Mumbai: The failure of ‘Batwara 1947’ has emerged as one of those box-office mysteries that is difficult to explain purely through the usual parameters of filmmaking. The film brought back the celebrated combination of Sunny Deol and director Rajkumar Santoshi after nearly three decades, carried a powerful Partition backdrop and featured acclaimed performers. Yet, despite the pedigree, the film struggled to attract audiences to theatres. For trade analyst Taran Adarsh, the fa

Mumbai: Sharon Verma’s journey in comedy is a story of an unlikely breakout. She was not introduced to audiences as an established star, but as a relatively new comedian who walked onto the stage of India’s Got Latent and turned a self-deprecating joke about being a “weak independent woman” into a moment audiences remembered. Originally from Bihar and now based in Mumbai, Verma has built her identity around observational, self-aware humour. Her comedy frequently draws from ev

From Dhyan Chand and cricket legends to Lagaan and Chak De! India, the relationship between Indian cinema and sport has grown into a cultural phenomenon. August 29 is observed as National Sports Day in India to commemorate the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand. The day celebrates the spirit of sport across disciplines—from hockey and cricket to football, chess and many other games. But in India, sport has always existed alongside another powerful form of ma

The Hindi film industry’s old formula of sanitising Pakistan and demonising Indian society is now facing a box-office challenge from films putting national security and historical memory at the centre of the story. There have always been two distinct, divergent streams in the so-called Hindi film industry or Bollywood, often derided as a lame replica of Hollywood or derogatorily referred to as ‘Urduwood.’ One stream that promoted an agenda-driven, ‘left-liberal’ hypothesis wa

Mumbai: After months of attention surrounding his reported exit from Don 3, Ranveer Singh has finally moved on to his next major cinematic venture. The actor’s ambitious survival spectacle Pralay has officially gone on floors in Mumbai today, marking the beginning of filming on one of the most ambitious and scale-driven projects in Indian cinema. Headlined by Ranveer Singh and directed by Jai Mehta, Pralay is an original end-of-the-world action thriller that promises to take

Mumbai: Rattling Bollywood, the Maharashtra Food & Drugs Authority (FDA) has shot off notices to mega-star Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff for allegedly promoting a banned product through surrogate advertising in the name Vimal Elaichi. The notice has been issued by the FDA Assistant Commissioner (Food) N. T. Mujawar for Greate Mumbai Division and sought the stars’ written response along with supporting documents, either in person or through an authorised represen

Mumbai: Spider-Man continues to enjoy phenomenal success at the Indian box office, highlighting the country's enduring fascination with Hollywood superheroes. But the craze also raises an important question: Has Bollywood missed the opportunity to build its own superhero universe? India has produced memorable superheroes like Shaktimaan and the Krrish franchise, while Indian comics are home to several iconic characters. Yet, unlike Hollywood, the Hindi film industry has not c

From Lagaan to Dhurandhar, eight movies that dismantled old certainties and transformed Indian cinema over the past quarter-century. On June 15, 1896, less than seven months after the Lumière brothers astonished audiences in Paris, moving pictures arrived in Bombay. Few could have imagined that the novelty shown at Watson’s Hotel would evolve into the world's most prolific film industry with Mumbai at its center. For much of the twentieth century, Indian cinema developed acco

Cinema frequently departs from historical reality to serve narrative and emotional needs. Cinema has served as a powerful medium of blending history with storytelling to create emotionally compelling narratives. The representation of history in cinema oscillates between fact and fiction. It raises questions on authenticity, interpretation, and artistic freedom. Bollywood has shown fascination with historical themes and grand empires like the Mughals and other kings and kingdo

Sadly, marital rape is not a punishable crime in India. More than half of the world’s countries do not criminalise sexual assault in marriage, including OECD countries like the Czech Republic and Japan. But is marriage the right solution even at a suggestive stage in countries like India where domestic violence on wives by husbands is very high? Many such violent acts are directly linked to violent rape never mind whether the wife is willing or not, whether the wife is batte

In today’s Hindi blockbusters, patriotism is no longer just a theme — it is a trigger. Mainstream Hindi cinema today follows a pattern that is no longer subtle; it is engineered. The recent success of some of the industry’s biggest hits has hardened a new formula: nationalism fused with stylised violence, wrapped in a spectacle, and delivered with emotional certainty. Placed against this backdrop, Dhurandhar fits comfortably into an ecosystem where patriotism is no longer j