On 26th March, filmmaker Aditya Dhar broke his silence after outrage erupted over a viral image showing Ranveer Singh smoking while wearing a Sikh turban. In a social media post, Dhar responded to the controversy and categorically denied any link between the visuals and his film ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’. Dhar called the viral images “fabricated and malicious”.
🙏@RanveerOfficial @rampalarjun @duttsanjay @ActorMadhavan #AkshayeKhanna #SaraArjun @bolbedibol @AdityaDharFilms #JyotiDeshpande @LokeshDharB62 @jiostudios @B62Studios @TSeries @JioHotstar @StarGoldIndia pic.twitter.com/VMCS4ImdG4
— Aditya Dhar (@AdityaDharFilms) March 26, 2026
In his statement, Dhar made it clear that the circulating image is not part of any official material. “This is fabricated and malicious”, he said, and added that “such acts will be dealt with firmly”, signalling possible legal action against those responsible for spreading the visuals.
The controversy began after a poster-like image went viral on social media that showed the lead actor of the film, Ranveer Singh, in Sikh attire smoking a cigarette. Given the strict prohibition of tobacco consumption in Sikhism, the visuals triggered sharp reactions, with some sections expressing anger and issuing threats as they believed the poster was an official promotional asset from the film.
However, even before Dhar’s clarification, media reports had already flagged the image as fake almost a week ago. Fact-checks had pointed out that the poster was likely AI-generated and not released by the makers of Dhurandhar. Despite the fact-checks, the image continued to circulate widely and fuelled confusion and outrage.
With Dhar’s clarification, the filmmakers have officially distanced themselves from the viral content and reiterated that the visuals are misleading. Dhar’s statement has shown the seriousness of the matter as he pointed towards possible action against those who created and circulated the fake poster.
This controversy has once again brought forward the issue of how highly realistic AI-generated content can quickly go viral. Notably, recently the Government of India has issued advisories asking social media platforms to label AI-generated content and put the onus on them to come up with solutions to automatically mark such material as machine-made. While platforms like X have already implemented automatic labelling, not all AI-generated content is getting the required tag.
In this case, the matter particularly touches upon sensitive religious sentiments, that too linked to a high-profile film project. With Dhar’s clarification, while threats from Sikh groups are expected to subside, it is essential to note that social media users need to be more cautious before sharing content that could be AI-generated.
