Dhurandhar Didn’t Release in Dubai — Here’s the Tax Revenue Dhurandhar could have earned in UAE

Last Updated on September 3, 2026 by Shitiz Srivastava

The Blockbuster Bollywood movie Dhurandhar part-1 emerged as one of the top Indian films of 2025, surpassing ₹1,100 crore in global earnings, even without a release in some Middle Eastern nations.

However, the film was never shown in the Gulf countries considering their intricate relationship with Pakistan despite film showing no particular hatred towards any community rather being only anti Pakistan and showing only documented truth; the film was banned in all Gulf countries including the United Arab Emirates, because it failed to obtain approval from local censorship authorities.

The second part of the movie called Dhurandhar – The Revenge is also going to be released on 19th March, 2026 and again it is banned in the Gulf countries.

This makes one wonder that what if the part 1 of the film had been released in theaters throughout the UAE and cities such as Dubai, what amount of tax revenue might the government have generated?

Let’s calculate.

The Gulf Market: A Major Revenue Source for Bollywood

The Gulf region is one of the largest overseas markets for Indian films due to the large South Asian population and strong cinema culture.

Industry distributors estimated that the film lost around ₹90 crore ($10 million) because it did not release in the Gulf region.

This means that if the movie had screened normally in UAE cinemas, its box-office revenue from the region would likely have been around $10 million (≈ ₹90 crore), from UAE + other Gulf countries combined.

Since the UAE is the largest cinema market in the Gulf, analysts typically assume 40–50% of Gulf revenue comes from the UAE alone as it also has considerable amount of Indians and non-gulf people residing in it.

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Estimated UAE Box Office

Using this benchmark, one can estimate that the Gulf revenue loss would have been $10 million, which would have contained UAE share of approx. (~45%): $4.5 million.

So the approximate UAE box office could have been $4–5 million (₹33–40 crore).

Taxes the UAE Would Have Collected

Unlike many countries, the UAE has a very simple tax structure for cinema tickets. Let’s find that out one by one –

1. VAT (Value Added Tax)

As we have discussed in Vat guides in this website that the UAE applies 5% VAT on most goods and services, which includes movie tickets as well.

So if Dhurandhar would have earned around $4.5 million UAE box office then the Government VAT collection would have been nearly 5% of $4.5 million = $225,000, which is a considerable amount of revenue coming from one movie.

That equals roughly ₹1.8–2 crore in tax revenue if you want to know what it is in Indian Currency.

Let’s move on to second one now –

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2. Municipality & Licensing Fees (Indirect Revenue)

In cities like Dubai, cinemas don’t just pay VAT but they also pay:

• Entertainment venue licensing fees
• Municipality fees
• Mall rental revenues (government-linked entities)

These indirect revenues usually add another 3–5% of equivalent economic benefit.

Estimated additional government-linked revenue would have been $135k–$225k

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Total Estimated Government Revenue

If Dhurandhar had released normally in UAE cinemas just like in India, then:

Revenue Source	Estimated Amount
VAT on tickets	~$225,000
Indirect municipal revenue	~$150k–$225k
Total Government Revenue	~$375k–$450k

Converted to Indian currency it wouod amount of approximately ≈ ₹3–4 crore in potential government revenue.

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Why the Film Didn’t Release in the UAE

The movie was blocked from release across several Gulf countries because of concerns related to its geopolitical themes and portrayal of Pakistan and since all Gulf countries are predominantly Islamic countries both by Governance and population.

However, such decisions are not uncommon in the region and several films before on Anti-Pakistan them have been banned where films touched on sensitive political or cultural topics related to the religion of Gulf Countries and may not receive theatrical clearance.

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The Bigger Economic Impact

While you may think that the government tax loss may look small, but truth be spoken, the total economic impact is much larger than your thinking, as if the film had released in UAE cinemas, then :

• cinemas would earn revenue
• malls would get more visitors
• food & beverage sales would rise
• distributors and exhibitors would profit

These are micro revenues associated with the product which we often miss while calculating the entire reveneue.

Bollywood has always been eager to release it’s film in Gulf countries due to these reasons only.

Despite low on population, the revenue stream is bigger.

Films of Khans, mostly Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan have seen huge openings in the Gulf countries and have earned huge amounts over the time.

Recently the Kannada Actor Yash also delayed the Release of his much anticipated movie called “Toxic” due to war situation believing it would impact the business of the film.

Due to all these reasons, you will never question why the Gulf market is often called “Bollywood’s second overseas box office after North America.”

Although the amount which Dhurandhar might have earned might look small compared to the film’s global earnings, it highlights how even a single blockbuster can contribute millions to the entertainment economy of Dubai and the UAE.