Hindi
Six Indian documentary projects vie for funding at Asian Pitch in Singapore
NEW DELHI: Six out of the 10 documentary projects shortlisted for the ongoing Asian Pitch in Singapore are from India. They include Dads of India-Children of the Misty Mountains by highly-awarded Gautam Pandey.
The others are Shalom Namaste by Saif Akhtar and Surya Balakrishnan, Children in Exile by Sumit Khanna, Life after Life by Raja Shabir Khan, The Love Commandoes by Vikram Mishra, and Beyond Transfusion by Gautam Grover.
Three to five projects may be selected at the Asian Pitch which is a collaboration between top Asian broadcasters – NHK (Japan), KBS (South Korea), PTS (Taiwan) and MediaCorp (Singapore) – to fund original HD documentaries produced by Asian filmmakers.
At the pitching event in Singapore, the four broadcasters are selecting and commissioning the winning stories for their prime time slots. The broadcasters will also market and distribute the programmes in international markets.
The films have to be original Asian human-interest stories or unusual treatments of existing Asian human-interest stories; human interest stories that will interest and excite Asian public broadcasters; and human interest stories that the Asian and international community will want to know about, apart from original programmes that depicts Asia’s societal transition.
The selected films have to be made between August this year and September next year and marketed or shown in Festivals by October next year.
Hindi
Dhurandhar 2 hit by YouTube leak amid record box office run
Cam-rip surfaces online but blockbuster streak continues at record pace
MUMBAI: It has been a dramatic week for Dhurandhar: The Revenge. Even as the espionage thriller smashes box office records, a piracy scare briefly threatened to steal its thunder after a full-length version surfaced on YouTube.
The leak emerged on March 30 via a channel titled “A2z movie”, which uploaded what appeared to be a cam-recorded print of the film. Clocking in at nearly three hours and 49 minutes, the footage was reportedly blurry but complete enough to spark spoilers and fan outrage online.
Soon after, users on X began flagging the issue, explicitly naming the “A2z movie” channel in their posts while tagging the film’s makers and urging swift legal action. Fans of director Aditya Dhar and lead star Ranveer Singh were particularly vocal, helping the issue gain rapid traction.
Within hours, the video was taken down, likely through a mix of platform detection systems and intervention by producers Jio Studios and B62 Studios.
Despite the leak, the film’s theatrical run remains virtually unshaken. As of March 31, the sequel has raked in an estimated Rs 872.17 crore net in India, with worldwide collections soaring to Rs 1,392.23 crore. Its Hindi opening day alone brought in Rs 102.55 crore, setting a new benchmark.
In a notable milestone, the film has matched Pushpa 2 as the fastest Indian release to cross the Rs 1,000 crore mark globally, achieving the feat in just seven days.
Interestingly, the version leaked online is believed to be an earlier cut. Midway through its theatrical run, the makers issued revised prints after eagle-eyed viewers spotted a fleeting editing error involving a cameraman’s reflection. The corrected version now plays across cinemas, adding an unusual twist to the film’s release journey.
Directed by Aditya Dhar, the high-stakes sequel stars Ranveer Singh alongside Sanjay Dutt, R. Madhavan, Arjun Rampal and Sara Arjun. The film has drawn praise for its scale and action sequences, though some critics have pointed to its intense violence and layered political themes.
For now, piracy may have made noise, but it has not slowed the juggernaut. If anything, the episode underlines the film’s cultural grip, proving that even a leak cannot derail a box office storm already in full force.
