DHURANDHAR THE REVENGE continues strong run on third Friday as it hits a huge 20 crore nett which is almost as good as the third Friday of DHURANDHAR. But here its come on a holiday for Good Friday which means that the weekend and week will not compete with DHURANDHAR. That always looked the likely scenario as collections had dropped off towards the end of the week.

The collection of the films stands at around 825 crore nett and it is all about getting 100 crore nett up or nearabouts to stay in the race to finish at 1000 crore nett. It will be the weekend growth that will determine that. Not that it makes much of a difference if the film ends at 950 crore nett or 1000 crore nett as its pretty much the same thing.

The bigger record is being the biggest HINDI grosser ever and that is done. Next stop would be to the biggest in India with all languages but that is unlikely as dubbed support is limited which was also likely as a breakout here is very hard. It has left the Hindi version a little too much work to do to reach the PUSHPA 2 - THE RULE all versions figures.

The collections of DHURANDHAR THE REVENGE (Hindi) are as follows.

Paid Previews - 40,00,00,000 apprx

Thursday - 75,00,00,000 apprx

Friday - 72,00,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 97,00,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 1,00,00,00,000 apprx

Monday - 60,00,00,000 apprx

Tuesday - 46,00,00,000 apprx

Wednesday - 42,00,00,000 apprx

Thursday - 44,00,00,000 apprx

Friday - 37,00,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 55,00,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 57,00,00,000 apprx

Monday - 22,00,00,000 apprx

Tuesday - 24,00,00,000 apprx

Wednesday - 17,50,00,000 apprx

Thursday - 16,00,00,000 apprx

Friday - 20,00,00,000 apprx 

Ahmed Khan’s directorial venture is nearing the finish line. At the end of March, mid-day reported that producer Firoz A Nadiadwallah had deferred a song shoot in Dubai amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia (Welcome to Plan B — March 31). However, the director-producer duo remain keen to film in Dubai to capture a luxe lifestyle — and to shoot at least Suniel Shetty’s entry sequence in Welcome To The Jungle, alongside Arshad Warsi, Paresh Rawal, Johnny Lever, and Rajpal Yadav.

The plan is now locked. The cast will fly to Dubai in mid-May to film the sequence. “Suniel’s introduction scene will be one of the most expensive [sets] in the movie, shot over three days,” a source reveals. The makers want Shetty’s entry to echo Feroz Khan’s iconic introduction in Welcome (2007). 

“Suniel plays a loveable don. The scene will be shot mid-sea, onboard a 200-foot sleek yacht with a helipad. Suniel and Arshad will get down from the helicopter and meet [the others].”

The producer, in fact, insisted on shooting in Dubai. “It’s one of the most important scenes in the movie. The team also felt that only Dubai suited the ambience and mood we wanted for this universal family entertainer,” explains Nadiadwallah. Shetty, whose association with Dubai dates back 35 years, says he “feels  safe safe and secure in Dubai”.

“We will be shooting a grand sequence there in May. I am very excited to work with Firoz bhai,” the actor shares.

Alongside shooting the film, Suniel Shetty will host a business reality series, ‘Falcons Of Majlis’, which is “an investment-driven show similar to ‘Shark Tank’. I believe that Dubai will be back to its glory [soon]. Praying that peace comes to the world soon,” he adds.

When filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali sets his mind on something, he refuses to settle for anything less than perfection — and perfection takes time. Since his ambitious period saga Love & War was announced in January 2024, the film has stayed in the news — not just for its star-studded cast of Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, and Vicky Kaushal, but also for its persistent delays.

Originally slated for a March release this year, the film remains incomplete. Bhansali recently shared that only 10 per cent of the shoot is pending. However, scheduling conflicts loom at large. “Ranbir has Ramayana: Part Two, and Vicky has Mahavatar in the line-up. Nitesh Tiwari wants to wrap up the second part to begin post-production, because July onwards time will be dedicated to the promotions of Ramayana: Part One,” says a source.

Kaushal, who was expected to bulk up for Mahavatar, but was busy with Love & War shoots all through 2025, has now finally set that plan in motion. As a result, Love & War will only resume filming in the second half of 2026, adds the source.

What remains? The climax. Despite a recent health scare, Bhansali is determined to meet the January 2027 deadline. “He has been working non-stop for the last two years. The team is reworking timelines. Post-production is progressing alongside to save time. Sanjay is certain that the film will release on schedule and exactly how he envisioned it,” another insider reveals.

Two decades after Tere Naam, Ravi Kishan continues to hold Salman Khan in high regard. The actor-politician, who shared both screen space and gym sessions with Salman, says his admiration has only grown over the years.

“Superb man, what a lovely human being. Salman Khan bahut acche insaan hain. Mere acche dost hain, aur hamara bahut purana sambandh hai,” Ravi says. “I have only good things to say about him. I see him as a very helpful person. Ye meri raaye hai; log kya kehte hain ya kya kahenge, I don’t care.”

Recalling their early days, he adds, “Woh aur main acche dost hain. Woh hamare senior hain. Main 1991 mein aaya tha; woh 1986-87 mein aa chuke the.”

Kishan also recalled their time training together at a gym in Bandra, where he would watch the Bajrangi Bhaijaan actor effortlessly power through pull-ups. Sharing details about their workouts and bond, he said, “Ek Gym karke Bandra mein hota tha. We used to work out there. Main unko dekhta tha, woh bahut pull-ups maarte the. Aur jab bhi hamari baat hoti hai, unka aur mera humour connection bahut kamaal ka hai. Huge Salman Khan fan,” he added.

Ravi Kishan played Pandit Rameshwar in Tere Naam, alongside Salman Khan and Bhumika Chawla.

The success of Dhurandhar The Revenge has brought unexpected attention to several performances, including actor Udaybir Sandhu as Pinda, the childhood best friend of Jaskirat, played by actor Ranveer Singh.

What began as a relatively small role on paper turned out to be a significant one, thanks to its emotional impact and strong recall value. Udaybir shares, “I had not anticipated the kind of response the character received. Like any other actor, I was concerned about my screen time.”

However, a conversation with director Aditya Dhar shifted his perspective: “He told me, ‘Whatever you have will be impactful.’ Sometimes you just have to believe in the director’s vision. I gave my best, and the rest is history.”

The role also demanded a physical transformation, as the character is shown across different timelines. “We shot the older portion first. I had about 45-50 days to prepare, and I bulked up around 15 kilos. I wanted the audience to feel these were two different people,” says the 29-year-old.

Sharing screen space with Ranveer added another dimension to the experience. He says, “Ranveer bhai is one of the most talented people I’ve seen. He’s like an older brother, and he guided me in every scene.”

As the film continues to spark both praise and criticism, including debates around its themes with some calling it propaganda, Udaybir urges audiences to view it simply as ‘a film’. “It’s entertainment; you don’t have to take it so seriously. We’ve all put our heart into it,” he ends.

After years of divorce rumours and relentless online chatter around his marriage, actor Abhishek Bachchan has finally addressed his relationship with wife, actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

In a recent interview with YouTuber-actor Lilly Singh, he emphasized that their bond has always been rooted in a “partnership”, even calling “severe ego” a defining aspect of how they function as a couple.

“Through our courtship, our engagement, and our marriage, it was always about partnership. There was no discussion like, ‘I will bring the food, and you take care of the house’. It flows very naturally. For me, I think it comes from severe ego,” he shared.

Explaining what “ego” means to him, he said, “I say ego because I am not the kind of person who believes somebody else has to give up or stop running for me to win that race. And that is my mental structure. I don’t want to be in a partnership or marriage where my wife has to stop doing something because I have to feel manly about myself. And thankfully, my wife is not someone who thinks like that either.”

Reflecting on the dynamic of success in their relationship, he noted that it was never unfamiliar territory. “When my parents got married, my mother was a bigger star than my father was. So, it wasn’t an unnatural thing,” he said.

Speaking about their early days, when Abhishek was paired opposite Aishwarya in his second film, Dhaai Akshar Prem Ke (2000), he shared, “We weren’t in a relationship together (then). We were just buddies. We were always friends.”

He reiterated the importance of partnership in their relationship, adding, “It was always about a partnership. I have known Aishwarya from the start of my career… So, there is no competition at home (about) who has to be the man, who has to be the woman.”

Speaking about raising their daughter, Aaradhya Bachchan, Abhishek shared that both he and Aishwarya lead by example when it comes to parenting.

“We try to be the best example for Aaradhya. Instead of telling her this is right, or this is wrong, we show her what to do by being that,” he explained, adding, “In that sense, it has never been like I have to teach her self-defence. If you have seen my wife, she can take care of herself.”

He also admitted, “I think fathers are lousy teachers because our emotions get in the way and we don’t have that sensitivity chip that women do.”

Punjabi singer Karan Aujla’s upcoming concerts in Lucknow and Ludhiana, scheduled for April 10 and 14, respectively, have been cancelled.

An official from the Lucknow administration confirmed the development, saying, “There were multiple issues, including being unable to procure a liquor license. The location, due to scheduled IPL matches, was also an issue. But majorly, it was about the inability to break even; it was not a sold-out show, maybe due to being overpriced: priced over lakhs for a table of 10-15.”

A source from the organising team said there were also concerns following issues at the Mumbai show last month on Holi, where fans alleged poor management, a near stampede-like situation, and several people fainting in the scorching afternoon heat.

They added, “Till now, what we know is that after the Mumbai fiasco, Aujla and his team want to make sure to take up concerts in other cities only with everything in place. So, the reason cited is logistics. Pricing and all, I am not sure of.”

We reached out to Aujla, but there was no response till the time of going to press.

There’s a very specific kind of frenzy that only a big-screen spectacle can create in India. Think when Dhurandhar: The Revenge found itself sold out in paid preview shows. That’s what happened to Project Hail Mary. IMAX shows sold out days in advance, with 3 am screenings filling up after excited cinephiles waged a war to ensure the film releases in IMAX widely.

When we tell Aditya Sood this — that people have been trying for days to get tickets — he is both amused and moved.

He says, “Obviously, you want to see passion. We’re so passionate about making the films. So to see that being met with passion from people who want to see the film… it should be seen on the biggest screen possible.”

There’s something telling in that response. Because if there’s one thread that runs through Sood’s journey, from a kid watching pirated VHS tapes in Seattle to producing one of the biggest sci-fi films of the decade, is that of faith in the big screen experience.

Project Hail Mary arrives with something almost unfashionable in the current climate —  hope.  “We like to say we want to make movies that are at least 51 per cent optimistic… We understand that the world is complicated. We don’t want to be over the top or saccharine. There’s real struggle out there. But we really want people to come out of the theatre feeling better than when they came in.”

He credits directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller with sharpening that idea further. “They feel their mission as filmmakers is to show models of goodness in the world. And I think there’s no better mission than that.”

For Indian audiences, where the idea of a “producer” often collapses into financier, studio head, or even auteur, Sood’s role can feel elusive. He laughs about this, particularly when explaining his job to extended family.

“Producer can mean a lot of different things. I’ll tell you about what I do… I really do what’s called creative producing. You start from the very beginning — finding an idea, a book, a script. You work with the writer, develop it, then put it together with the director, actors, all the creative talent. I’m not writing the cheque, the studio is, but my job is to protect the creative vision and do it in a fiscally responsible way. Someone once told me: be the most business-minded person on the creative team or the most creative-minded person on the business team. If you can translate between those two worlds, there will always be a job for you.”

If audiences are only now going to watch Project Hail Mary, Sood has been living with it for six years. “Anytime you get that feeling where you can’t put something down, you must know there is something powerful in there worth going forward with. I started reading the book at noon and finished at 8 pm. You know there’s something special. It can take years and years and a lot of missteps… but if you don’t believe in it, it’s never going to happen. The only thing you really have is your own point of view and the courage of your conviction.”

For all its scale, Project Hail Mary carries small, deeply personal imprints — Easter eggs that quietly tether a global story to one man’s history. Sood shares one of them with particular affection. “We were figuring out which country built which module of the ship… and I said, the medical module should be from India. My mother is a doctor. My grandmother was one of the first female doctors in India, she graduated in 1929. Our production designer surprised me with a plaque. The company that built the medical robot was ‘Rekashanti’ — my mom and grandmother’s names.”

Born in England, raised in Seattle, in a time before global connectivity, cinema became a bridge back to India. “I come from a family of doctors. So there was no connection to cinema except how it kept us tied to India. We probably had the first VCR on the block. We didn’t have a dining table, but we had that. I watched Star Wars three times a day for an entire summer. And something unlocked.”

Before we leave, he tells us his life has come full circle on this film. When we ask about his favourite memory from the making of Project Hail Mary, the scale of it all quietly slips away. He talks about his son visiting the set in London. The moment he remembers is a small one. His son, who had grown up around space stories, born the year The Martian (2015) released, walked onto the set, looked around, pointed at a window and said, that’s the cupola. “It’s part of the International Space Station,” Sood recalls him saying, “That’s when I felt like, okay, we’ve done our job.”

“Comedy films are a good indicator of where a country is,” argues film commentator Karan Mirchandani. He names a list of films that defined a generation and highlighted its problems: Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983) and builder corruption; Munna Bhai MBBS (2003) and systemic issues and red tape within our education system; Hera Pheri (2000) and the struggles of a common man; Badhaai Ho (2018) or the plethora of films from this genre which tacked socio-familial issues.

The 2020s have not been able to produce a generational comedy. What’s changed? Actor Pratik Gandhi, from Madgaon Express (2024), says that it’s the audiences. The inherent nature of comedies is that they offend, but “today, anything can offend anybody. And in comedy, you have to just let loose. Only then, it’s fun,” says Gandhi.

“Censorship has also become wild,” Gandhi says, “You’ll hear things like, ‘Don’t say sex, instead say sambhog, then it’s fine’.”

Actor Abhishek Banerjee, who was last seen in Stree 2 (2024), also agrees. “The 1990s comedy style is no longer funny. I don’t think today’s generation will enjoy it the same way,” Banerjee says, “Comedies like the ones David Dhawan and Govinda made, or Andaz Apna Apna (1994), or Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro — those are evergreen.”

What does it take to make an evergreen comedy? “They have satire. They have irony. I think what we lack today is satire,” Banerjee answers.

As soon as we realized not-so-politically-correct humour doesn’t work, we stopped trying to find other forms of comedy. Gandhi adds, “Comedy has many sub-genres, and we still haven’t explored them fully. For example, survival comedy. Most of the time, films fall into slapstick comedy. That’s usually the first instinct. But there are many more genres as well.”

Banerjee says, “Situational comedy is becoming more important than dialogue-based comedy. It’s not about saying a funny line — it’s about being in a serious situation and saying something completely unexpected. Layering that with intelligence helps even more.”

The 2020s have also been the decade of the Reel. Banerjee says, “I keep watching comedy Reels and they’re genuinely funny.” When people already have their appetite for funny filled on their phones, why should they come to the cinema for it? Gandhi says, “I never thought a two-hour film would have to compete with a 30-second Reel. But here we are.”

In the last few years, one comedy has broken into the 100-crore club — Crew. Director Rajesh A Krishnan tells us, “If you open social media, you’ll get a laugh. And Instagram doesn’t even need a subscription.”

Throughout the country too, laughter is not dying. “It seems like comedies are reducing but how much comedy content are you actually also consuming from Kerala? If you isolate comedy films coming out of the Hindi film industry, then it starts feeling like there is less comedy. Otherwise, people have been making comedies,” he says, “The scope of comedy has also changed. It’s crossed genres now like comedy-thriller, action-comedy, or horror-comedy.”

In the Hindi film industry, comedy films are surviving on franchise fame. “If we think from the producer’s perspective, franchises have been working well,” Krishnan says, “Sometimes standalone projects work so well that they get turned into franchises.”

The onset of OTT has meant that the theatre is saved for larger-than-life spectacles. So why should you step out to watch a comedy today? “I always feel like great comedies are a tool or even a weapon to critique the establishment. It has a softer touch to do it. And it’s one that lasts with you.”

From the times of the Angry Young Men, films have centred around the common man and his problems. Today, he is no longer at the core of our cinema, instead he is a “big, bearded, angry man on screen,” says Mirchandani.

Mirchandani also points out, “Films today exist in a kind of hyper-reality. They’re not rooted in a specific time or context. Because the moment you ground them — show real problems or systems — you’re also making a critique, and that’s something people are avoiding.”

A lot of comedies like Andaz Apna Apna, though were box office flops, found a second life on DVD. “That pipeline is gone today,” Mirchandani adds. Nothing comes close to a theatre for Gandhi, though. He says, “Any comedy film works best in theatres. Three hundred to 500 people laughing together — it is very, very contagious. You have a lot of fun in those two hours.”

The comedy genre is an evolving one, says trade analyst Taran Adarsh. “Right now, we’re seeing a lot of horror comedies. But the out-and-out comedies excelled by Akshay Kumar and before him the Govinda-David Dhawan style really worked. But there has been a vacuum since then.”

But is there money to be made in this genre? “Lots. Who doesn’t want to laugh, smile, and come out of a film feeling happy? That’s what cinema is about.” Then why is the genre slowing down? “The market scenario has changed. Profits, losses, hits, and flops dictate the industry more strongly now. Especially since the stakes are higher,” he says, “Actors also tend to follow what’s working because everyone wants to stay relevant, popular, and deliver hits.”

All hope is not lost though. “In the last couple of years, Madgaon Express has done well,” with a box office collection of Rs. 49 crore, “Crew (2024) was a smashing success,” as it sits happily in the Rs. 100-crore club with a box office run of Rs. 157 crore. 

Niren Bhatt, who’s written films like Stree 2 (2024), Bala (2019), and Bhediya (2022), says, “Comedy is highly subjective. What lands for you, might not land for me.” He adds that what appears effortless on screen is often the hardest to write. “You can’t just have characters delivering one-liners. That’s stand-up. It has to be woven into a story, with conflict, world-building, and character arcs,” he explains.

“You might write 10 lines and only one works,” he says, noting how audiences respond differently to the same jokes. While some enjoy meta humour or wordplay, others dismiss it as overdone or “too literary”.

For actors too, comedy is all about instinct. Pratik Gandhi says, “All other emotions have a range. On a scale of one to 10, you can adjust. But in comedy, if it has to land at two, it has to land at exactly two. Unlike drama, where intensity can fluctuate, comedy requires precision down to 0.0001 and years of riyaz.”

Abhishek Banerjee adds that the genre leaves actors exposed. “In comedy, you’re on your own. You have your dialogues, your co-actors of course, but timing is everything. Nobody can teach you comic timing. If you don’t have the funny bone, it will fail.”