3-hour movie trend continues with Sunny Deol's 'Border 2'
What's the story
The upcoming war drama Border 2, starring Sunny Deol, will reportedly have a runtime of 200 minutes (three hours 20 minutes). This decision continues the trend of lengthy films in Bollywood, following the success of recent blockbusters like Animal and Dhurandhar. Even Pushpa 2 and Avatar 3 were over three hours long. Directed by Anurag Singh, Border 2 is set to release on January 23, 2026.
Industry shift
'Border 2' joins the trend of lengthy Bollywood films
Border 2 's length is part of a larger industry-wide shift. Traditionally, filmmakers have tried to keep their films under three hours to maintain audience interest. However, with the success of recent long-format films, this seems to be changing. A source told Bollywood Hungama, "The makers feel that it was necessary...to have such a lengthy run time as...there are 4 major actors (Deol, Varun Dhawan, Diljit Dosanjh, Ahan Shetty) and their tracks; justice needs to be done to them."
Film legacy
'Jana Nayagan,' 'The Raja Saab' also biggies (even in length)
Border 2 is not alone. Other January releases, Prabhas's The Raja Saab and Vijay's Jana Nayagan, are both over three hours. Meanwhile, the war film is a sequel to the 1997 cult classic Border, which also had a lengthy runtime. The original film was directed by J.P. Dutta and starred Deol along with Akshaye Khanna, Suniel Shetty, and others. It was based on the Battle of Longewala during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.