India, May 6 -- It was Baahubali that popularised the term pan-India in Indian cinematic parlance, after it performed admirably in the Hindi belt as well. In the decade since, several Telugu and Kannada films, from Kantara and KGF to RRR and Kalki 2898 AD, have emulated the feat and been dubbed pan-India hits. But Bollywood has largely been unable to emulate the feat. The collections of Hindi films in the south have remained far below those of South films in the north. A few, like Animal and Jawan, threatened to change that but stopped just short. It took a Dhurandhar to change all that.

Aditya Dhar's Dhurandhar was a nationwide success, earning over Rs.800 crore net in India alone. Naturally, the sequel to the Ranveer Singh-starrer was ...