O'ROMEO collected 1.75 crore nett on its second Friday which is around 15% down from the previous day. The buy one get one free offer still remains which will be adding to the business though maybe in the 10-20 lakh range. However, that still can be around 10% of the business for the film. The offer is there on Saturday also when the film can show growth even without it but obviously it wont be the same growth.

The film now stands at 41.75 crore nett and should get some good growth over the weekend but it will hardly matter as the first week is dull and actuals will be even less than 40 crore nett due to the film being helped along through the week.

The numbers for O'ROMEO till date are as follows.

Friday - 7,50,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 11,00,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 8,25,00,000 apprx

Monday - 4,25,00,000 apprx

Tuesday - 4,25,00,000 apprx

Wednesday - 2,75,00,000 apprx

Thursday - 2,00,00,000 apprx

Friday - 1,75,00,000 apprx

TU YAA MAIN has limited collections on the second Friday and is going nowhere.

The collections of TU YAA MAIN are as follows.

Friday - 50,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 1,35,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 75,00,000 apprx

Monday - 40,00,000 apprx

Tuesday - 45,00,000 apprx

Wednesday - 35,00,000 apprx

Thursday - 30,00,000 apprx

Friday - 25,00,000 apprx

There were two new releases this week with DO DEEWANE SEHER MEIN and ASSI with neither taking much of an initial which is expected as they have nothing much in them to get the audience to the theatres, be it star cast or music. Its just down to public reports but when a start is at these levels, then the reports have to be very good with the target audience which is limited to make a change to the scenario.

DO DEEWANE SEHER MEIN is a little better at 1.25 crore nett but it had some tie up with the PVR app and its mainly the PVR total that has come out better than ASSI with the rest being in a similar range. The film is a romantic drama but like last week's TU YAA MAIN, these sort of male leads in commercial genres will not be able to bring and audience. These genres need some sort of start as reports cant be strong as concept films.

ASSI collected close to 1 crore nett on its first day and its a female social drama and probably has chances to get more growth than DO DEEWANE SEHER MEIN. But it has to be more than double just to stay in the race. The film looks like one of those pre-pandemic female content type of films but today they need to be updated in some way due to this content being hugely prevalent on television.

Its another dull Friday and its all about Eid now with the second part of historic blockbuster DURANDHAR and TOXIC (dubbed) unless THE KERALA STORY 2: GOES BEYOND can spring a surprise next week.

Director Ahmed Khan has brought Welcome To The Jungle to the finish line. Well, almost. All that’s left is the shoot of an elaborate song featuring the ensemble cast, including Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Raveena Tandon, Disha Patani, Jackie Shroff, and Arshad Warsi. We’ve heard that Khan called action on the song earlier this week, and intends to conclude the shoot in 10 days.

Sources close to the unit describe it as a high-energy celebratory number. An expansive set depicting a jungle has been built at Bahubali Studios in Borivali for the track, choreographed by Adil Shaikh.

“Shooting a song with so many stars isn’t easy. Every actor has their moment in the song. Before beginning filming on February 17, extensive rehearsals were conducted so that principal actors and background dancers move seamlessly through the frame without disrupting camera continuity. It will be used as a post-credit track,” revealed a source.

After this leg, Welcome To The Jungle will move to post-production.

At a time when actors such as Kajol, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Salman Khan, among others, are increasingly moving court to safeguard their personality rights, Sunil Grover has a clear take. The actor-comedian, who is known for mimicking several celebrities, believes mimicry, when done right, is a celebration, not a violation.

The 48-year-old shares, “When I impersonate them, it’s a tribute and is not meant to make fun in any way. I understand the problem when someone misuses it to endorse a brand or a thought which the artiste doesn’t want. But these personalities have become so big ke ab wo public ke bhi ho gaye hain and we celebrate them.”

The comedian reveals that his latest act, a mimicry of Aamir Khan on The Great Indian Kapil Show, had received praise from the actor himself, who called it “priceless” and “authentic.” Sunil recalls the experience fondly: “It felt good. People even referred to me as ‘Aamir sir.’ I am a big fan of Aamir and his work, and it’s his greatness that he also took it all in zest.”

While he advocates for such acts to continue as a form of celebration, Sunil draws a clear line at offensive humour. He says, “I don’t support below-the-belt and offensive jokes. I don’t like to talk about their personal lives too. Jo garima mein hai, wo theek hai; hum koshish karte hain ki uske paar na jaye.”

On a lighter note, he shares, “One of my friends told me that I should get an order for my personality rights and I told him, ‘Sharam nahin aati hai. Main duniya bhar ke logon ki nakal kar raha hun aur tu mujhe bol raha hai.’”

There’s something about the 1990s superstars that not only makes them relevant but also sees them at the top of their game today. Director Abhiraj Minawala may have an idea or two about it. After all, he worked closely with Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan on Jawan (2023) and Tiger 3 (2023) respectively, while his latest directorial venture Mardaani 3 enabled him to collaborate with Rani Mukerji.

He found one striking similarity between the two Khans’ approach to work. He shared, “Their passion and dedication [are unmatched]. Their conversations are ‘Yeh karte hain, audience ko maza aayega!’ The thought is not that we should do this, but that the audience will love it. One thing common between them is that they think from a larger perspective of the audience. [It probably stems from] the fact that they started their journey as an audience, and then ended up here.”

The director is equally in awe of Mukerji, who has completed 30 years in the industry. Having worked with her on Mardaani 3, Minawala walked away with keen observations about her. “She has achieved a lot, but I’ve seen that she still comes on set with the openness that she is here to perform. She is willing to learn things and collaborate with the team.”

If there’s one thing Prabhas is known for beyond his roles, it’s his love for food, a passion that even left director Om Raut stunned during the shoot of Adipurush (2023).

During an interaction for the film Couple Friendly with actors Santosh Shobhan and Manasa Varanasi, Prabhas recalled, “When I was shooting in Mumbai for Adipurush, it was my cheat meal day. I was with Raut, and told him, not Mumbai, I would get him special food from somewhere else (Chennai). He kept waiting, and it was taking hours. I wasn’t letting him eat anything else.”

As the wait stretched on, Raut grew curious about the delay. That’s when Prabhas revealed the surprising truth. “He was shocked. I told him that someone was bringing a hot meal on a flight from Chennai for us. Raut was like, ‘I’ve never seen someone like you in my life’,” the 46-year-old actor added.

Explaining why he goes to such lengths, Prabhas said, “We get the food in Hyderabad, but that authenticity is missing. People joke whenever I have cheat days about which state my meal will be brought in from.”

During the release of Anek (2022), filmmaker Anubhav Sinha had proposed that small films could adopt a model of limited theatrical release, followed by a quick OTT première. He believed the approach would give small movies the chance to co-exist alongside big-screen spectacles. However, now, days after his latest offering Assi has arrived in cinemas, the director admits he has had a change of heart. 

“I’m saying the exact opposite today. The future is this size [of films]. Mid-size, medium budget, and high-concept films have the highest chance of a good ROI [return on investment],” he tells mid-day.

In the past eight years, Sinha has championed mid-budget movies, delivering thoughtful stories in Mulk (2018), Thappad (2020), and Bheed (2023). “That’s the only cinema I know as a maker,” he smiles. 

Even as tentpole movies dominate theatres today, the director remains clear that filmmakers should continue to make rightly budgeted, content-driven movies and they will find their audience. “I love Rajkumar Hirani and Rohit Shetty films as a viewer. But as a filmmaker, this is all I want. So, I will fight for my and my peers’ right to make films we believe in.”

Is making such films in today’s ecosystem difficult? Sinha admits it’s tough, probably tougher for others than him.

“[You have to] make a good film and recover the money. I make my films frugally. But it’s not easy for everybody. There will be six more directors who want to make such films; they are running around with their scripts. But they won’t get funded. I’m too senior and I’ve seen more than reasonable success. [So] I get to do this.”

On the way to the Super Star Hall in Andheri on the metro, I noticed the person in front of me absently scrolling through reels — until one made her stop. It featured two girls dancing to the viral hook step of Shararat from the film Dhurandhar. She watched it on a loop, as though mesmerized. That is the thing about a truly great piece of choreography: it cuts through. The man behind those moves, Vijay A Ganguly, just won The Iconic Gold Awards 2026 for the same dance on February 18.

Ganguly, 45, walks into the second-floor of the dance studio dressed in a black sweatshirt, denim jeans, and black-and-white sneakers. He greets his team with enthusiasm, and immediately joins a brainstorming session for a patriotic track in an upcoming film. “When creating the choreography for this song, I want to do something that even soldiers stationed at the border in freezing temperatures could dance to,” says the Worli resident.

A meticulous process guides how each song eventually unfolds on screen. “There is always a plan before hitting the set,” Ganguly says, noting the importance of research and alignment with the director and actors. Yet, he remains open to the occasional lightning strike of spontaneity.

He points to a viral moment in Dhurandhar, where Akshaye Khanna’s Rehman Dakait character dances to Sher-e-Baloch. “That wasn’t planned. He just started dancing, and we kept the camera rolling.”

For Shararat, the creative groundwork began eight months before the first day of shooting, he says. Director Aditya Dhar provided a steady stream of reference videos to help Ganguly deconstruct the specific nuances of Balochistani wedding celebrations. Typically, at festive gatherings, these celebrations include folk dances like Chaap and Do-Chapi, which are performed in circles with rhythmic clapping and coordinated steps, often to the beat of dohol and sorna. What the film captured, Ganguly says, represents only a fraction of the energy festive Balochi dances can generate.

“What we have filmed represents only about 30 per cent of the energy that goes into it,” Ganguly says. He recalls footage of women jumping off stages, falling, then springing back up, an atmosphere he describes as “pumping with energy.” The task was to translate that raw, communal intensity into something cinematic without losing its force.

The resulting video has since amassed over 200 million views on YouTube, with the hook step being recreated globally—a clear metric of success. The impact, however, didn’t end at the steps; it was in the utility of the design. “The costumes couldn’t be revealing, but a sharara would have restricted the choreography, so we added a slit for mobility,” Ganguly reveals.

This was a relatively easy assignment, he says of Shararat, noting the final step was a mix of two options chosen by Aditya Dhar. In contrast, he designed 32 versions for Stree 2’s Aaj Ki Raat. Despite his fame in dance, editing remains his true passion: “I edit all my songs myself; Shararat was 90 per cent cut by me on my little laptop.”

Being on set comes naturally to him, as he grew up watching his father, filmmaker Anil Ganguly, at work. “My sister Rupali and I would accompany my father and seeing how everyone listened to him on set made me want to do the same or at least something similar,” he admits. He appeared in several of his father’s films, including Saaheb, Dushman Devta, and Sadak Chap, absorbing the rhythms of production long before he understood them.

Performance, however, did not begin with easy validation. “When I was ten and wanted to take part in my school play, I auditioned to Everybody Dance with Pa Pa Pa by Mithun uncle, but my teacher rejected me and told me I didn’t have it in me to be a dancer.” The verdict lingered. For years, performance slipped into the background, returning later by chance.

In 1999, he walked into Shiamak Davar’s academy to submit the fee cheque for his sister’s class. The receptionist assumed it was for him and enrolled him instead. Persuaded to try one session, he started at the back of a beginner’s batch, caught Davar’s attention and stayed on, eventually teaching there for 13 years.

In 2013, he left to pursue films. “That’s when my struggle started again — my father had told me at 18, ‘Find yourself; I won’t make calls for you.’”

He waited outside offices for any job he may land. Jagga Jasoos, a four-year musical, shifted his trajectory. Close to quitting in 2016, he held on after his father reminded him, “Time se pehle kisi ko kuch nahi milta.” Galti Se Mistake became his breakthrough and won him the 2018 Filmfare Award.

Ganguly is clear that he does not believe in a formula. “One of my favourite works remains Main Parwaana from Pippa because it blended jazz with Bollywood.” It did not go viral. Not everything does.

In an industry where dance is often linked to names like Farah Khan or the late Saroj Khan, Ganguly maintains, “When it comes to dance, there is no gender.” He points to Chaka Chak from Atrangi Re as proof. As COVID restrictions thinned his team, assistant Abhishek Pai became the reference for the entire routine. “We had to set the song immediately and Abhishek became the blueprint for it,” he says. The result became one of the film’s most recognizable numbers.

Now, Ganguly champions what he calls expression-led dancing, inspired by Govinda, where a fleeting facial reaction can outshine an elaborate step. His guiding principle comes from his father: treat the crew with respect. “People leave their families and work long hours for you. If they are there for you, that day should feel worth it.” should feel worth it and you must treat them with respect.”

Once closed off to anything beyond choreography, he is now open to whatever cinema offers, be it acting, producing, directing, or simply learning the art of lighting a scene. “After all,” he says, “choreography was never the plan, yet it became my calling.”

O'ROMEO is a FLOP as collections dropped fast from Wednesday when the only aid for the film came in the form of buy one get one free scheme. The collections of the film in week one are 40 crore nett and Thursday was down to 2 crore nett apprx. There will be a further drop today or on a best case scenario, it can get the same number as Thursday.

The film managed to keep its numbers at a fair level until Tuesday but this was coming with the help of manufactured collections. And when that came out, the collections came down. The BOGO scheme is there but that can only help to an extent. The film looks to have fared better in Mumbai circuit but even that cant be called average. Now it remains to be seen if the film can get to around 60 crore nett and that will depend a lot on the second weekend.

The numbers for O'ROMEO till date are as follows.

Friday - 7,50,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 11,00,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 8,25,00,000 apprx

Monday - 4,25,00,000 apprx

Tuesday - 4,25,00,000 apprx

Wednesday - 2,75,00,000 apprx

Thursday - 2,00,00,000 apprx

TU YAA MAIN has also fared poorly with 4 crore nett plus in the first week and it wont add much more from here. The film has not done well and irrespective of whatever type of content the film is and wherever the collections are, at least the figures are clean.

The collections of TU YAA MAIN are as follows.

Friday - 50,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 1,35,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 75,00,000 apprx

Monday - 40,00,000 apprx

Tuesday - 45,00,000 apprx

Wednesday - 35,00,000 apprx

Thursday - 30,00,000 apprx

BORDER 2 collected a fair 6.25 crore nett in its fourth week with collections dropping around 70% from the previous week. The film has generally done better in the weekends after the first week but here it lost some business due to the cricket match on Sunday. The falls after the first week are a little more than they should be but overall the collections have come.

The film is looking at a 80 crore nett finish in Delhi/UP, 40 crore nett in East Punjab, 25 crore nett in Rajasthan and 17 crore nett in Bihar and these four will be the best circuits all doing BLOCKBUSTER business. Mumbai will be 75 crore nett which should have been better but Gujarat/Saurashtra did not fire as it should have. Nevertheless, still Mumbai circuit has managed HIT business.

The collections of BORDER 2 till date are as follows.

Week One - 2,17,61,00,000

Week Two - 65,03,00,000

Week Three - 22,16,00,000

Week Four - 6,25,00,000 apprx 

MARDAANI 3 also did fair business in week three as it picked up 5.25 crore nett which takes the film to a decent 45 crore nett. The film will become the highest grossing film of its franchise as should add a couple of crore or more at least. The film has done AVERAGE business overall which is a decent result for the film. All three films in the franchise have been successful though none reached HIT status. The plus of MARDAANI 3 is that the collections have come at a more difficult time compared to the time when the other films were released.

The collections of MARDAANI 3 till date are as follows.

Week One - 25,05,00,000 apprx

Week Two - 14,75,00,000 apprx 

Week Three - 5,25,00,000 apprx