Mumbai: Stand-up comedian Zakir Khan recently co-hosted the Screen Awards 2026, where he took a dig at the Hindi film industry, claiming that Bollywood is “shaken and scared” following the success of Aditya Dhar’s ‘Dhurandhar’.
After the clip from the event went viral on social media and drew widespread attention, Ameesha Patel hit back at Zakir Khan, asking him to stop spreading negativity.
“Dude, stop spreading NEGATIVITY! film industry has valued and respected DHURANDHAR! Superstars like SRK, Salman, Sunny, Hrithik, Ajay etc have given not just 1 but 25 plus mega hits and will continue to do so. Chill. Gadar bahut saalon se sabne already machai hain aur aage bhi machaayenge (They have shown their power for several years and will do so in the future as well),” Ameesha posted on X.
DUDE-Stop spreading NEGATIVITY!film industry has valued n respected DHURANDHAR!Superstars like SRK,SALMAN,SUNNY , HRITHIK,AJAY et have given not just 1 but 25 plus mega hits n will continue to do so👍CHILL-GADAR bahut saalon se sabne already machai hain aur aage bhi machaayenge👍 pic.twitter.com/MqOD74LH83
— ameesha patel (@ameesha_patel) April 7, 2026
For the unversed, during the awards show, Zakir said, “Kitne hi congratulatory post aap daal de, kitne hi story daalde, kitne hi interview mein aap bolde my favourite film, magar sach toh yeh hai ke Dhurandhar se sabki jali toh hai (You may drop congratulatory messages and stories and say in interviews that it’s your favourite film but the truth is everyone got jealous of Dhurandhar).”
“Bomb film mein foote lyari mein par dhuan udaa hai Bandra se Juhu mein (There were bomb blasts in Lyari in the film, but there was smoke between Bandra and Juhu).”
Filmmaker Siddharth Anand, known for films like ‘Pathan’ and ‘Fighter’, reacted to this and wrote on his X account, “Juhu – Bandra peeps have given all ATBB’s since the past 50 years. You have to be a real duffer to undermine their contribution.”
‘Dhurandhar 2’ recently made history by becoming the first Bollywood film to cross the Rs 1000-crore mark in India. The spy thriller is produced by Jio Studios and B62 Studios.
After its release, Ameesha heaped praise on the film. “Eye opener. Industry Praising DHURANDHAR is wow and the brand deserves all the accolades (applause emoticons) industry needs to realise that ADITYA made a film and not a project, casted actors and not Instagrammars who trend at parties. Stop making projects and start making films.”
Several other celebrities praised the film, including Alia Bhatt, Vicky Kaushal, and Karan Johar.
