Dayara director Meghna Gulzar recently shared her fitting thoughts on Harinder Sikka’s 2008 novel Calling Sehmat, and her 2018 film Raazi, based on the Hindi jugnat Dhurandhar on patriotic quotes. Describing Raazi’s characters as less patriotic than Dhurandhar’s characters, Meghna said that patriotism does not require sugar.
Speaking on the Learn By KK Create podcast, Meghna said, “Raazi’s characters are no less patriotic than Dhurandhar’s characters. The action is because they portrayed the story that way. One doesn’t have to be wrong to be proven right.”
Asked about the comparison between Dhurandhar and Razi, Meghna said, “I said in one of my interviews, ‘Patriotism and prayers don’t need quantity, they don’t happen in a particular way. Each is an individual expression.’
He also said that in Raazi, his characters’ moral compass was limited, not in patriotism.
In a recent interview, #MeghnaGulzar was asked if there are less patriots compared to Razi #DhurandharHe tried to defend #Razi And explain his point of view ☑️
But the author of the book, Harinder Singh Sikka, has openly criticized Meghna’s changes in the story in the film. pic.twitter.com/PbT1u1quRp
—Aditi (@Aditi289867132) September 21, 2026
About Razi
Headlined by Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal, Raazi is the story of an agent who, on her father’s request, marries into an army officers’ family in Pakistan to provide information to India, before the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War.
The film received critical acclaim, emerging as one of the highest-grossing films under a female lead.
Raazi received 15 nominations and won a major 5 awards (together with Andhadhun), including Best Film, Best Director (Gulzar) and Best Actress (Bhatt).
About dirt
Directed by Aditya Dhar and starring Ranveer Singh, Akshay Khanna, R. Led by Madhavan and Sanjay Dutt, the Dhurandhar franchise became the biggest at Rs 3,000 crore.
The first installment was released on December 5, 2025, followed by the sequel on March 19, 2026.