Telugu superstar Nani’s much-awaited film, The Paradise, recently made headlines with reports that the release might be pushed due to pending work on the climax and in post-production. However, Nani’s co-star Sonali Kulkarni, exclusively spoke to HT City and clarified that the film will release as per schedule on September 24, 2026: “Yes, it is our promise. We have also announced it on our social media. We are not delaying the release, and we are releasing on the 24th.”

About what caused the delay, the National Award-winning actor is quick to mention that the delay was only because the director wanted to put the best version out there for the audience to watch.

“All I can say is credit to my director’s vision. Srikanth is very particular about the details. The delay was because he wanted to entertain the audience with complete conviction. He didn’t want to compromise on anything. But we are releasing on the 24th, finally,” she explained.

Sharing the screen space with Nani, Kulkarni, 51, is in awe of how humble the actor is. “It was a joy working with Nani. He is a team member. He never treated himself like a superstar. He is not from a filmy background, but he has been an assistant director, and I felt that I was seeing a replica. I am a unit person on set. We bonded on many things. He is a director’s actor. He is humble and carries no weight about his stardom,” said an elated Kulkarni.

The growing anticipation for the film has fans and netizens drawing many parallels between Kulkarni’s character and Ramya Krishnan’s character as Sivagami in S S Rajamouli’s Baahubali series. Dismissing any commonality, Kulkarni mentioned that this is an absolutely fresh character.

“I wish I could tell you a lot more, but you will not be able to compare my character with anybody. This is something you have never seen before... Not necessarily a mother, because nobody called me a mother on the set,” shared the Dil Chahta Hai (2001) actor.

Besides, the actor also exclusively shared an update on yet another Bollywood release. Directed by Madhur Bhandarkar, Kulkarni will also be seen in The Wives Of Bollywood. There have been no formal updates on the film’s release yet; however, Kulkarni shared that the Madhur Bhandarkar directorial will hit the theatres this year. “A fortnight back I saw the trailer, and in their language, it is kick-ass (laughs). It should come in 2026 for sure,” she ended.

Kareena Kapoor Khan has questioned Bollywood’s rush to cash in on violence after the success of cousin Ranbir Kapoor’s Animal (2023), saying the industry tends to follow whatever formula is working at the box office.

Speaking during a recent town hall interaction with youth platform Yuvaa, the 45-year-old actor said, “Our audience is smarter than we think. They know exactly when it’s a good film, and they want to watch it. So today it is not just about a young love story. All these things are very dated, ki abhi violence chal rahi hai… ki abhi Animal chal gayi toh chalo sab violence kar lete hain. We are herd mentality; what to say?”

She also said younger viewers were increasingly questioning formula-driven filmmaking. “Now filmmakers cannot go and make a film saying it’s a comedy so people will definitely watch it! Not every film is going to make Rs. 200 crore or Rs. 500 crore. I feel like we are changing it and the audience is helping us.”

Directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, Animal starred Ranbir as Ranvijay Singh, whose obsessive relationship with his emotionally distant father, played by Anil Kapoor, drives the violent action drama. The film grossed over Rs. 900 crore worldwide, and a sequel, Animal Park, is in development. Kareena, meanwhile, will next be seen in Daayra.

With Hanuman Ansh emerging as one of the year’s surprise box-office successes, its 31-year-old lead Shobhinaw Satyaa has found sudden fame playing spiritual guru Neem Karoli Baba.

But the actor would rather remain an enigma: “People hardly know anything about me, and I want to remain like this and about my personal life details. I have a reserved nature! Now, I use Instagram somewhat, but before the film’s teaser release I had hardly 2-3 posts and about 200 followers (now 225K). I prefer staying away from my mobile for hours.”

Satyaa says he takes inspiration from late actor Amrish Puri. “I am a big fan of Amrish sir for how he kept his real life and voice hidden from public glare and kept it for the screen. I will keep following the path that Hanuman ji shows – jahe vidhi rakhe Ram, tahe vidhi rehiye!”

His casting in Hanuman Ansh, directed by Dr Vishal Chaturvedi, was itself unexpected. On his magical journey he says, “Everyone knows that from an assistant director, I landed in this role after the actor fell ill but the magic started 10 years back. I was assistant director in a student film Dhai Kalo by Vivek Kelkar in FTII, Pune and the lead actor got stuck and I did the lead role. Hanuman ji ne then tab trailer dikhi thi ab puri picture dikha di.”

Shobhinaw knew he had a career in acting but had no idea how to go about it. “I just wanted to do something big and now my friends say you manifested it but I did not realise it then. It has been 10 years and I kept my promise to myself that kuch chota-mota role nahi karoonga!”

He reveals that not been approached by anyone till now. “I am not even thinking about it right now and focusing on how this film and Baba’s name can reach everyone and everywhere. I will surely experiment but apni maryada ka khayal rakhonga my whole life – any saint, culture or great Indian personalities. I can’t abuse and do violence on screen as in real life too. I don’t speak such language, nor do I smoke or drink and live a satvik life. So, I will not do what I am not as I won’t be able to do justice to it!”

He feels that actors don’t get typecasted anymore like during the days of old Ramayana, Mahabharata and Sai Baba shows. “Now, things have changed. Earlier, people used to get stuck in one image but now industry and audience both accept actors, thanks to the Internet and social media.”

Shobhinaw was born in Khairabad, Sitapur and then after class VII shifted to Lucknow after hiis father’s posting and studied from Brightland Inter College.

“I joined Lucknow University but man nahi laga so did graduation from Faizabad University and simultaneously did acting course from Opulent School of Acting & Films in Lucknow and a small course at FTII, Pune. My father retired from the education department, mother has been a teacher, and I have a younger sister. They watched the film and had tears in their eyes. But, they roasted me in an interview saying ‘yeh ansoon baba ke liye hain, Shobhinaw ke liye nahi’.”

“When people touch my feet, I get very embarrassed as mere liye paap hai yeah. I tell them to hug and go touch the feet of Baba’s Shrimurti as I am only his daas and I have done this role on his direction,” he says and adds, “I first got introduced to Baba in 2009 when I was in High School when my friend Shubham Mishra showed my Baba’s story and his grandfather has done seva of the Baba so I heard many stories of him and since then I have become his follower.”

Actor Chandan K Anand reflected on the unexpected success of the film Hanuman Ansh, noting how it surpassed even the team’s wildest aspirations, “We were convinced that it would be liked, but we were unaware that it would become so big; nobody in the team, including the makers, was expecting this turnaround, that too after it ran for two weeks of release. Kaun soch sakta hain yeh? I feel abhi shuru hua hain; it will go far because the festive season is around the corner.”

Addressing the initial struggle of securing screen space against major releases, Anand noted the reality of the industry: “It’s no secret, we all know small films get less shows, less screens. It’s difficult to find a place, but this film found its way and proved that conviction in your story, characters can do wonders, magic,” he adds.

The actor, who appears as the narrator, also shared the serendipitous story of how he landed his role: “It was a small role I was initially offered. I arrived from Mumbai, but within a day of joining, it turned out that I got to be a full-fledged character of Ram Nandan Bhosle. I had no idea who was playing [it] earlier, but that actor didn’t turn up and I entered the shoot—no idea how we managed my dates and availability. It’s one of those roles that stays throughout the film and sets the narrative, and I am happy my work is reaching that far. That was my karma; Baba wanted this from me after giving acting years of hard work.”

Filming the story of Neem Karoli Baba required a unique atmosphere, with strict adherence to discipline and spirituality on set. “Yes, it was a completely sathvik atmosphere, prohibiting abusive language, arguments, and fights, as well as keeping non-vegetarian food and any type of alcohol completely off the sets, was strictly enforced by the team for everyone. And that’s what it was, and we all didn’t even feel that it was so sab apna kaam kar rahe thhe; we were moving with the flow,” concludes Anand, who has since resumed shooting for his next project.

Ghoom Ghoom from Mirzapur: The Movie has become widely popular since the film’s release. But guess who had known the dance number’s potential before it was even shot? Ravi Kishan. According to the song’s choreographer Vijay Ganguly, the actor, who joined director Gurmmeet Singh’s franchise with the movie, was keen that the track become a rage like Akshaye Khanna’s FA9LA in Dhurandhar (2025) did.

Ganguly told mid-day, “When we were doing Ghoom Ghoom, Akshaye’s song had just been released and became a huge hit. Ravi sir told me that I had done a fantastic job in Dhurandhar and that we had an opportunity to do something like that in Mirzapur. He said, ‘Let’s create some magical stuff’. He made the steps trend so much that he made the track popular, instead of the other way around.”

Filming the number in the deserts of Jaisalmer with key members of the cast — Pankaj Tripathi, Kishan, Ali Fazal, Divyenndu, and Sonal Chauhan — in the bitter cold was a challenge.

The choreographer added, “It had to have a Mehbooba Mehbooba [from Sholay] feel. I suggested shooting it in Mumbai, but Gurmmeet was keen to shoot it in a real location in Rajasthan.”

Director Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Ghamasaan released on September 11, while his next with Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Woh Phir Kabhi Dikha Nahi, is in the last leg of making. Even as he has been busy with these two projects, a story has remained constant in his mind — the biopic of late filmmaker K Asif of Mughal-e-Azam (1960) fame.

“Ghar bhi chalana hota hai. So, when some projects come my way, I have to halt the process of writing the film,” Dhulia told mid-day.

In his 26-year career, Asif made only five films, of which two were left incomplete. But his one creation — the Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, and Madhubala-starrer, Mughal-e-Azam — catapulted him to a legendary status. The epic famously took 12 years to get made. “This film is taking as much time as Mughal-e-Azam took to get made,” quipped Dhulia, who has been writing it since the project’s announcement in 2024.

He added that he has finished writing 100 scenes so far. “I have finally reached the point when the shoot of Mughal-e-Azam starts.”

Given the magnificence of Asif’s historical drama, opulence comes to mind the moment one thinks of the director. But grandeur is not what Dhulia’s biopic focuses on. Instead, he wants to zoom in on the man behind the filmmaker, whose promising career was marked by movies that remained for years in production and then cut short by his untimely death at 48.

“This film is not about opulence. It talks about Asif as a person. It’s personal in nature,” he reflected.

Long before Ranbir Kapoor’s epic Ramayana: Part 1, there was Ramanand Sagar’s landmark 1987 TV series Ramayan. Almost 40 years on, the late filmmaker’s grandson, Shiv Sagar, is bringing a documentary that will chronicle the making of the Arun Govil and Dipika Chikhlia-led show.

Shiv told mid-day that the 60-minute documentary is currently in post-production. “It will show what happened behind the scenes — including anecdotes, never-before-seen footage, and retakes — during the making of my grandfather’s Ramayan. We have interviewed the cast, crew, and technicians connected to the series. We have [archival] videos of my grandfather and father. Its working title is Behind The Scenes Of The Ramayan, and we are planning to release it in the Diwali week,” he said.

Diwali is also when Ramayana: Part 1 will hit the screens. Shiv’s documentary will be launched on Tilak channel on YouTube and played at the Ramanand Sagar Museum in Karjat.

Close to the museum is the Ram temple built by Shiv’s father Prem Sagar and him at their Karjat property. He would like to invite Kapoor and the Ramayana: Part 1 team to the temple. “My sister Shabnam Gupta has designed Ranbir and Alia’s [Bhatt] new home in Bandra. I’d love to invite Ranbir and the Ramayana team to our Ram temple.”

Meena Kumari, Guru Dutt, Madhubala. Pics/mid-day archives, YouTube

The fascination with the lives of Hindi cinema’s legendary stars shows no signs of slowing down. While Madhubala and Meena Kumari’s biopics are in the making, mid-day has now learnt that late Guru Dutt’s life and legacy will be brought to the screen. Manish Goswami’s production house Siddhant Cinevision has acquired the adaptation rights of ‘Bichde Sabhi Baari Baari’, Dutt’s biography by novelist Bimal Mitra, with plans to develop it as a multi-part series.

Mitra shared a close personal and professional association with Dutt, which began when the latter adapted his acclaimed Bengali novel, ‘Saheb Bibi Golam’.

A source shared, “The author spent considerable time with Dutt at his Mumbai home and Lonavala farmhouse, working on scripts and having long conversations with him. Those interactions became the foundation for the memoir. ‘Bichde Sabhi Baari Baari’ also shone a light on Dutt’s troubled marriage to singer Geeta Dutt, his bond with Waheeda Rehman, and the actor-filmmaker’s anxieties and vulnerabilities.”

mid-day contacted Goswami, who said, “It’s premature to discuss the details.”

An ambitious epic like Ramayana: Part 1 deserves maestros, and filmmaker Nitesh Tiwari gave us that as he brought five-time Grammy Award winner Hans Zimmer and two-time Oscar winner A R Rahman together. Now, as the Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi, and Yash-starrer ramps up its promotions, the makers know just the way to get global attention. mid-day has learnt that Zimmer and Rahman will host a musical evening, dedicated to Ramayana: Part 1, in London on October 20.

A source close to the development revealed, “The prestigious Royal Albert Hall is likely to be the venue for the event. The Zimmer-Rahman collaboration forms a key part of the film’s global positioning, and the duo will take the audience into the movie’s sonic world. The lead actors, Nitesh, and producer Namit Malhotra are expected to attend the event.”

Before we see the maestros in action, we will witness their work on screen. Word is that the movie’s first song will be released this month.

The source added, “The track depicts Lord Ram and Sita’s wedding. It is currently being given finishing touches. The launch will mark a major asset drop in the promotional campaign, which began with the Rama teaser that was unveiled in April, followed by the trailer in July.”

The second trailer is expected to be launched around October 23.

Being part of Varanasi has given Prithviraj Sukumaran the chance to experience filmmaking at an extraordinary scale. Through the multiple schedules of the action adventure drama, what has stayed with him is filmmaker S S Rajamouli’s instinct to keep his actors at the heart of the process. The actor shared that the director, who is building a unique cinematic world with his story, encourages an exchange of ideas before every scene is filmed.

“Rajamouli sir will say, ‘This is the scene. How do you want to do this?’ He will first ask me my thoughts, and then give his perspective,” said Sukumaran, who plays the antagonist Kumbha to Mahesh Babu’s Rudhra and Priyanka Chopra’s Mandakini in the adventure drama that went on floors in Hyderabad in 2025.

Such conversations, according to the actor, show how much thought goes into even the smallest performance choices in an ambitious project like Varanasi. “There is a healthy exchange of ideas. He is very clear about what he wants from the scene, but at the same time, he is interested in what the actor is thinking,” he added.

For Sukumaran, who has helmed a few films, including L2: Empuraan (2025), the experience has offered an opportunity to surrender to another director’s instincts. “You have to be willing to surrender to the director’s vision. You can have your ideas and point of view, but eventually you have to trust the person who is making the film.”