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Border 2’s declining footfall was reflected in its occupancy figures as well. On Day 18, the film recorded an overall occupancy of just 6.83%, with 1,380 shows running across India. This marked a steep drop from its peak count of 6,012 shows—an overall reduction of nearly 4,632 screens.

Despite the slowdown, Border 2 has emerged as the second-highest-grossing film of Sunny Deol’s career, while also becoming the highest earner for Varun Dhawan, Diljit Dosanjh, and Ahan Shetty.

Notably, the film enjoyed a clear theatrical window, with no major releases scheduled until March. Yet, it failed to replicate Dhurandhar’s sustained box-office magic, as both shows and audience turnout continued to decline with each passing day.

The film, directed by Anurag Singh, is produced by JP Dutta and Nidhi Dutta.

Citing these losses, Farhan Akhtar’s team believes Ranveer Singh should compensate the company for the damages incurred.

A source told Variety, “Ranveer claims he exited the project because he was unhappy with the script. He repeatedly requested changes and was dissatisfied with the final draft. Excel, on the other hand, maintains that it moved ahead with pre-production only after Singh gave his approval.”

The report further states that Ranveer Singh and Excel Entertainment held a two-hour-long meeting on Friday, which reportedly did not yield any resolution. Both parties are said to have gone back and forth over accountability and financial responsibility, but no concrete outcome emerged.

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With the dispute intensifying, the Producers Guild of India has now stepped in to mediate, attempting to find common ground and prevent the matter from escalating further.

The issue has sparked widespread discussion on social media, particularly on Reddit, where many users appeared to side with Ranveer Singh. One user wrote, “If they don’t have anything from Ranveer Singh in writing, they don’t have any case.” Another commented, “If Ranveer took a signing amount, he should return only that amount, deducting whatever he spent time on for the teaser. Other than that, why would he pay anything else? He backed out before the filming schedule was even ready.”

Another user questioned the scale of the alleged losses, writing, “₹40 crore is a massive amount, even by big-budget film standards. Pre-production usually involves screenplay development, casting, location scouting, crew hiring, budgeting, storyboarding, and production design. Spending ₹40 crore at this stage sounds excessive. How did they land in such a situation?”

Some users even accused Excel Entertainment of attempting to pressure the actor. “Excel has had several financially underperforming films in recent years. They’re pinning the blame on Ranveer Singh after he exited the repeatedly delayed Don 3, possibly to force him back or extract money under the guise of contractual losses,” one comment read.

Earlier, multiple reports had suggested that Don 3 was pushed to the backburner after the makers failed to find a suitable replacement for Ranveer Singh. The film was formally announced by Farhan Akhtar in 2023 with a special teaser featuring Ranveer. However, the movie never materialised.

As of now, neither Ranveer Singh nor Excel Entertainment has issued an official statement on the matter.

Reflecting on her career, Master Raju said Divya was widely seen as Sridevi’s successor. “People called her the replacement of Sridevi—a young Sridevi. She had a very promising career. What happened to her was extremely unfortunate. There are many things I wouldn’t want to say on record now, especially because she’s no longer with us.”

‘Divya Bharti felt used’

He hinted that despite her professional success, Divya was deeply unhappy on a personal level. “She told me several things and gave examples of people. She was lonely and sad. But it doesn’t make sense to take names and create controversies today. She was very happy with her career, but not with her personal relationships. Not with men or lovers—we are talking about other people. She felt used. She felt that because she was earning and working, people were misusing her money. That made her unhappy.”

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At the same time, Master Raju clarified that Divya found comfort in her marriage to filmmaker Sajid Nadiadwala. “She was very positive about the man in her life. She was content and hopeful, looking forward to the future with him. That part of her life was fine.”

Her death came as a devastating shock. “When she died, it shook me completely,” Master Raju said. “I was the first person to reach there and the last to leave. It was tragic. This should not have happened.”

When Divya Bharti died

Divya Bharti made her debut with the Tamil film Nila Pennae in 1990 and quickly became one of the most sought-after actresses in Hindi cinema. On the evening of April 5, 1993, she fell from the window of her fifth-floor apartment. Though she was rushed to the hospital, she was declared dead on arrival. The incident was officially ruled an accident.

Recalling the scene at the hospital, producer Pahlaj Nihalani—who had signed Divya for Shola Aur Shabnam—told Pinkvilla, “She was all alone at that time. No one had arrived yet. The moment I found out, I rushed to the hospital immediately.”

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She continued, “We know what’s in part two; we have the conviction. We have shot both films together. Had the first part not fired, the second one would have sat in our cupboard. However, we were sure the first part would fire, so we put that energy out. We are so happy the audience took a shine to it. We believe Dhurandhar 2 will be bigger than the first part.” Jyoti further claimed that Dhurandhar’s Hindi version alone earned three times as much from the southern states as other successful Hindi movies had done thus far.

Nonetheless, she admitted that Dhurandhar was a risky film to greenlight. “It was not an easy film to greenlight because it defied all the norms. When you greenlight a film, you think about the genre, the actor, and the commerciality of it. It is true that stories rarely fail; the budgets fail. So, how do you shoot one large film or two films that are going to cost a lot of money, that are adult (A-certified), have a lot of gore, and are almost fully shot in Pakistan with almost 100 per cent Muslim characters? It doesn’t tick any box. So, how do you back such a film? I found it clutter-breaking; I found it more moving rather than in-your-face patriotic films.”

Watch Dhurandhar 2 teaser here:

Responding to criticisms against the movie’s political undertones, which many found problematic, Jyoti, who serves as the president of Jio Studios, told Forbes in a recent interview, “I do not believe at all that this film was propaganda or it had some agenda to deliver. It definitely was not against any religion. That was not the intention of the film or the intent. It cannot even be interpreted like that. If we are rooting for our country, there’s nothing wrong with it. We’re not rooting for our country at the cost of any religion or anything. We’re saying terrorism is bad. Terrorism is bad in any religion.”

Starring Ranveer Singh, Sanjay Dutt, Akshaye Khanna, R Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, and Sara Arjun in the lead roles, the second instalment in the duology, titled Dhurandhar: The Revenge, will also be released in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam, alongside the Hindi original. It will clash with Geetu Mohandas’ Yash-starrer Toxic at the box office.

Nidhi also shared an interesting insight into Akshaye’s career and revealed how he initially did not want to be an actor. “Akshaye was actually leaving for studies abroad, and he never wanted to be an actor, and he was having dinner with my father and Vinod uncle at Vinod uncle‘s house, that’s what I have been told, and dad asked him, will you act in a war film? Akshaye was to leave in two days and that’s why they were having this farewell dinner. Akshaye said ‘Yes, I will do it’. Vinod uncle was like, ‘Are you crazy? You want to be an actor you never told me this.’ Akshaye said, ‘I’m telling you now. I will be an actor’.”

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Nidhi further shared that since Border was a multi-starrer, Vinod Khanna decided to launch Akshaye in Himalay Putra (1997) first, and Border eventually became his second film. “Then you know what happened it was a multi-starrer, so Vinod uncle decided to make Himalay Putra at that point,” she said. She added, “It’s a different feeling to see him wear that uniform again and walk onto set after so many years. It was special for him and for us.”

Akshaye had also spoken about his entry in films earlier, recalling how his father wanted him to finish his studies.

“J.P. Dutta sahab jo the woh mere pitaji ke ghar pe aaye the khaane ke liye. Main uss wakt boarding school mein tha aur meri umar kuchh 18 saal ki thi. Toh unhone mujhe kaha, woh ek kone mein baithe the, unhone kaha, ‘Main ek picture bana raha hun, Border. Tu kaam karna chahega? Ek aisa hai mere paas ek role.’ (J.P. Dutta Sahab had come over to my father’s house for a meal. At that time, I was in boarding school and was about 18 years old. He was sitting in a corner and he said to me, ‘I am making a film called Border. Would you like to work in it? I have a role like that for you.’),” he had told Prabhu Chawla in a an old interview.

Akshaye accepted that he was scared to reveal his acting ambitions to his father but this gave him a chance to reveal them. Toh, kyunki main bolna chahta tha apne pitaji se, thodi si ghabrahat hoti thi ki main kab bolu, kaise bolu ki main kaam karna chahta hun filmon mein. Toh yeh mujhe laga ki sabse sahi mauka hai, isko aap matlab dono haath se pakad lo. Toh maine kaha ki, ‘Haan, main karunga kaam. Kab shuru ho rahi hai picture?’ Ek saal ke baad. Toh tab tak main chhootne waala tha school se. (Now, because I had been wanting to tell my father—but was a bit nervous about when and how to say that I wanted to work in films—I felt this was the perfect opportunity. I thought, ‘I should grab this with both hands.’ So I said, ‘Yes, I’ll do it. When does the film start?’ He said in a year’s time. By then, I was due to finish school.)”

Vinod Khanna was taken aback by Akshaye’s declaration. “Toh mere pitaji ne kaha, ‘Kya? Filmon mein kaam karna chahte ho?’ Maine bola, ‘Haan, dekhte hain. Ek chhota sa role hai, multi-star cast film hai, J.P. sahab ne poocha toh maine bola chalo main koshish karta hun.’ Toh wahan se unko pata chala. Toh unhone kaha, ‘Nahi, agar tu karna chahta hai toh mujhe bol.’ Maine kaha, ‘Haan, main karna chahta hun.’ Toh he’s like, ‘Phir main ek picture banata hun tere liye’. (My father was shocked and asked, ‘What? You want to work in films?’ I replied, ‘Yes, let’s see. It’s a small role in a multi-starrer; J.P. Sahab asked, so I thought I’d give it a try.’ That’s how he found out. He then said, ‘No, if you want to do this, tell me.’ I said, ‘Yes, I want to.’ So he was like, ‘In that case, I will make a film for you).’”