Dharma Productions drops Raazi BTS: how 1971 came alive
Synopsis
Dharma Productions has shared a behind-the-scenes video from its 2018 spy thriller Raazi, directed by Meghna Gulzar and starring Alia Bhatt, offering audiences a look at how the world of the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War was recreated on screen.
Key Takeaways
Dharma Productions posted a behind-the-scenes video from Raazi on 6 August 2026 .
Raazi (2018), directed by Meghna Gulzar , starred Alia Bhatt as a spy operating during the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War .
The film was a critical and commercial success and is widely available on digital platforms.
The BTS drop is part of Dharma's broader strategy of keeping its back catalogue active through archival social media content.
Hindi cinema has a recurring tradition of dramatising the 1971 war, a conflict of deep national significance.
Eight years after Raazi gripped audiences with its taut, whisper-quiet portrait of espionage, Dharma Productions is pulling back the curtain — sharing a behind-the-scenes look at how director Meghna Gulzar and her team recreated the world of 1971 for the silver screen.
The studio posted on X on 6 August 2026, asking followers: 'Remember when #Raazi teleported you to 1971? Watch how it was done behind the scenes!' — and linking to a YouTube video that promises a rare production-level peek at the craft behind one of Hindi cinema's most celebrated spy thrillers.
The film that made 1971 intimate
Released in 2018, Raazi was produced by Dharma Productions and directed by Meghna Gulzar. Alia Bhatt played Sehmat, a young Indian woman who marries into a Pakistani military family to spy for her country on the eve of the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War — the conflict that culminated in the creation of Bangladesh. The film was both a critical and commercial success, praised for its restraint in a genre that often leans on spectacle. What made Raazi unusual was its insistence on the human cost of patriotism — no car chases, no bombast, just a woman navigating impossible choices in an enemy household. The period reconstruction — uniforms, interiors, landscapes — was central to that immersion. The BTS footage now surfacing speaks directly to how that world was built, frame by frame.Dharma's archive strategy: keeping back catalogues alive
This post is part of a well-worn playbook among Indian film studios: drip-feeding archival content from beloved titles to keep audiences engaged between new releases. For Dharma, a production house with a catalogue stretching back decades under the late Yash Johar and now steered by Karan Johar, the back catalogue is a living asset — not a dusty shelf. Raazi sits alongside a broader tradition in Hindi cinema of dramatising the 1971 war for mainstream audiences, a conflict that carries deep national resonance. BTS drops tied to such films often spike around key anniversaries of the war, sustaining both cultural memory and streaming traffic. For a generation that first encountered Raazi on a streaming platform rather than in a theatre, this kind of behind-the-scenes content is often the first time they see the machinery behind the magic — and it tends to convert viewers into fans of the craft itself. That is exactly the loop Dharma is closing here.Point of View
And behind-the-scenes craft content plays exceptionally well with younger audiences who discover films digitally. The move also signals how studios are using social media archival drops to fill the gap between major release announcements, keeping brand salience high without spending on new campaigns. If the video performs well, expect similar BTS rollouts from other Dharma titles with strong streaming afterlives.
NationPress
6 Aug 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Raazi BTS video about?
Dharma Productions shared a behind-the-scenes video showing how the 2018 spy thriller Raazi recreated the world of the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War for the camera.
Who directed Raazi and who stars in it?
Raazi was directed by Meghna Gulzar and stars Alia Bhatt as Sehmat, an Indian woman who spies for India inside a Pakistani military family during the 1971 war.
When was Raazi released?
Raazi was theatrically released in 2018 and later became available on digital streaming platforms, where it found a wide second audience.
Why is Dharma Productions posting old Raazi content now?
Indian film studios regularly release archival and behind-the-scenes material from past titles to sustain audience interest and keep their back catalogues relevant, especially on social media.
What is the historical backdrop of Raazi?
The film is set against the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War, the armed conflict between India and Pakistan that resulted in the creation of Bangladesh.
