How Long Major Mohit Sharma Lived Undercover? Does Ranveer In 'Dhurandhar' Have A Similar Fate?

Bollywood film, Dhurandhar, is currently dominating headlines due to strong box office performance, amazing audience reception of its cast, controversy over its inspiration, speculated connection with Aditya Dhar's Uri: The Surgical Strike, and the announcement of a sequel. Dhurandhar is an espionage thriller with an ensemble cast, including Ranveer Singh, Akshaye Khanna, Arjun Rampal, Sanjay Dutt, and R. Madhavan. Amid the buzz around the gripping movie, here's the answer to the much-talked-about question, did Ranveer Singh's character stay undercover for as many days as the alleged inspiration, Major Mohit Sharma, did during his real-life mission?

How many days did Major Mohit Sharma live undercover amid terrorists?

Major Mohit Sharma lived undercover as Iftikhar Bhatt while infiltrating the Hizbul Mujahideen to gather vital intelligence. During this daring 2004 mission in Shopian, he adopted the persona of a man seeking revenge for his brother's death against the Indian Army. The terrorists believed his story after he showed them some fake road maps of the Indian Army camps, claiming that he created them to launch a sudden attack on them. To gain the terrorists' absolute trust, he completely changed his appearance, including growing long hair and a heavy beard, to blend in seamlessly with the militant group.

Major Sharma lived amid the enemies for two weeks, after which his cover was blown, leading to an encounter where he killed two top terrorists, Abu Torara and Abu Sabzar. For his exceptional gallantry in this operation, he was awarded the Sena Medal. He was later posthumously awarded the Ashoka Chakra, India's highest peacetime military honour, for his actions in a subsequent 2009 operation in Kupwara, Jammu and Kashmir.

Does Ranveer Singh's 'Hamza Ali' in Dhurandhar also live undercover for two weeks?

In the film Dhurandhar, Ranveer Singh's character, the undercover operative 'Hamza Ali', lives in Pakistan for an extended, but unspecified, period as part of a deep-cover mission. The film's narrative has kept the mission's duration under wraps and denied any real-life inspirations. Dhurandhar's first part suggested that 'Hamza's' operation spanned a significant period; however, the exact number of days or weeks may or may not be revealed in the second instalment of the franchise. Although the filmmakers denied claims of taking inspiration from Braveheart, Major Mohit Sharma's life, from Dhurandhar, the late army personnel's family initially thought otherwise.

Why did Major Mohit Sharma's family think that Dhurandhar was based on his life?

Major Mohit Sharma's family believed the film Dhurandhar was based on his life primarily because the plot mirrored specific, sensitive details of his real-life undercover operations and martyrdom, and social media speculation made the connection widely public. The film's trailer involved an Indian spy infiltrating a terrorist organisation in Pakistan. That closely paralleled Major Sharma's decorated real-life mission where, under the alias Iftikhar Bhatt, he successfully infiltrated the Hizbul Mujahideen to eliminate top terrorists in Kashmir. Besides the plot, there were alleged visual similarities between Ranveer as 'Hamza Ali' and Major Sharma as Iftikhar Bhatt.

The physical appearance and rugged Special Forces look of the protagonist, Ranveer Singh, in the film's promotional materials were noted by viewers and Major Sharma's family as strikingly similar to publicly available images of an undercover Major Sharma. The film was marketed as "inspired by true events," which fueled speculation that it was based on Major Sharma's life. His parents alleged that the filmmakers never sought consent or consultation from the family or the Indian Army before production, which was disrespectful, according to them. The braveheart's family moved court on the matter, where they lost, and now the film is smashing box-office records.

Is Dhurandhar actually based on Major Mohit Sharma's life, or are the similarities mere coincidences? What do you think? Let us know.

Also Read: 'Dhurandhar': Sara Arjun 'Not Miscast' As Ranveer Singh's 20-Years-Younger On-Screen Lover? Find Out

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