COCKTAIL 2 did well on its second day as it collected 14.50 crore nett which is a jump of 20%. The actual jump is a bit more as the feeds on Saturday look less than Friday though it cant be said what is the real growth. The issue is that the growth will be more than 20% but its not towards that 50% mark which would mean a potential HIT film.

There also should be some Sunday growth though the caveat is the feeds as its unknown to which levels they will put in. The growth does suggest it will tougher from Monday but if it can hold on even normal levels from this weekend, the film will be okay.

The first COCKTAIL (2012) did 73% of its business in the first week and that despite it not having much competition over the next few weeks. The content was rejected by the majority of the country though commercially it was a HIT due to the opening weekend. Here the content looks on the similar lines. So, you sort of know its about the weekend and that has been good enough though not great. Its the usual areas of NCR, Mumbai city and Bangalore doing well.

The collections of COCKTAIL 2 are as follows.  

Friday - 12,00,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 14,50,00,000 apprx

HAUNTED – ECHOES OF THE PAST saw a drop in collections on Wednesday as it collected 1.10 crore nett which takes the film to almost 13 crore nett. The week will end close to 14 crore nett which is good figure for this film though it will not collect much after the first week. Still the job is done as costs are very low and there is not much of P&A spend especially for the advertising side.

MAIN VAAPAS AAUNGA is holding up well at the box office as it saw its best day on Wednesday and this looks to continue on the last day of the week. This means the film is going to end the week with higher collections than how it started the week. The collections of the film so far are around 9.75 crore nett and it will end the week with 11.50 crore nett.

The collections remain low but it has a chance to cover some ground in week two as the second week should be as good as the first week or maybe even more despite the competition. It does not alter the fate of the film as the costs are high but now it can end up with respectable collections if it can maintain for the next few weeks. The film has good collections now in NCR and East Punjab with Mumbai city and Bangalore also collecting well.

The collections of HAUNTED – ECHOES OF THE PAST and MAIN VAAPAS AAUNGA are as follows.

Friday - 2,25,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 3,00,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 3,50,00,000 apprx

Monday - 1,50,00,000 apprx

Tuesday - 1,50,00,000 apprx

Wednesday - 1,10,00,000 apprx

Friday - 1,10,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 1,85,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 2,50,00,000 apprx 

Monday 1,10,00,000 apprx

Tuesday - 1,50,00,000 apprx

Wednesday - 1,75,00,000 apprx

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MAIN VAAPAS AAUNGA, which opened to disastrous collections last week, is now showing a very good trend and the box office has improved tremendously. The film started showing a good trend over the weekdays and now the second weekend is even better. There is still a lot of work to do due to the budget of the film. Despite the trend, the collections are still only 17.50 crore nett till date though after ten days it can be around 23.50 crore nett.

It is going to cover ground from here on but its all about how much ground it can cover and where can it go. Its Delhi NCR and East Punjab doing most of the lifting at present. The film needs support from Mumbai circuit especially Mumbai city if it is to really go somewhere and continue this trend into the next few weeks. These three areas are enough for the film to get somewhere in the final tally. Mumbai has done a little more than East Punjab and this gap has to widen as there is a limit as to how much Punjab and NCR alone can give.

The film started off like it would become a EK DIN which had similar costs to MAIN VAAPAS AAUNGA and openings were also the same. In the weekdays it looked like it can go the KRISHNAVATARAM PART 1: THE HEART way which was around 34 crore nett from a 1 crore nett opening. This was also costly for its face value though not as much as EK DIN.

Now it looks even better for MAIN VAAPAS AAUNGA and for sure its going to get a respectable finish. However, the target now should be some sort of success or even better due to this trend and the next 2 weeks will tell whether it can do that. It will be gentry audiences driving as break out into the wider audience would actually turn out to be a miracle.

The collections of MAIN VAAPAS AAUNGA till date are as follows.

Friday - 2,00,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 4,25,00,000 apprx

Actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu is expecting her first child with filmmaker-husband Raj Nidimoru. The news comes a little over six months after the pair tied the knot in an intimate ceremony in Coimbatore.

An insider source tells HT City, “Yes, it is true. The couple is truly delighted about this new beginning, and they will make an announcement in some time.”

The buzz began Saturday evening after videos from the success celebrations of Samantha’s latest film, Maa Inti Bangaaram, surfaced on social media. Dressed in a fitted T-shirt and denims (see right), the actor sparked pregnancy speculation, prompting us to reach out to sources, who confirmed the news.

Both Samantha and Raj were previously married before tying the knot in December 2025. Samantha was earlier married to actor Naga Chaitanya, while Raj was married to Shhyamali De.

Samantha and Raj got married on December 1, 2025, at the Linga Bhairavi temple within the Isha Yoga Centre in Coimbatore. The private ceremony was attended by close family members and friends, with the couple choosing to keep celebrations low-key. Pictures from the wedding were later shared online, confirming months of speculation about their relationship.

The couple first collaborated professionally while working on projects such as The Family Man and later Citadel: Honey Bunny. Over time, reports of a growing bond between the actor and filmmaker surfaced, though both remained guarded.

The pregnancy news arrives during a busy phase in Samantha's career. Her latest, Maa Inti Bangaaram has opened to good reviews.

After months of speculation, the makers of Toxic: A Fairytale For Grown-Ups have finally locked a new release date. Headlined by Yash, also starring Kiara Advani, and directed by Geetu Mohandas, the pan-India action spectacle will now hit theatres worldwide on August 26.

While Toxic arrives on a Wednesday, coinciding with Onam and giving it a two-day head start before the weekend, it will still face competition at the box office. On August 28, three other films — Khosla Ka Ghosla 2, Shraddha Kapoor’s Eetha and Sidharth Malhotra’s Vvan — are currently slated to release, setting up one of the busiest weekends on the 2026 release calendar. Interestingly, if the films release as planned, real-life couple Sidharth and Kiara will see their films clash at the box office.

Toxic was originally slated for an earlier release before undergoing several date changes. Industry buzz linked one of the shifts to a crowded release calendar and a clash with Ranveer Singh’s Dhurandhar The Revenge, which eventually secured the March 19 release slot. Toxic was later set for a June 4 release, but Yash confirmed in April that the team needed more time to align its global distribution strategy and international partnerships ahead of its worldwide rollout.

Akkshay Rathie, Director, Ashirwad Theatres Pvt Ltd, believes the situation remains fluid and that producers may still rethink their release strategies. “Two films with the ability to create a significant impact across the length and breadth of India ideally shouldn’t arrive together because every stakeholder wants to optimize revenues. Toxic is undoubtedly the bigger pan-India film in terms of geographical reach. Eetha may have stronger relevance in Maharashtra and certain markets, but Toxic has the potential to perform across urban as well as rural India,” he says.

Rathie adds that the announcement has caught the industry off guard and could trigger further movement on the release calendar. “This announcement has come completely out of the blue. There is still time and everyone will do whatever it takes to protect the best interests of their respective films,” he explains.

Kamal Gianchandani, CEO, PVR, believes that even if the clash is not averted, four films can be accommodated. He shares, “Cinemas have enough and more capacity to accommodate three or more films, especially when the movies are varied in sizes. We’ll see what decision other producers take on their release dates, because they often go back to the drawing board and rethink their dates.”

Sameer Munshi, VP, Miraj Entertainment Ltd, adds, “From an exhibitor’s perspective, this is a good clash to have. A packed release calendar indicates confidence in the theatrical business and gives audiences more choice. If the content works, all films can find an audience, even though Toxic is likely to be the clear opening-weekend leader.”

Deepak Mishra, director of Vvan, confirms that the movie is set to release on August 28, on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan. On the clash, he says, “We are the same industry. As artistes, we all want to showcase our work well. Eventually, the audience is the king. My best wishes to the Toxic team.”

When asked if there is a possibility that Vvan could be pushed to another date, Mishra says, “That will be a call that the makers will take. I am only focused on my work.”

As Welcome To The Jungle gears up for release, one of its biggest talking points is the reunion of Akshay Kumar and Raveena Tandon, who share screen space for the first time in 22 years. The former co-stars, whose off-screen relationship was among Bollywood’s most discussed romances in the 1990s, have come together thanks to director Ahmed Khan.

Speaking about the casting coup, Khan told mid-day that his decades-long friendship with both actors helped make it possible. “Both Raveena and Akshay have been such good friends of mine. We have known each other for over 30 years and because we go back so long, we know what has happened in each other’s lives.”

Was it challenging to bring rumoured ex-lovers back together for a film? The filmmaker took up the task as a “fan service.” He said, “People will want to see Raveena and Akshay together, so why not do fan service?”. He added that Akshay in fact encouraged him to cast whoever suited the role best.

According to Khan, Raveena had no reservations when she learnt Akshay was already part of the project. “She said, ‘So what? We are all actors and grown up. We are all friends and we will have a blast on the sets,’” he recalled.

While Kumar and Tandon are not paired romantically in Welcome To The Jungle, they share several scenes and a song choreographed by Rahul Shetty and Prince Gupta. The reunion is particularly nostalgic given that the duo delivered some of Hindi cinema’s most enduring hits, including Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast and Tip Tip Barsa Paani from Mohra (1994).

Recalling the shoot, Khan revealed, “There is a sequence of Akshay and Raveena dancing together. The whole set clapped. Suniel Shetty, who also starred in Mohra, came in and said, ‘Arre, mere Mohra ki jodi aa gayi’.”

Ahmed Khan says, “It’s a small industry and everybody grows over their past and moves on. Off set, Raveena and Akshay were friends only — joking, having fun, and talking about their kids. We reminisced about the past and work from earlier movies”

Amitabh Bachchan fans Zafar Shaikh (in red) and Ashok Mistry (in navy blue), who helped distribute and courier the KBC costumes gifted by the superstar to 22 fans across India. Pics/By Special Arrangement

For 22 fans of Amitabh Bachchan across India, Sunday's visit to Jalsa, the actor’s Juhu residence, turned into a once-in-a-lifetime moment. The actor invited a select group of fans, whom he often refers to as his extended family, and gifted them costumes used during the shooting of Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC).

Some received gifts in person, while others later received them through courier. According to fans present at the interaction, Bachchan said he wanted to share something that had been an important part of his life.

“I want to give you a special gift which is part of my life. These are costumes used in KBC since 2022. I have preserved them safely, and now I want to give them to my fans across India.”

‘During last Sunday’s darshan, Bachchan Sir invited Ashok Mistry and me inside Jalsa. He told us he wanted to give fans a special gift. The costumes were packed in boxes carrying fans’ names. We helped distribute them. Amitabh Bachchan is a god for me. This is a godsend gift’

‘Bachchan Sir called Zafar and me inside Jalsa and told us about the gifts. We helped distribute the costume boxes and courier them to fans. Everyone is overjoyed’

‘I was shocked when I received the gift. I have been connected with Amitabh Bachchan since 1992, when he replied to a letter I had sent him. Receiving a blazer from him is very special’

‘This is the first special gift I have received from Bachchan Sir. I have been his fan since 1978. I will preserve this costume safely. It is a lifetime memory’

‘My dream was to one day receive even a napkin from Amitabh Bachchan. Instead, he sent me a KBC suit. I have followed him since my college days. I still treasure the handwritten note he once sent acknowledging gifts I had mailed to him. Now I have this costume, which is a memory for life’

An accident on the set of Love & War at Royal Pump Studio in Goregaon (East) claimed the life of 42-year-old Chandradhari Yadav, a carpenter and member of the Film Studio Setting and Allied Mazdoor Union (FSSAMU), at around 3 am on June 17. According to union representatives, the incident prima facie appears to have resulted from a short circuit, although the exact cause of death will be determined only after the post-mortem report is released. Chandradhari is survived by his wife and two daughters.

FWICE (Federation of Western India Cine Employees) and FSSAMU jointly approached the producers of the film seeking financial assistance and support for the bereaved family, following which Bhansali’s production house offered Rs. 40 lakh to Chandradhari’s family.

However, FWICE president Birendra Nath Tiwari believes the tragedy raises larger concerns about working conditions on film sets.

He says, “Apart from monetary compensation, we have requested the producer to take responsibility for the children’s education. Workers are often made to work far beyond the prescribed eight to ten hours, and there is a limit to how much a person can physically stretch themselves at work. Once the post-mortem report comes, we will decide our next course of action. No matter how big the producer is or how big a film is being made, workers’ lives cannot be put at risk.”

Ashok Dubey, honorary general secretary of FWICE, says, “Chandradhari had been working continuously on the set for the past three days and had been on duty from 7 am until 3 am on the day of the incident. According to those present, he suffered an electric shock and was rushed to hospital, where he passed away. We have also written to Mr Bhansali requesting employment for his wife in his production house.”

The incident has prompted industry bodies to once again call for mandatory safety protocols, defined working hours and government oversight on film sets.

Ashoke Pandit, president of IFTDA and chief advisor to FWICE, says, “We have repeatedly urged producer bodies, studios and government authorities to conduct regular audits of sets, electrical wiring and cabling, considering that 150 to 200 workers are often present on a set. There are lives at stake and significant investments involved in building these sets. Mandatory compliance with fire, electrical and structural safety norms and comprehensive SOPs is the need of the hour. Unfortunately, our appeals have not received any response from the authorities.”

Chandigarh: The paraglider rescued by IAF from the remote mountaintops of Kullu’s Deo Tibba region in Himachal Pradesh is has turned out to be Hollywood cinematographer George Richmond, the visual mastermind behind blockbusters like 'Deadpool & Wolverine', 'Free Guy', and the Elton John biopic, 'Rocketman'.

Severely injured in the crash, the 54-year-old underwent spinal surgery on Thursday at Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh.

The accident occurred on June 9 at an altitude of around 12,000 feet. Richmond was on a multi-day ‘bivouac flying’ adventure, a style of cross-country paragliding where pilots fly by day and camp in remote wilderness by night. Having taken off from the world-famous paragliding site at Bir Billing, he crashed on June 8 during a difficult take-off attempt from the base of Mt. Deo Tibba, at 19,688 feet the second tallest peak in the Pir Panjal Range.

Fellow paragliders alerted Kullu administration, which informed the British embassy. A rescue operation was launched immediately. Two IAF helicopters flew in to evacuate Richmond.

Within hours, he was flown to Bhuntar Airport and then shifted to Kullu Regional Hospital. After initial stabilization here, he was flown to the advanced trauma centre at PGI-Chandigarh (220km away) as a high-priority ‘red-alert’ emergency.

A multidisciplinary team of neurosurgeons, orthopaedic spine specialists, and cardiac anaesthetists was immediately mobilized. Led by Dr Vishal Kumar, a senior orthopaedic spine surgeon holding prestigious British fellowships (FRCS), the team performed an intricate, emergency surgery on June 11.

“The entire newly aligned section of the neck was permanently anchored using a titanium plate secured with four medical screws to ensure absolute structural stability. Now we are confident of making him mobile in a few days,” said Dr Vishal.

Joining the TV show Juhi Mui marks a full-circle moment for Sanjay Suri. Having begun his career on television in 1997 before moving to films, the show’s socially relevant theme and limited commitment made it an appealing proposition.

He says, “I kept myself away from longer commitments. This was a month-long commitment, and we’ve kept the track open so I can return when required. In cinema too, I’ve mostly been part of socially relevant films. When this show was offered to me, I felt it was a good story and socially relevant too.”

Talking about returning to the medium after nearly three decades, he shares, “I hosted the travel show Indian Holiday nearly 30 years ago followed by Yehi Toh Pyar Hai as the lead. Then Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi happened, followed by films and producing, and life took another trajectory. So, this is like my ghar wapsi after 30 years.”

Sanjay believes the distinctions between television, films, and OTT are increasingly becoming irrelevant. He says, “You’ve got to remain platform-agnostic and do the work you want to do, especially at this stage of my career. Earlier too, it wasn’t that I didn’t want to take up a TV show. I simply couldn’t commit to one or two years because I was focusing on films.”

The actor dismisses the belief that film actors turn to television only when opportunities elsewhere become scarce. He says, “That could be someone’s perception. Even back in the day, I sat at home for two years and didn’t do anything. I’ve just had a release with Imtiaz Ali’s Main Vaapas Aaunga, have an upcoming OTT show, and will dabble in short films. If you look at the 27 years I’ve been active since 1999, I may not have a Rs. 100-crore film to my credit, but I’ve been fortunate to be part of some wonderful films that have stood the test of time. My aspirations have never been driven by panic or visibility.”

Over time, Sanjay stopped measuring success by mainstream benchmarks and focused instead on work that aligned with his creative instincts.

He shares, “I was never offered a buffet of films. It was always, ‘Okay, he does this alternate kind of cinema,’ and maybe that forms a perception. I did a commercial film, Tera Jadoo Chal Gayaa, which was Abhishek Bachchan’s second film, but my experience was that everything revolved around one person. In those days, cinema was very hero-driven. Either you’re the lead, or you’re reduced to nothing. I said, ‘Okay, I’ll play on my T20 ground.’ I don’t mind being a brick in the wall, but if you take that brick out, it should make an impact. Even when I turned producer, it wasn’t from the point of view of making money. It was about telling stories. I Am became one of the largest crowdfunded films in the country and went on to win a National Award. That was great gratification for everyone involved.”

This Friday, actor Maanvi Gagroo returned to the theatres after six years. That gap was driven by a lack of compelling scripts. So, we assumed her latest release, Heer Sara, must have ticked all the boxes for her to have boarded the Patralekha-starrer.

“When Kartik [Chaudhry, director] and Manuj [Sharma, co-writer] told me, ‘We have this story about two girls on a road trip and they go on a bike trip from Indore to Puducherry,’ I got excited,” she says. 

Impressed with the script, Gagroo dived into the prep for the film, and was pleasantly surprised by the collaborative nature of her director and writer.

“The more I was working on it, the more it was becoming like a collaborative project. Suddenly, it felt like I was involved in the characterization. I would discuss with them how Indoris talk — their Hindi is different from how it’s spoken in Mumbai. So, I thought about how I could bring that to the character,” she says.

Heer Sara stood out among the films being offered to the actor at the time. We wonder if she spotted a pattern in the scripts that she rejected. “Amateur dialogues, token female protagonists, and shallow characterization,” she cites.

“Just because you have a woman at the centre of a story, doesn’t make it a feminist one. And it’s not like I only do feminist stuff. I’m open to doing anything. We can only tell stories and let people take whatever lessons they take from it,” she shares.

Another recurring character that came her way was of an influencer. Gagroo says, “It’s okay to show an influencer, but then you have make it authentic, right? For that you have to research how influencers talk, what their life is like, and what their struggles are. Not to say that all influencers are the same, but some certain struggles will be universal, right? I just felt there was no depth in a lot of the scripts that I was getting. For the lack of a better word, it felt like ChatGPT-ed. It’s okay to use it as a tool, but where is the creativity?”

Feminist stories continue to be exceptions in Hindi cinema. Ones that have intent blended with powerful storytelling are even rarer. How difficult is it to be a feminist in the Hindi film industry, we ask. “Oh boy! How much time do you have?” she laughs.

“It’s hard. But it’s also easy. The industry is a microcosm of the society at large. So, there are people who understand feminism, and work on feminist principles. They will treat men and women the same. But there are people who don’t and think, ‘Hero toh hero hota hai’. So you just navigate it, and whenever you can draw lines, you do it,” she says. 

She’s also observed tokenism in the industry. “I don’t like being discriminated against because of my gender. I don’t like it if I’m in a situation where I’m not being heard, or my opinion is not being paid attention to. A lot of times they have a singular woman in a room full of men, just as a token service. They say, ‘Ours is a diverse room’, but it’s not,” she says.

It might take the industry some time to lighten the burden that feminist artistes carry every day, but there’s something that Gagroo finds hope in. “The phase that we are in, there are a lot of women in the crew, which was not something we had earlier,” she says. 

Seeing women as assistant directors, in different departments of filmmaking, heading several of them, on the biggest of projects, is a change that the actor wants to highlight. “That is one way of helping the cause of feminism, because the minute men start interacting with women in the workspace, automatically they start treating them like people,” she says.

The conversation moves towards the importance of the female gaze, especially while shooting intimacy. Gagroo, who shot one such scene in Heer Sara and a few in Four More Shots Please! (2019–25), says that most male directors focus on the female body to highlight intimacy.

“Nowadays, you can tell just by watching an intimate scene whether the director is a man or a woman. The female gaze will always focus on emotional intimacy. And you don’t need to be naked for emotional intimacy because it’s about the lighting, the chemistry,” she says.

But the actor makes a point to heap praise at her Heer Sara director for displaying sensitivity while filming the intimate scene. What especially touched Gagroo was that Chaudhry didn’t need her to explain her reservations or requirements for the scene.

“There’s one scene where my character and Nishank’s [Verma] character make out in a trial room. The team was so sensitive to the fact that actors are also people at the end of the day. It’s one thing if I ask for certain things and they do it, but when it comes from them, I find it very heartwarming. And now, of course, we have intimacy coordinators. So, that makes it a lot better for actors,” she signs off.