on December 5, 2025, and also featured Akshaye Khanna as Rehman Dakait.