Rajpal Yadav says he has Rs. 1,200 crore projects lined up over 7 years
11:10 AM
HINDUSTAN TIMES (March 2, 2026)
Days after securing interim bail in a Rs. 9 crore loan case, actor-comedian Rajpal Yadav addressed the media in Mumbai on Saturday. He arrived with his lawyer, Bhaskar Upadhyay, and spoke about the scale of his upcoming work: “Over the next seven years, I have branding projects valued at Rs. 1,200 crore. I’ve secured four agreements, which don’t include films. Some of these projects are worth Rs. 200 crore, while others go up to Rs. 2,000 crore. The income is a mix of fees and equity. I also have 10 films lined up.”
‘A PERSONAL MATTER’
Addressing the ongoing legal dispute, Rajpal described the agreement as a “ghar ka maamla” (a personal matter) based on trust.
“When the deal happened, Bhaskar ji wasn’t in the picture. I have worked in over 250 films. If I look back, every contract will have some loophole. I never imagined this would reach court. This fight is an ego clash. The person wants me to fall at his feet in return for ₹5 crore. If it was about money, I have been ready to pay since 2013,” he said. The actor admitted he “signed documents without reading” them.
THE LOAN CASE EXPLAINED
The dispute dates back to 2010, when Rajpal took a Rs. 5 crore loan from Delhi-based Murali Projects Pvt Ltd to finance his directorial debut Ata Pata Laapata (2012). After the film failed, repayment issues followed. In April 2018, a Magisterial Court convicted Rajpal and his wife Radha under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act after seven cheques bounced. He was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, a conviction later upheld by a Sessions Court in 2019.
In October 2025, the court noted that while Rajpal had deposited Rs. 75 lakh, most of the liability remained unpaid. He surrendered at Tihar Jail on February 5 after the Delhi High Court declined further relief in the long-pending cheque bounce case. He has since been granted interim bail till March 18.
Jatin on playing antagonist opposite Rajinikanth: "A manifestation that played 2x"
11:07 AM
Deep Saxena (HINDUSTAN TIMES; March 1, 2026)
Actor Jatin Sarna, best known for the web series The Sacred Games and film Sikandar (2025) is set to star opposite Rajinikanth in the upcoming film Jailer 2. The actor says he feels blessed to be working with the superstar for the second time after Darbar (2020).
Calling it “a manifestation that played 2x,” Jatin says, “Many won’t believe but it’s true that for years, I have had Rajinikanth sir’s framed photo from the movie Kaala (2018) above the door in my living room where it’s written ‘Kya Re’. For me, he has been an inspiration.”
Speaking about how it felt to work with his childhood dream actor, the 41-year-old shares, “I grew up watching him and have so many memories attached to Rajini sir. The bright side is, I got great exposure in the South Indian industry. I learnt and spoke Tamil. Much to my surprise, I got a compliment that I was able to adapt to it.”
When asked whether he will also be sharing screen space with Shah Rukh Khan, who is rumoured to have a role in the film, Jatin says, “I have wrapped my shoot and I am not aware of any such development.”
Celebrity smear campaigns aren’t new but I see it around me all the time-Aditi Rao Hydari
11:04 AM
Vishakha Pandit (HINDUSTAN TIMES; March 1, 2026)
Close to two decades into her film career, Aditi Rao Hydari has called out what she describes as a growing culture of “paid negativity” and agenda-driven narratives amplified by social media. While smear campaigns are not new, she believes the speed at which misinformation spreads today has made the ecosystem more toxic than ever.
“Celebrity smear campaigns aren’t new,” says the actor, adding, “But I see it around me all the time. Occasionally, I come across random rubbish about myself. I ignore it because I know there’s some agenda behind it.”
Having debuted in 2006 with Prajapathi (Malayalam) and worked across industries since, Aditi feels the digital boom has reshaped public perception of actors. “There’s so much misinformation on platforms that are supposed to be factual. Add paid negativity and hidden agendas, and it becomes toxic. Sometimes, too much information is a burden. The mystery surrounding actors has faded.”
Though negativity can sting, she chooses not to dwell on it. “My mother always said when someone is mean, the issue lies within them. That thought keeps me centred.”
She also spoke about the unpredictability of commercial success, especially for outsiders. Despite acclaimed performances in Gandhi Talks and the 2024 series Heeramandi, she says box-office numbers don’t guarantee stability. “Talent exists beyond success and failure. But if you’re an outsider, success influences opportunities. Even after a hit, you wait for the right scripts. Commercial success doesn’t automatically sort your year.”
OTT platforms only want box office hits-Taapsee Pannu
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Taapsee Pannu, who champions the rights of women onscreen, talks about choosing the right films in an industry that strictly banks on box-office numbers
Sonal Kalra (HINDUSTAN TIMES; February 28, 2026)
Bold, fearless, bindaas: few in the industry can be summed up like this. Actor Taapsee Pannu embodies these traits both off and on the screen. She talks about what works and how she functions, with her recent film Assi spotlighting the sensitive subject of rape. Excerpts from her chat on The Right Angle with Sonal Kalra:
With big-scale films like Dhurandhar, how do you get the conviction to bring an ‘uncomfortable watch’ about rape to theatres?
If people like to watch violence on screen, let’s not demarcate it as ‘this violence is okay, but this violence is not’. We all enjoy big films, but all types of cinema have their own palate.
If one decides to only watch a certain kind of films, our cinema will start looking like a template. Then we as an industry will not be able to produce the kind of variety we are capable of.
There is also a notion people have about a film being okay to watch on OTT, but not in theatres. But the reality is that OTTs also don’t want films that are not big-scale event-based. Their mandates clearly state that they only want films that are box office successes. Soon, there will be a time when movies like Assi will not be released even on OTT platforms.
Does it worry you that the industry prides itself on saying you are only ‘as good as your last hit’?
A decade ago, it was believed that women-led stories didn’t have space in theatres. Then came Vidya Balan and Kangana Ranaut-led films, changing the definition of ‘mainstream’. The industry was flourishing before Covid, when a film like Saand Ki Aankh (2019), in which Bhumi Pednekar and I played 60-year-old daadis, ended up earning Rs. 21 crore. There was that time, too.
Change is the only constant. I am going to be optimistic about the future. My only insecurity as an actor is that if that (mentality) continues, I will have to change the kind of films I take up. I would have to either disassociate totally or change my path and the kind of films and roles I do, which will be slightly painful for me.
When will your fans get to see you in a comedy role like Khel Khel Mein?
I am waiting for a good comedy. I don’t want to be the object of comedy; I want to perform. Mudassar Aziz (director) personally knew me and what kind of comedy I could pull off. People who know me don’t associate me with something so serious (Assi). I am really hoping that after Khel Khel Mein, I find my footing as a bankable actor and find the right script. It takes a while. We don’t have that many comedy films where women can enjoy doing comedy and not be the object of comedy. It’s a rare sighting.
There is a fight between producers and actors: producers say that if an actor leaves a film, they should be compensated; actors feel that they are not compensated when a film is shelved or postponed, or if they are replaced. What is your view?
If both sides decide to spend money on recces and block dates without signing any papers purely on trust, then in what capacity can one try to go and fight for it? It happens all the time.
I have wasted months trying to make a project happen. It happened when a filmmaker, who was a friend of mine, told me that our project had been indefinitely pushed because the investors pulled out, just two weeks before it went on floors.
For an actress, it’s extremely harsh because we don’t get paid as much. There is a limited time of the year that is good to shoot in. And three months of my peak shooting time got wasted like this because we had not signed any papers. We can only feel guilty about it, but we won’t have the authority to seek compensation. That’s how the business works.
Have you ever lost out on work because of being a bindaas, outspoken person?
I might have, but I don’t get this information firsthand. What I do get to hear is, ‘The hero doesn’t want you to be in the film.’ Heroes decide the heroine in a film, unless you have a director who is the biggest star who asks for a particular person. When Raju (Rajkumar Hirani, director) sir wanted me in Dunki (2023), I was in the film. It might just be a big shock for everybody because I am not in the quintessential circuit of those films, or Shah Rukh (Khan, actor) sir’s regular pair on screen. The director was sure he wanted me.
The other thing I sometimes hear is that I am a little too difficult to work with. But I fail to understand that. Anyone who looks at my filmography, directors who worked with me have repeatedly cast me, and that cannot happen with someone who’s difficult to work with. Nobody wants trouble again and again in their films.
If the people who have not worked with me say that I am not a very social person, I cannot go out of my way to show them how I am. I let my work do the talking. It’s the harder route, but I am saner that way.
Missing the beat: MTV’s OG crew recalls their wildest years
10:58 AM
’90s kids remember when MTV was the boss of cool. Malaika hosted Loveline, Cyrus hosted Bakra. As MTV shuts down some of its channels globally, we’ve hit Rewind
Rachana Parekh (HINDUSTAN TIMES; February 27, 2026)
First, let’s get one thing out of the way. MTV is going nowhere. Last year, Paramount Global announced that in some countries, the channel will stop broadcasting by December 25. Millennials around the world dropped their TV remote in panic. Turns out, the company was referring only to sub-channels such as MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV and MTV Live. Regular MTV continues, in India too, though we’re not sure who’s really watching.
The channel has been playing here for 30 years. At its peak, MTV was that glorious spot that filled the years between Chitrahaar on Doordarshan and YouTube on the internet. How else were Indians to know that Michael Jackson was the monster all along in his Thriller video? Or that Milind Soman was going to pop out of the wooden box in Alisha Chinai’s Made In India? Or that it was two grandpas who were actually singing Macarena?
Right off, MTV was always more than music. For a generation coming into its own in the 1990s, it was a rebellious older sibling who spoke their language, played their anthems, understood their angst. Sure, MTV played rock, pop and hip-hop. But it also taught a generation how to speak, dress, joke, rebel and belong. Mumbai writer Shubarna Mukherjee Shu, 43, remembers sitting in front of the living room TV in 1999, landline in hand, when MTV’s Most Wanted played the top songs of the moment.
“My friends and I would be on a conference call, collectively praying,” for any song from the Backstreet Boys’ album Millennium to air. “When they finally played one, we’d scream-sing along on the phone. It made our day.”
This kind of magic didn’t happen by chance. Here’s how it all was all part of a grand design.
Forever young
MTV India announced itself with swagger. In January 1996, Slash from Guns N’ Roses flew to Bangalore to jam with Indus Creed at the channel’s launch. Months later, MTV partnered with Michael Jackson for the Mumbai stop on his HIStory World Tour. There was an 11-city roadshow, MTV Get It, making stops on college campuses and getting a sense of what young India was all about.
“The Indian music industry was not developed,” says Seher Bedi, who joined MTV in 1995 as a producer, one of the first employees at the channel. “We had singers and bands, but no music videos. Outside India, nobody knew these artists existed.”
The team started from scratch, shooting videos, packaging live gigs, creating sets. “In that first year, the buzz was insane,” Bedi recalls. “Audiences went crazy when we just showed up to record concerts.”
The graduating class of Indian pop — Alisha Chinai, Daler Mehndi, Lucky Ali, Shaan and Sagarika, KK, Sonu Nigam, Euphoria, Colonial Cousins, Indian Ocean and more — all built their fame on airplay on MTV, and rival Channel [V].
“A R Rahman wasn’t known outside the south then,” recalls Cyrus Broacha, who hosted shows on the channel until 2008. “We were shooting Maa Tujhe Salaam in the desert, and I told him, ‘Bring that bag from the corner.’ I had no idea he’d become this colossal figure. Back then, he was just a colleague.”
International music was funnelled into simplified segments: Unplugged for acoustic recordings; Alternative Nation for indie and alt genres; Headbangers Ball for noisy metal and rock; Select for viewers requests. And, in a move that left Millennials ever grateful, MTV flashed the song’s name, artist, album and often the video director, with every play. What a time to be alive!
“The channel’s high-energy aesthetic left its mark on advertising, film, comedy, graphic design — everything. Show business as we know it today wouldn’t exist without it,” says Alex Kuruvilla, who led MTV India between 1999 and 2006. They called viewers the MTV Generation – kids who chomped on burgers, dared to wear jeans with kurtas, got bored in three minutes (the average length of a song), mourned Kurt Cobain, rapped to Baba Sehgal and knew the difference between RHCP and RATM.
The OG influencers
India needed a little hand-holding to process these new sounds. Enter VJs (video jockeys), young super-confident Indians who dressed stylishly, had radical opinions and jabbered between the songs. It was immediately the coolest job in the country.
“Rahul Khanna was based in Singapore then, so Tara Deshpande and I were technically the first local VJs,” Broacha says. In 1997, Malaika Arora joined to host Club MTV and Loveline. The same year, MTV launched its nationwide VJ Hunt, and discovered Maria Goretti and Nikhil Chinapa.
“I almost didn’t go,” recalls Goretti, who was a model then, and got asked to audition in the last week of the hunt. “I thought maybe they just needed more people on stage. My sister pushed me. I won. It changed my life.”
Chinapa, an architecture student, had been hosting radio shows and live events for pocket money in Bangalore. He participated on a whim. “Anything that popped up, I’d try,” he says. He moved to Mumbai, started off with hosting Select, eventually leaving to set up the Submerge and Sunburn music festivals and shape the channel VH1 Supersonic.
The job looked like fun, but it was relentless: VJs shot links, hosted on-ground events, visited colleges, met brand partners and distributors, attended parties. The pay was modest; the real currency was access — to artists, to ideas, to a rapidly globalising world.
“I don’t think any of us realised how much impact we were having,” says Shenaz Treasury, who hosted MTV Most Wanted and MTV Chillout and moved on to MTV Asia. “It hit me later, when people in Singapore would recognise me on the street and tell me how MTV shaped their style, humour, even their slang, that MTV was bigger than any one show.”
Beyond the music
In 1998-99, the channel went mainstream, including Hindi music in its programming. “While the brand’s DNA was global, everything else – the IPs, programming, the shows, the marketing was hyper local,” says Kuruvilla. “MTV took pride in its local successes.”
It’s most enduring hit: Bakra, in which Broacha essentially pranked unsuspecting folks on camera. No one was exempt – not even movie stars and cricketers. The MTV generation was fearlessly laughing at itself, at others, at life. It spawned 13 competitors within six months and ran for over a decade.
Broacha recalls feedback from an unexpected fan: “Someone called my landline and said, ‘Bal Thackeray speaking,’ He spoke clearly, in English, and said, ‘I just wanted to tell you I love this show. I stop all our meetings at 3.30 to watch it. Keep up the good work’.”
The channel took Indian music to the world. In 1999, Bedi was sent to New York to cover the MTV Video Music Awards, where A R Rahman won the International Viewer’s Choice: MTV India for Dil Se Re, the title track from Mani Ratnam’s Dil Se. “We shot with him across the NYC talking about his favourite places and music,” she recalls. “Later, we took Colonial Cousins to MTV London for the first Unplugged.”
Mini Mathur, VJ between 1999 and 2003, recalls interviewing Richard Gere at an Aids concert, stepping in last-minute to interview Deep Purple, and hosting Aamir Khan alongside the cast of Lagaan.
“The actors were nervous – it was their first big interaction with cameras. I moved easily between English and Hindi, and Aamir looked at me with respect.”
Goretti recalls being part of Gaana Masti, which parodied popular music. “Cyrus and I spoofed an Urmila Matondkar song. We also did Koi Mil Gaya: Mini was Rani Mukerji, Cyrus was Shah Rukh, and I was Kajol. Mad stuff!”
YouTube launched in 2005, Spotify launched worldwide in 2008 (and in India in 2019). Music videos, MTV’s lifeblood, were now free and on-demand. So, it pivoted to reality shows. It was a new MTV generation, one that dreamed of making it to Roadies and Splitsvilla, who understood the power of their own stories and voice.
“When people auditioned, they’d talk openly about trauma – facing abuse for being gay, skinny, fat, identity,” says Chinapa. “We encouraged young people to speak.”
We no longer need VJs, handholding or a chance to speak. We’re doing it all ourselves, editing, adding filters and clapping back at trolls. But MTV’s spirit – Indian yet international, irreverent but honest – it will take more than a channel shutdown to stamp that out.
Ismail Darbar felt ‘betrayed’ when Bhansali dropped him from Heeramandi after 1.5 yrs
10:49 AM
HINDUSTAN TIMES (February 27, 2026)
After critically and commercially acclaimed collaborations in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) and Devdas (2002), composer Ismail Darbar and filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali had a fallout. The rift was reported to have emerged after Bhansali dropped Ismail from his web series Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, over an article describing Darbar as the “backbone” of the project.
Now, Darbar said he felt “betrayed”, since he had spent a year and a half working on the music. “He betrayed me, not once, but twice. He committed to working with me, and then didn’t do so. I had worked on Heeramandi for 1.5 years, and he didn’t tell me before replacing me,” Darbar told Subhojit Ghosh.
The composer added Bhansali tried to reconcile, inviting him to the show’s premiere, but did not attend. “I respect him a lot because he gave my family and me a lot of love. We had a good bond till Heeramandi, he called me from the front to invite me to the show’s premiere. He had told me that he didn’t call anyone else but me, but by that time, my heart had already broken. If Sanjay and I had done Heeramandi, we would have created history,” Durbar said.
This comes days after Bhansali was reported to have been hospitalised due to chest pain, even though his family denied the claims, calling it a ‘routine check-up’.
Boong’s BAFTA win makes me happy and sad-Vikram Kochhar
10:47 AM
Deep Saxena (HINDUSTAN TIMES; February 27, 2026)
Director Lakshmipriya Devi’s debut film Boong has made history as the first Indian movie to win a BAFTA Award. Actor Vikram Kochhar, the only Bollywood name in the Manipuri-language film, calls the moment “extremely elating” yet bittersweet.
“It’s a proud moment for all of us, especially with Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulating the team. I’m happy my choice to back indie cinema paid off. But it’s also sad that we’re celebrating the film only after the West recognised it,” he says.
Released last year, the film struggled for screens in India. “My parents in Hyderabad and friends in Bengaluru couldn’t watch it due to no-shows. It did well at festivals and in the UK, but back home, it’s a brutal reality. We watch global content like K-dramas, yet we failed to support our own,” Vikram adds.
The 42-year-old reveals he signed the film while shooting Dunki (2023) where Lakshmipriya was assisting director Rajkumar Hirani.
He shares, “Raju sir even offered me an ad with actors Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi, but I turned it down as I had committed to Boong. I believed in the film, just never imagined it would win a BAFTA.”
There is no negativity at all between the family members-Hema Malini
10:38 AM
Actor Hema Malini rubbishes rumours of late veteran Dharmendra’s two families not getting along
Natasha Coutinho (HINDUSTAN TIMES; February 26, 2026)
The 76th BAFTAs on Sunday marked a rare moment of global recognition of Indian cinema when late veteran Dharmendra was honoured in the In Memoriam section. Emotional about the tribute, his wife actor-MP Hema Malini (77) tells us, “It was a beautiful moment and he deserves it. It’s a huge honour not just for us, but for the entire country. There will never be another like him.”
‘There’s no negativity’
There has been much speculation that Hema and her daughters, Esha and Ahana, don’t get along with Dharmendra’s other family: wife, Prakash Kaur, sons Sunny and Bobby, and daughters Vijeta and Ajeita. However, Esha and Ahana’s appearance with Sunny at the screening of his film Border 2 on January 25 helped quieten some of the chatter.
Setting the record straight, Hema shares, “I was invited, too. But I couldn’t make it... Dharam ji Papa hain na, unke liye sab kuch bhi karenge. Be it these bachchas (Esha and Ahana) or those bachchas (Sunny, Bobby). They are very fond of each other. There is no negativity at all between the family (members). When Dharam ji is there, where is the negativity? He was a source of love, strength and values that he has passed on to them. People should understand instead of talking this and that.”
‘He loved watching me dance’
Tuesday (February 24) marked three months since the veteran’s demise. “I think of it and get teary-eyed, but I am being strong,” she says, adding, “I’m keeping myself busy with my dance shows. Dharam ji loved watching me dance; he would say I should never stop because it’s important to be mentally and physically fit. He loved watching the girls dance, too. He appreciated that we are maintaining Indian tradition.”
‘Not sure about OTT’
Ask if she will be seen on screen anytime soon, and she shares, “If any good film role comes my way, I will do it. But kuch achha aata hi nahin; and I’m not sure about OTT.”
Ahaan Panday dons action avatar in next; begins shoot on March 30
10:36 AM
Natasha Coutinho (HINDUSTAN TIMES; February 26, 2026)
Filmmaker Ali Abbas Zafar recently shared a behind-the-scenes look from his upcoming project, featuring the leading man, Ahaan Panday.
Now, a source tells us, “Shoot begins on March 30 in Mumbai’s YRF Studios for a 27-day schedule. Then, the team will travel to UK for a 60-day shoot in May. All the actors are currently in action training, and will be till end of March.”
When contacted about his lead, Ali, 44, is all praise for Ahaan. “He doesn’t perform emotions, he feels them. And as a director, that’s a rare quality to find. The camera has a way of catching the truth and with him, the truth is always there in his eyes,” he says.
Only one film old in the industry, with his debut Saiyaara being a surprise hit, Ahaan, 28, will take on the action-romance genre in the upcoming film.
Ali adds that Ahaan “brings a modern energy to classic romantic leads”: ‘It’s always amazing to work with raw, new talent and Ahaan, to me, is at the top of the league from his generation.”
Flipperachi looks forward to finally watching Dhurandhar
10:35 AM
Neeshita Nayapati (HINDUSTAN TIMES; February 26, 2026)
Bahranian rapper Flipperachi, whose high-energy viral track FA9LA featured in director Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar (2025), is excited to watch the film nearly three months after its release. The delay wasn’t by choice as the film was banned across several Gulf countries, keeping him from seeing his own big-screen moment. Now, as he gears up for his India tour in March, the rapper says catching a screening of the film tops his itinerary.
“I look forward to watching Dhurandhar. It’s important for me to see how the song was placed in the film as a representation of the whole film,” he says, adding, “Watching it with an Indian audience would be a completely different experience. I’d love to feel that energy in the room.”
Further, the 37-year-old also expresses his desire to meet the makers of the film during his stay in India, and other Bollywood celebs. “I’ve grown up watching Indian films; Bollywood was always popular in Bahrain. There’s always been that deep connection between Bahrain and Indian culture,” says Flipperachi.
Speaking about the newfound fame in India, he shares, “It’s a great feeling. To see the music connect on this scale in India is special. I didn’t expect the magnitude of the response.”
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