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

Days after being granted interim bail and walking out of Tihar Jail on February 17 in a Rs. 9 crore cheque bounce case, actor Rajpal Yadav is choosing reflection over reaction. The 54-year-old, who travelled with his wife, Radha Yadav, to his hometown in UP soon after his release, says the legal battle is far from over.

Opening up about the entire ordeal, Radha says they are approaching the situation “one step at a time”.

Reflecting on his time in jail, Rajpal shares, “The most difficult part was being away from my family. Beyond that, I accepted the routine. I would wake up early and focus on breathing exercises and maintaining mental balance.” On the legal front, he says, “This matter has been ongoing for many years. I believed it was right to handle it legally.”

Radha adds, “Every possible legal and respectful option was explored. Sometimes resolution is not just about willingness, it also depends on timing.”

The legal dispute dates back to 2010, when Rajpal took a Rs. 5 crore loan from businessman Madhav Gopal Agrawal to finance his directorial debut, Ata Pata Laapata (2012). After the film failed at the box office, he was unable to repay the amount. Over the years, accumulated interest, penalties and legal costs have caused the liability to rise to Rs. 9 crore.

The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond has been granted a U/A certificate by the CBFC, a move that has sparked mixed reactions. The U/A classification allows for unrestricted public exhibition for viewers aged 14 and above. Critics — including Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan — have called the film, based on religious conversion, “poisonous propaganda” that could damage the state’s image.

Amid the debate, producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah shares, “CBFC told us to make 15-16 changes, including some words and dialogues, and only then did they grant a U/A. They have taken all precautions to make sure that the film is suitable to be shown to a U/A audience.”

Ask how the sequel secured a U/A when the first film, The Kerala Story (2023), received an A rating and he says, “In the first film, there was a brutal rape sequence which my director was not ready to remove, so it had to get an A certification. This time, we took extra care to ensure that there is no such sequence.”

In what could shape up to be an interesting on-screen pairing, Shilpa Shetty Kundra and Jackie Shroff are said to be in advanced talks to headline an Amazon Prime Video series. Sources indicate that the project is an eight-episode slice-of-life drama that explores urban relationships and second chances.

An industry insider told mid-day, “The idea is to mount an intimate show with strong writing, real locations, and minimal gloss. Both actors bring credibility and warmth, which is crucial for this world.” 

The script is said to be finalised, and the production team is currently conducting a recce in Mumbai and Pune. The unit plans to take the show on floors in March.

The insider added, “A 60-day window has been carved out for principal photography. The team is waiting for a go-ahead from actors on the dates.”

Three blind men rob a bank. That premise led to a gripping heist drama in filmmaker Vipul A Shah’s Aankhen (2002). With his next, Hisaab, the director promises a bank robbery “with a twist”. The cherry on the top is its cast — Jaideep Ahlawat and Shefali Shah.

“After Aankhen, I always wanted to make another film on a bank heist, but I was not getting the right idea. Hisaab is as unique a story as Aankhen was — a kind of heist film that India has not seen before. It’s taken us a long time to write it. Comparisons with Aankhen are unavoidable, though there is nothing common between the two films [except] the bank robbery. So, we wanted to make something that had strong content,” shared the director.

An ace up Vipul’s sleeve is the casting, as he has reunited Ahlawat and Shefali after their tender love story, Three Of Us (2023). In them, the director found the strong performers he was seeking.

“Jaideep and Shefali are two phenomenal actors who can deliver performances with ease and depth. [No matter] whether they have done Three Of Us or 30 films together, they will be a pair to watch out for. The scenes light up when they are together, and it’s beautiful for me as a director to watch it happen.”

With the shoot complete, Hisaab is being readied for a theatrical release. The director will zero in on a release date after his production, The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond — a film through which he wants “to be the voice of the victims” — arrives in cinemas.

Days after actor Rajpal Yadav walked out of Tihar Jail on interim bail on Tuesday in a cheque-bounce case linked to his directorial debut Ata Pata Laapata (2012), his legal team has offered a fresh perspective on the long-running dispute. Advocate Bhaskar Upadhyay claims the matter escalated after businessman Madhav Gopal Agarwal allegedly took offence during the film’s music launch event. 

According to Upadhyay, multiple agreements were signed between the parties until August 2012, with repayments scheduled to begin later that year. However, tensions reportedly surfaced at the September music launch, which was attended by Amitabh Bachchan.

“The complainant wanted to share the stage with Mr Bachchan, but Rajpal’s team declined as Mr Bachchan was not taking any favours for his presence. The complainant got annoyed and moved the Delhi High Court seeking a stay on the film,” Upadhyay tells us.

The lawyer adds that the dispute was later settled through a consent agreement in 2013, followed by a consent decree in 2016, under which Rs. 10.4 crore became payable. An execution petition was filed the same year, and Rs. 1.9 crore was subsequently paid.

Upadhyay further alleges that despite a guarantor offering property worth Rs. 15 crore as surety — documents of which are with HT City — the complainant refused and instead sought imprisonment.

The matter remains sub judice, with Rajpal’s team expected to present new points at the March 18 hearing.

Meanwhile, Rajpal Yadav, currently in his ancestral village in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, told PTI that prisons should have “designated smoking areas, similar to railway stations and airports”. He added that jails should function as reform centres where inmates get structured opportunities to change.

As Kohrra Season 2, released recently, opened to rave reviews, especially for its intriguing storytelling, writer Gunjit Chopra feels the spotlight hasn’t changed the reality for screenwriters.

“After every show, you’re back to a blank page. It’s not the same financial security that maybe an actor gets,” he says, adding, “We need to do more for screenwriters so they feel safe to tell their stories. Most writers think, ‘Let me make one story I want, and then one for the producer, so I can pay the rent’.”

Set in the small town in Punjab, Dalerpura, the series follows officers Dhanwant Kaur (Mona Singh) and Amarpal Garundi (Barun Sobti) as they investigate a murder. What begins as a routine case slowly unravels deeper truths about the victim’s past, exposing layers of patriarchy, power, and suppressed guilt.

While the first season was praised for its gritty portrayal of Punjab’s underbelly, Season 2 stands out for its deeper emotional resonance and more character-driven storytelling.

The emotional realism that defined both seasons, the screenwriter who also wrote the show Pataal Lok says, came from looking outward. Comparing how thrillers are presented in a human way in foreign cinema, Chopra notes, “In India, we either make things larger than life or go into something like Singham (2011), which is on another tangent.”

He adds, “When you make a human drama, you look for humanity in any profession, be it a cop or a businessman. So that was the idea (behind Kohrra).”

To make sure that the show prioritizes human connection, rather than a mere spectacle, the 38-year-old says, “I did deep research, and I spent a lot of time with cops, so I know it’s not an easy job.”

He adds, “In Punjab, one police station covers 60 to 80 villages and one investigating officer is dealing with 70 or 80 cases. That is not human.”

Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri and producer Bhushan Kumar have come together to make a film on India’s strategic military campaign Operation Sindoor, conducted in May last year. The film will explore India’s strike back at Pakistan in the aftermath of the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam in April of the same year.

A source close to the production confirms to us, “Yes, Bhushan Kumar and Vivek have come together to make this film on Operation Sindoor. It is in a very initial stage and they are currently in the process of finalising the cast, locations, etc.”

The source adds that the project is in its nascent phase, with work beginning this year itself: “The film will definitely go on floors this year, but since it is in the initial stages, it is tough to give the exact plan of release.”

We reached out to Vivek and Bhushan for a comment or clarification on the development, but did not get any response till the time of going to press