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By:

Bharati Dubey

17 May 2026 at 1:38:10 am

After Don-3 controversy, Ranveer’s next film goes on floors

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 audiences into a...

After Don-3 controversy, Ranveer’s next film goes on floors

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 audiences into a world on the brink of annihilation. Produced by Ananya Birla’s Birla Studios, Hansal Mehta and Sahil Saigal’s True Story Films, and Maa Kasam Films, the film combines large-scale spectacle with a deeply human story of survival, courage and the instinct to fight for what matters most. The film marks Ranveer’s next major motion picture following Dhurandhar and Dhurandhar – The Revenge, which emerged as the highest-grossing film of all time. With Pralay, the actor once again ventures into unexplored cinematic territory, taking on a disruptive new concept that demands both physical intensity and emotional conviction. Ranveer will also serve as a producer on the film. The project comes at an important point in the actor’s career. His reported exit from Don 3 had generated considerable buzz, particularly as he was expected to carry forward one of Indian cinema’s most iconic franchises. With Pralay, Ranveer now turns the page with an entirely original story rather than stepping into another established universe. Joining him is Lokah breakout actress Kalyani Priyadarshan, who plays a pivotal role in the film and brings together another exciting performer from the new generation of Indian talent. For Ananya Birla, Pralay represents Birla Studios’ ambition to push the boundaries of mainstream Indian cinema by collaborating with contemporary creative forces. For True Story Films’ Hansal Mehta and Sahil Saigal, the project reflects their commitment to disruptive storytelling and content-driven cinema. Behind the camera, Jai Mehta leads the ambitious project. His work on Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story, which he co-directed with Hansal Mehta, and Lootere has earned widespread acclaim. With Pralay, he steps into a significantly larger canvas, bringing together an ensemble of creative and technical talent from India and around the world. Set against the unmistakable pulse and landscape of Mumbai, Pralay follows a relentless journey of survival against the terrifying possibility of an end-of-the-world catastrophe. The film aims to marry breathtaking spectacle with an emotional core, exploring what people are willing to do to survive when the world as they know it begins to collapse. The makers are shooting extensively at live locations in and around Mumbai, embracing the physicality and unpredictability of real-world environments. The approach is designed to add scale, texture and realism to the apocalyptic world while creating an immersive theatrical experience. The film had already undergone several months of highly technical and intensive pre-production before cameras began rolling. Its ambitious mounting and unusual premise have made Pralay one of the most talked-about upcoming projects in Indian cinema.

How Singh defended 1991 Union budget

Updated: Jan 2, 2025

Manmohan Singh

New Delhi: Manmohan Singh, the architect of India's economic reforms, had to literally face a trial-by-fire to ensure widespread acceptance of his path-breaking 1991 Union budget that saw the nation rise from its darkest financial crises.


Singh, the newly-appointed finance minister in the PV Narasimha Rao-led government, did it with great elan -- from facing journalists at a post-budget press conference to irate Congress leaders unable to digest the wide-ranging reforms at the parliamentary party meeting.


Singh's historic reforms not only rescued India from near bankruptcy but also redefined its trajectory as a rising global power.


Singh made an unscheduled appearance at a press conference on July 25, 1991, a day after the presentation of the Union budget, "to ensure that the message of his budget did not get distorted by less-than-enthusiastic officials", Congress leader Jairam Ramesh wrote in his book "To the Brink and Back: India's 1991 Story" that recounts the fast-paced changes that took place after Rao became prime minister in June 1991.


"The finance minister explained his budget - calling it 'a budget with a human face'. He painstakingly defended the proposals to increase fertiliser, petrol and LPG prices," Ramesh recounted in the book published in 2015.


Ramesh was an aide to Rao during his initial months in office.


Sensing the disquiet in the Congress ranks, Rao called a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) on August 1, 1991, and decided to allow party MPs to "vent their spleen freely".


"The prime minister stayed away and allowed Manmohan Singh to face the flak on his own," Ramesh wrote, adding that two more meetings took place on August 2 and 3, in which Rao was present throughout.


"In the CPP meetings, the finance minister cut a lonely figure and the prime minister did nothing to alleviate his distress," Ramesh recounted.


Only two MPs - Mani Shankar Aiyar and Nathuram Mirdha - backed budget wholeheartedly.


Aiyar had supported the budget, contending that it conformed to Rajiv Gandhi's beliefs on what needed to be done to stave off the financial crisis.

Bowing to pressure from the party, Singh had agreed to lower the 40 per cent increase in fertiliser prices to 30 per cent but had left the hike in LPG and petrol prices untouched.


The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs met twice on August 4 and 5, 1991, to decide on the statement Singh would make in the Lok Sabha on August 6.


"The statement dropped the idea of a rollback, which had been demanded over the past few days but now spoke of protecting the interests of small and marginal farmers," Ramesh said in his book.


"Both sides had won. The party had forced a rethink but the fundamentals of what the government wanted -- the decontrol of prices of fertilisers other than urea and an increase in urea prices -- had been preserved," he recounted.

"This was political economy at its constructive best -- a textbook example of how the government and the party can collaborate to create a win-win situation for both," he added in the book.

-PTI

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