Dhoom 4 Loses Ranbir Kapoor and Its Director, and That Release Date You Saw Is Not Real

Photo: Laitche, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

If you have seen Dhoom 4 listed for October 31 on one of the release calendars, ignore it. That entry is years old and names a cast and director who are long gone. The actual state of the film, as of this week, is a mess. Ayan Mukerji stepped back from directing it last year after War 2 underperformed, and now the trade reports say Ranbir Kapoor, who was to play the villain, has walked away too. Bollywood Hungama's version is that he was never fully sold on the script. Pinkvilla's is that he felt he had too little say in how it would be made.

Either way, Yash Raj Films is looking for a new antagonist and, as far as anyone can tell, a new director, which means the film is back near the start. The Dhoom series has always lived on its villain. Hrithik in the second one, Aamir in the third, and the whole marketing of a fourth was going to be Ranbir on a bike. Without that, YRF is selling a franchise that last had a film in 2013 and has to find someone big enough to carry it.

Photo: Bollywood Hungama, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The frustrating thing is that the idea is sound. Abhishek Bachchan's Jai Dixit is a character people genuinely like, the chase sequences are a brand on their own, and the audience for a loud, silly heist film has not gone anywhere, as the overseas numbers for everything from Jailer 2 to Dhurandhar keep showing. It just needs a star and a start date, and right now it has neither.

Photo: Bollywood Hungama, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

None of this is official. YRF has said nothing, and the exit reports come from entertainment sites rather than the studio. But the silence has lasted long enough that I am treating 2027 as optimistic. Who would you put on the bike?