That 'Lyari Bungalow' in Dhurandhar 2 Is Actually a Luxury Villa in Amritsar — And India Can't Stop Talking About It

 The grand villa where Hamza Ali Mazari lives with Yalina in Dhurandhar: The Revenge is a real, design-led luxury residence called Ananda — located not in Karachi but in Punjab's Amritsar, now viral on social media.

Pakistan on Screen, Punjab in Reality

One of the most-discussed behind-the-scenes revelations from Dhurandhar: The Revenge has nothing to do with box office records or political controversies. It is about a house. In the film, Indian spy Jaskirat Singh Rangi — operating deep undercover in Karachi's Lyari as Hamza Ali Mazari — buys a sprawling luxury villa for his wife Yalina, played by Sara Arjun. The property appears on screen as a high-end Karachi bungalow, all grand arches, polished stone and designer interiors. It looks unmistakably Pakistani — and that, of course, is the point.

Except it is not Pakistani at all. It is in Amritsar.

The Ananda House — Revealed by Its Own Architects

The reveal came through a social media post by 23DC Architects, the firm that designed the property. Sharing a video of the property on March 20, they confirmed that the luxury residence featured in Dhurandhar: The Revenge is their project — a villa called Ananda, located in Amritsar, Punjab, India.

The architecture firm expressed delight at seeing their work on the big screen, describing it as a blessing and calling Dhurandhar: The Revenge a cinematic masterpiece. The post went viral immediately — racking up hundreds of thousands of views as fans, architecture enthusiasts and film buffs processed the revelation that Hamza Ali Mazari's Lyari home had been standing in India's Punjab all along.

The irony was not lost on social media. As one widely shared comment put it: "Turns out Lyari isn't that far."

Lal Kothi — The Haveli Behind Rehman Dakait's Home

This is not the first time Amritsar's architecture has stood in for Pakistan on the Dhurandhar sets. In the original Dhurandhar film — which released in December 2025 and crossed ₹1,000 crore worldwide — the lavish Lyari home of Rehman Dakait, played by Akshaye Khanna, was revealed to be Lal Kothi — a 19th-century heritage haveli in Amritsar known for its high ceilings, intricate stonework, and a marble water fountain at its centre.

Lal Kothi is a genuine filming destination with a rich cinematic history — past productions shot there have featured Rishi Kapoor, Rekha, Sanjay Dutt and Sunny Deol. But nothing brought it the attention that Dhurandhar did. After actor Saumya Tandon revealed the location on social media, Lal Kothi became one of the most Googled filming locations in India. Its caretaker confirmed that the shoot involved a full-scale transformation of the property — with a reported daily rental of ₹50,000 — to replicate the look and feel of a Karachi gangster's residence.

How Aditya Dhar Built Pakistan in India

The decision to shoot Pakistan-set sequences in India was deliberate and comprehensive. Director Aditya Dhar and his production team spent over a year scouting locations across Punjab, Chandigarh, Maharashtra, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Bangkok, Thailand — constructing an elaborate visual geography that could convincingly double for Karachi's Lyari district without a single frame being shot in Pakistan.

Punjab was the backbone of this strategy — its architecture, streetscapes, and landscape sharing enough visual DNA with parts of Pakistan's Punjab that skilled production design could bridge the gap. The Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, Ludhiana's old quarters, Kapurthala's Khera Village, and now two separate luxury properties in Amritsar have all served as the visual foundation of Lyari on screen.

For the Bangkok shoot, the production built dedicated sets in a Thai studio to recreate specific Lyari street sequences — a massive logistical undertaking that reflected the scale of ambition behind the Dhurandhar franchise.

Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh: India's Diverse Canvas

Beyond Punjab, the Dhurandhar franchise drew on India's extraordinary geographical diversity. Scenes set in Himachal Pradesh were filmed at The Lawrence School in Sanawar — a prestigious boarding school perched at 1,750 metres in the Shimla Hills near Kasauli, whose Victorian-era architecture and mountain setting lent an entirely different visual register to the film.

Ladakh served as another filming destination — though not without incident. During the Ladakh schedule, over 100 crew members were hospitalised due to food poisoning, causing a delay of several days and prompting the production team to implement stricter on-set catering protocols.

Mumbai served as the base of operations throughout the shoot — with a significant volume of interior and studio work completed at facilities in Maharashtra's capital.

The Bigger Picture: A Franchise That Made India Look Like Pakistan

What the Dhurandhar location reveals collectively reveal is a filmmaking philosophy that is as politically interesting as it is technically impressive. Aditya Dhar chose to represent Pakistan entirely through Indian locations — using India's own architecture, landscapes and cities to construct the visual world of Karachi, Lyari and Pakistan's political geography.

This choice means that every image of Pakistan in the film is, in reality, an image of India. Every Lyari street, every gangster's mansion, every political rally — all of it is India, reframed. Whether that is a commentary on how alike the two nations truly are beneath their political differences, or simply a practical production decision, is something audiences and critics are still debating.

What is certain is that a luxury villa in Amritsar called Ananda — designed by a boutique architecture firm, set in a quiet Punjab city — has now been seen by tens of millions of Indians as the home of Bollywood's most talked-about fictional spy.