Nobody walks out of Dhurandhar thinking “that was clearly made up.” That’s Aditya Dhar’s biggest trick. I’ve watched spy films for 20+ years — from the slick Hollywood kind to the gritty South Asian ones — and I can tell you very few directors have the nerve to blend real historical footage, real names, and fictional characters inside the same 214-minute runtime without causing a full-scale controversy. Dhar pulled it off. Mostly.
- The Characters — Real vs Fiction, One by One
- Ranveer Singh as Hamza Ali Mazari / Jaskirat Singh Rangi
- R. Madhavan as Ajay Sanyal
- Akshaye Khanna as Rehman Dakait
- Arjun Rampal as Major Iqbal
- Sanjay Dutt as SP Chaudhary Aslam
- Danish Pandor as Uzair Baloch
- The Mystery “Bade Sahab”
- Atif Ahmed (Salim Siddiqui)
- Rakesh Bedi’s Character
- Dhurandhar Real Characters — Full Comparison Table
- 3 Insider Details Most Articles Miss
- What Everyone Is Searching After Watching Dhurandhar
But now everybody wants to know: which parts actually happened? Who is Hamza Ali Mazari based on? Is Rehman Dakait a real person? Why does R. Madhavan look exactly like Ajit Doval? I’m going to answer all of it — clearly, character by character, with zero promotional spin.
The Characters — Real vs Fiction, One by One
Ranveer Singh as Hamza Ali Mazari / Jaskirat Singh Rangi
Verdict: Fictional — but inspired by a real soldier.
This is the big one. Before release, the buzz was strong that Ranveer Singh was playing a fictionalised version of Major Mohit Sharma — an Ashok Chakra awardee who infiltrated the Hizbul Mujahideen under the alias Iftikhar Bhat and was killed in action in Kupwara, Jammu & Kashmir. The resemblance in concept is impossible to ignore. Undercover agent. Assumed Muslim identity. Years of deep-cover work. Death in service.
The makers officially denied this connection. The Delhi High Court reviewed objections from Major Mohit Sharma’s family and the CBFC found no direct link. So legally — no connection. But the DNA of that real story runs through Hamza whether any certificate confirms it or not. Most people get this wrong by treating the denial as the full truth. It’s the legal truth. The creative truth is murkier.
R. Madhavan as Ajay Sanyal
Verdict: Heavily inspired by Ajit Doval.
Madhavan’s look in this film is not a coincidence. The balding head, the thin lips, the quiet intensity of a man who has spent decades moving between shadows — his character Ajay Sanyal is a thinly veiled portrait of Ajit Doval, India’s National Security Advisor and former Intelligence Bureau director. Doval personally played a role in negotiating the IC-814 hijacking in 1999 — which appears as a scene in Dhurandhar. Aditya Dhar used Doval as the inspiration for the hawk-eyed intelligence chief in Uri too. Same trick, bigger canvas.
Akshaye Khanna as Rehman Dakait
Verdict: Real person. Real name. Fate slightly changed.
Rehman Dakait — full name Sardar Abdul Rehman Baloch — was a real gangster from Karachi’s Lyari neighbourhood. Ruthless, powerful, and eventually killed in a police encounter. Akshaye Khanna plays him with barely-contained menace, and the real man’s biography maps almost directly onto the character. His criminal network, his control over Lyari, his violent end — all of it is grounded in documented history. This is one of the film’s most precise real-world connections.
Arjun Rampal as Major Iqbal
Verdict: Based on Ilyas Kashmiri.
Arjun Rampal goes genuinely cold in this role. His character — Major Iqbal, an ISI-linked militant mastermind — is modelled after Ilyas Kashmiri, a former Pakistani Special Services Group commando who became one of Al-Qaeda’s most feared operational commanders. Kashmiri was described by intelligence agencies as the “new Osama bin Laden” in operational capability. He was linked to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the 2010 Pune bombing. He was killed in a US drone strike in June 2011. In the film, his fate and name are changed — but the profile is unmistakeable.
Sanjay Dutt as SP Chaudhary Aslam
Verdict: Real person. Name kept. Widow objected.
This is the most directly drawn character in the entire film. Chaudhry Aslam Khan was a real Karachi police officer — legendary for his brutal but effective campaigns against the city’s criminal gangs. He was assassinated by a Taliban suicide bomber in January 2014. His real widow actually raised objections about his portrayal before release — which tells you everything about how closely Sanjay Dutt’s character mirrors the real man. When the family of the actual person objects, you know the inspiration is direct.
Danish Pandor as Uzair Baloch
Verdict: Real name. Real gangster. Fate is fiction.
Uzair Baloch is a real figure — a Karachi gangster with actual documented criminal history. Dhurandhar uses his real name, which is bold. His fate in the film differs from reality, and his association with Hamza is entirely invented. But the character’s background, his position in Lyari’s hierarchy, and his criminal reputation are pulled directly from real records.
The Mystery “Bade Sahab”
Verdict: Dawood Ibrahim. Obviously.
The film never says the name out loud. It doesn’t need to. The faceless underworld don operating from Karachi, allegedly shielded by the Pakistani state, with fingers in terror financing and organised crime across South Asia — that’s Dawood Ibrahim, India’s most wanted fugitive for over 30 years. Pakistan has officially denied he lives there. India has officially maintained he does. The film sits squarely on India’s side of that argument.
Atif Ahmed (Salim Siddiqui)
Verdict: Based on Atiq Ahmed.
One of the film’s more specific character borrowings. Atiq Ahmed was a real Indian gangster-turned-politician who was shot dead at point-blank range — exactly as shown in Dhurandhar 2. The method of killing, the political context, the name similarity — this is not coincidence. It’s direct creative borrowing with the names changed just enough.
Rakesh Bedi’s Character
Verdict: Inspired by Pakistani political figures — unnamed.
Before release, Rakesh Bedi himself confirmed his character is inspired by real Pakistani political figures but declined to name them specifically. That careful silence tells its own story. Some things, even in a film full of bold choices, are left deliberately vague.
Dhurandhar Real Characters — Full Comparison Table
| Reel Character | Actor | Real Inspiration | How Close? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hamza Ali Mazari | Ranveer Singh | Composite / Major Mohit Sharma (denied) | Inspired, officially denied |
| Ajay Sanyal | R. Madhavan | Ajit Doval — NSA, former IB chief | Very close — look and career match |
| Rehman Dakait | Akshaye Khanna | Sardar Abdul Rehman Baloch | Real name, real profile |
| Major Iqbal | Arjun Rampal | Ilyas Kashmiri — SSG turned Al-Qaeda | Very close — fate changed only |
| SP Chaudhary Aslam | Sanjay Dutt | Chaudhry Aslam Khan — Karachi police | Direct — widow objected |
| Uzair Baloch | Danish Pandor | Real gangster, same name | Real name used directly |
| Bade Sahab | Unnamed/hidden | Dawood Ibrahim | Obvious — never stated aloud |
| Atif Ahmed | Salim Siddiqui | Atiq Ahmed — gangster-politician | Death method matches exactly |
| Rakesh Bedi’s character | Rakesh Bedi | Pakistani political figure (unnamed) | Confirmed inspired, name withheld |
3 Insider Details Most Articles Miss
1. The research consultant was a national security journalist — not just a script advisor. Aditya Raj Kaul, senior editor at NDTV for geopolitics and national security, was the film’s research consultant. He had previously made a documentary on the 2022 assassination of Zahoor Mistry — one of the hijackers of IC-814. When your research consultant has personally covered the events your film depicts, you’re not working from Google searches. That’s why Dhurandhar feels documented rather than imagined.
2. The film was banned in Gulf countries and still got downloaded 2 million times in Pakistan. Think about that. A film officially banned in Pakistan was downloaded illegally two million times within the country. No film achieves that reach in hostile territory unless it’s touching a nerve that goes far beyond entertainment. That number is more revealing than any box office figure.
3. The “unknown gunmen” connection is the real story nobody will officially confirm. Killings of India’s most wanted criminals on Pakistani soil by unknown gunmen have been documented in international media and police records for years. Dhurandhar essentially dramatises the theory that these killings are connected to Indian intelligence operations. Whether that’s fiction or informed speculation — only a handful of people on earth actually know. Aditya Dhar is betting you’ll assume the latter.
What Everyone Is Searching After Watching Dhurandhar
Is Hamza Ali Mazari a real person?
No. Hamza Ali Mazari is a fictional character. He is widely believed to be a composite of real RAW and Para-SF operatives. The speculation that he is specifically based on Major Mohit Sharma — an Ashok Chakra awardee killed in action in 2009 — was denied by the makers and cleared by the CBFC. The character’s concept, however, mirrors the real work of undercover Indian operatives whose identities remain classified.
Who is Rehman Dakait in real life?
Sardar Abdul Rehman Baloch, known as Rehman Dakait, was a real Karachi-based gangster who controlled large parts of the Lyari neighbourhood. He led criminal networks and was killed in a police encounter. Dhurandhar uses his real name and closely mirrors his real biography through Akshaye Khanna’s character.
Is R. Madhavan playing Ajit Doval in Dhurandhar?
Officially, no. His character’s name is Ajay Sanyal. But his appearance, career profile, and even specific scenes — like his role in the IC-814 hijacking negotiation — map so precisely onto Ajit Doval that the inspiration is undeniable. This is the same approach Aditya Dhar used in Uri: The Surgical Strike, where a similar character was Doval-inspired without official confirmation.
Was Chaudhry Aslam a real police officer?
Yes. Chaudhry Aslam Khan was a real and celebrated Karachi police officer known for his campaigns against the city’s criminal gangs. He was assassinated by a Taliban suicide bomber in January 2014. His real widow objected to his portrayal in Dhurandhar before the film’s release — confirming how directly the character is drawn from the real man.
Is Dawood Ibrahim shown in Dhurandhar?
He is never named. The character known as “Bade Sahab” — the shadowy underworld don believed to be operating from Karachi — is universally understood to represent Dawood Ibrahim. The film’s portrayal aligns with India’s official position that Ibrahim lives in Pakistan under state protection, which Pakistan denies. The film takes India’s side without ever saying his name aloud.
Danish Iqbal in Dhurandhar 2 as Dawood Ibrahim. Know All About the actor
