Ranveer Singh’s Silent Promo Plan Still Hit Rs 1,300 Crore

When a film crosses Rs 1,300 crore globally, the usual playbook would have its leading man everywhere. Dhurandhar went the other way. Max Marketing founder Varun Gupta has now explained why Ranveer Singh stayed away from the promotional circuit before the film’s December 2025 release, and why the quiet route was not an accident.

The no-promo call was deliberate

Speaking on the Everyday Empires podcast, Gupta said the decision was taken jointly by the actor, director Aditya Dhar, the producer and the marketing team. The reasoning was simple: let the film and its assets talk, and keep the actors from talking. He pointed to a 3.5-minute promotional asset that released six months before the theatrical window. Gupta said he could not recall another Hindi film doing that so early; long-format promotional material is normal in Hollywood but still rare in Bollywood.

His team joined the project before the star cast was locked and heard the script at that stage. That early access shaped a campaign built around material rather than appearances.

Why Ranveer’s silence made sense

Gupta compared the Dhurandhar strategy with Ranbir Kapoor’s campaign for Animal. Ranbir had Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar working in his favour before Animal opened; Ranveer had not had a great run before Dhurandhar. So the team chose a different visibility plan instead of copying another star’s playbook.

In Gupta’s words, the group decided: “Okay, let the film and its assets talk. Let the actors not talk.”

The trust behind the campaign

Before release, the campaign faced criticism, with articles saying the promotions were weak and the buzz was missing. Gupta recalled that Aditya Dhar would send those reports to him and simply say, “It’s all okay.” There were no questions asked. That trust, Gupta said, made the team feel like warriors.

He also described a no-win pattern around film marketing: when a big star promotes heavily, people ask why an established actor needs to; when the star stays quiet, the makers are blamed for not creating enough noise.

What filmmakers can borrow

• Match a star’s promotional visibility to their recent box-office form, not to a competitor’s template.
• Let a long-format asset open the conversation early; it can build intrigue without overexposing the cast.
• Protect your team from negative chatter if the strategy is deliberate, the way Aditya Dhar backed Varun Gupta.

Dhurandhar, released in December 2025, featured Ranveer Singh alongside Akshaye Khanna, Arjun Rampal, Rakesh Bedi, Sara Arjun, R Madhavan and Sanjay Dutt, and collected over Rs 1,300 crore worldwide. The franchise includes Dhurandhar: The Revenge. Max Marketing’s credits include RRR, Animal, Kalki 2898 AD and Chandu Champion, and the agency is attached to SS Rajamouli’s upcoming Varanasi.

Source: The Times of India