Dhurandhar 2 vs Toxic: The Clock Is Ticking

This year’s biggest box office showdown is just a month away. Bollywood’s highly anticipated sequel ‘Dhurandhar 2’ will have a head-on clash with South India’s most eagerly awaited pan-India action drama ‘Toxic : A Fairy Tale of Grown-Ups’ on March 19. 

Yash’s Toxic has been in the making for more than two years now. The makers announced the release date long back to make sure that there will no competition at pan-India level. On the other side, the phenomenal success of the first part prompted the producers of Ranveer Singh’s Dhurandhar to lock the same date for sequel despite having Toxic in the fray. 

Surprisingly, there is no sign of promotional activity yet from any of these big-ticket films even though the release date is fast approaching. This is because both films are still in shooting mode with pending post production activities. Except for the release of teasers, which only garnered moderate response from the audiences, no other promotional material has so far been unveiled from both teams. 

This is a worrying trend because both Dhurandhar 2 and Toxic have huge box office milestones to surpass due to the massive trade expectations. They will need to perform extremely well in different languages to recoup the investments. Meanwhile, there is a strong debate in industry circles on whether both films could manage to complete all formalities and hit the screens on time or not. 

Coincidentally, both films landed in controversies even before their release. While Toxic has triggered a strong backlash due to explicit visuals and religious insinuations in the teaser, Dhurandhar team also courted a controversy for violating safety norms while shooting for certain episodes in a set in Mumbai. 

The next few days will be very crucial for both films. The makers should sort out all issues and also plan aggressive promotions to secure massive openings in all territories because a lot of money is riding on them.