'Dhurandhar 2 effect': 'Dhurandhar: The Revenge' breaks Canadian theatres no interval rule

Canadians are used to sitting through long action‑packed films without a break, but recently, many experienced something completely new in a movie theatre: an intermission. During screenings of Aditya Dhar’s Ranveer Singh‑starring Dhurandhar The Revenge.Some Canadian cinemas added a 15‑minute interval, surprising audiences who had never seen a pause in the middle of a film before.The reaction of the audience captured in a video went viral online. Dhurandhar 2, the sequel to the 2025 hit Dhurandhar, runs for nearly four hours—a movie duration rarely heard of in mainstream North American theatres. To make the ultra‑long runtime more comfortable, a Cineplex theatre in Canada decided to include a 15‑minute intermission, a move that many viewers in the hall had never encountered before. A video shared by Instagram user @journeywithshefali on her reel shows the audience’s reactions as the interval starts. People are seen smiling, getting up from their seats, stepping out for restroom breaks, snacks, or just to chat, while others stay in their seats and laugh at the novelty.The text on the clip reads, “Dhurandhar 2 effect (Canadian flag). The movie is four hours long, so Cineplex had an intermission, probably for the first time in its history!!!! I’ve never seen this in my 20+years of living in Canada. Everyone was thrilled.”In the caption, she wrote, “Unlike movie theatres in India, @cineplexmovies doesn’t normally have an intermission. But Dhurandhar 2 changed that!!! Many people mentioned wanting an intermission for bathroom breaks, etc., after the first movie. Cineplex delivered!! There was a 15‑min intermission given due to the long runtime.”ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.The video quickly went viral, with users from India and abroad sharing their thoughts. One commenter wrote, “Apparently intermission is the culture of Indian movies, and it’s the best part where the director can put his skills”.Another wrote, “They used to do them for every Bollywood movie in Canada in the 90s and early 2000s!! I miss it,” pointing out that intermissions for Indian films were once more common in Canada.Some viewers welcomed the idea for all long films, with one user commenting, “I liked this concept to be introduced in every theatre with a timer,” suggesting that the intermission format could be useful even beyond Indian cinema.Dhurandhar: The Revenge, released theatrically on 19 March 2026 after paid previews the day before, is the direct sequel to Dhurandhar (2025). The film stars Ranveer Singh, R Madhavan, Rakesh Bedi, Arjun Rampal, and Sanjay Dutt in lead roles, and has become a major box‑office hit overseas, especially in Canada and North America.