Kamal Ghorui
‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’ has released in cinemas worldwide and creating euphoria which has superceeded the first installment of the film. While the Ranveer Singh starrer has officially released in cinemas on March 19, 2026, today, there were paid previews everywhere on March 18. However, many of the paid previews were cancelled and here’s the real reason behind it. Gaiety Galaxy and Maratha Mandir owner, Manoj Desai expressed anger towards Jio Studios who are backing the project. “Humko KDM hi nahi diya. Toh hum picture kaise chalaaye?” For those not in the know, KDM stands for Key Delivery Message. It is a small, encrypted XML file containing the security key needed to unlock and play an encrypted Digital Cinema Package (DCP). KDMs restrict movies to specific, authorized theater servers and, crucially, to a specific time window, acting as a Digital Rights Management (DRM) tool against piracy. So, theatres are not authorised to play any film till they get the KDM from the makers.
Desai further said, “They were running late and they are not answerable to anyone. They have earned so much money from ‘Dhurandhar’ and yet they did not care about so many cancelled shows. 2 shows were cancelled at Gaeity and two shows at Galaxy and two shows at Maratha Mandir. So, total 6 shows were cancelled at my theatres. Mere akele theatre mein nahi. Pure India mein 500 theatres mein KDM nahi gaya aur show cancel hua.” He also said, “Their mahurat was at 5pm and they did not want the shows to start before that. We had agreed to it and yet they did not send us KDM. They sent us KDM two hours after the scheduled show time. Hence so many shows were cancelled at around 500 theatres.”
