Hindi
Bleak prospects for ‘We Are Family’
MUMBAI: The story of We Are Family is adapted from the Hollywood film, Step Mom. One wonders why borrow from there since the theme is a part of Indian folklore as well as tradition!
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| Producers: Hiroo Yash Johar and Karan Johar Director: Siddharth Malhotra Music: Shankar Ehasaan Loy Cast: Kajol, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal |
It is a tradition which has been used in film stories in both cases such as, when a married woman with a husband and kids is dying it is usually her sister who takes her place. Same is the case when such married women can’t beget an offspring. The tradition works other way round too, in case of a male demise as has been depicted in films like Ek Chadar Maili Si (Hindi) or Diyar Vatu (Gujarati) to name two.
So what is different about We Are Family? We Are Family feign to be contemporary. In that the Indian family lives in a foreign land (for no apparent reason). The couple (Kajol and Arjun Rampal) with three kids is divorced but both care very much for the kids. This situation makes it convenient for the man to fall for another woman (Kareena Kapoor) and, since he cares a lot for his kids, also attempts to make his kids accept the new woman in his life. Arjun’s efforts to make his kids accept Kareena fail as the children revolt.
The rest of the story is as predictable too. The divorced wife, Kajol, is diagnosed with Cervical Cancer and given three months to live. So now it is her wanting Kareena to enter her family and her children to accept her before her time runs out!
With the story being so predictable, screenplay follows suit. There are no twists and turns, no surprises, nothing that would make an Indian movie lover stir! While the first half is boring, the second half adds some interest but not enough to stop the tedium setting in. The narrative is as interesting as a school kid’s zoo visit report!
The story requires mainly Kajol to perform, rest needed to just be their real selves. Sadly, Kajol is one-dimensional here. Her chirpy, charming self is not a part of the story; her hyper, insecure sad self runs through the film, which may be good enough for critics but not her fans.
What is more, she looks jaded. Kareena Kapoor is okay. Arjun Rampal is a miscast; his performance is fair. Kids are cute, endearing, defiant, pests in turns, as has been seen in a hundred films. The music is noisy and wonders how many would identify with the Elvis Presley’s Jail House Rock! The film comes up with just one funny dialogue when the father-son talks. The photography is good.
We Are Family has a sob story counting on Kajol to carry it off. She can‘t, it is just not there in the script! Prospects look below par.
Hindi
India’s telecom subscribers cross 1.32 billion in February 2026
Broadband base swells past 1.06 billion as Jio and Airtel tighten grip on the market.
MUMBAI: India’s telecom sector is ringing in steady growth once again adding millions of new connections every month while the race for broadband supremacy continues to heat up like a fiercely contested cricket match. According to the latest data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on 1 April 2026, the total telephone subscriber base in the country reached 1,321.31 million at the end of February 2026. This marked a net addition of 7.31 million subscribers during the month, translating into a monthly growth rate of 0.56 per cent.
Wireless subscribers (including mobile and Fixed Wireless Access) stood at 1,273.31 million, registering a net addition of 6.97 million and a growth rate of 0.55 per cent. Within this, urban wireless connections grew to 730.75 million (growth 0.70 per cent), while rural wireless subscribers reached 542.56 million (growth 0.35 per cent).
Wireline subscribers, though much smaller in scale, showed slightly faster growth. The total wireline base increased to 47.99 million, with a net addition of 0.34 million and a monthly growth rate of 0.70 per cent. Urban areas continued to dominate wireline connections with a share of 89.41 per cent.
Overall tele-density in India improved to 92.66 per cent. Urban tele-density stood at 150.68 per cent, while rural tele-density edged up to 60.02 per cent.
The broadband subscriber base crossed a significant milestone, reaching 1,059.05 million at the end of February 2026. This reflected a healthy net addition of 6.33 million subscribers and a monthly growth rate of 0.60 per cent from January’s figure of 1,052.72 million.
Segment-wise, mobile wireless access continued to drive the majority of growth with 996.52 million subscribers. Fixed Wireless Access (including 5G FWA) added 16.51 million, while wired broadband stood at 46.02 million.
Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. maintained its commanding lead with 519.64 million broadband subscribers. Bharti Airtel Ltd. followed with 364.14 million, Vodafone Idea Ltd. with 129.36 million, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. with 28.70 million, and Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd. with 2.38 million.
Together, these top five players command a massive 98.60 per cent share of the total broadband market.
In the wireless (mobile) segment, private operators continued to dominate with 92.59 per cent market share, leaving public sector undertakings (BSNL and MTNL) with just 7.41 per cent.
Out of the total 1,257.29 million wireless (mobile) subscribers, 1,177.60 million were active on the peak Visitor Location Register (VLR) date, representing an impressive 93.66 per cent activity rate. Bharti Airtel led in this metric with 99.42 per cent of its subscribers active.
Meanwhile, 14.47 million subscribers submitted requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in February, indicating healthy competition and customer churn across zones.
While urban areas still lead in absolute numbers, rural connectivity is slowly catching up. Rural wireless tele-density stood at 59.46 per cent, compared with the much higher urban figure of 142.32 per cent.
Fixed Wireless Access using 5G technology also showed promising traction, growing to 11.93 million subscribers. Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are the primary players driving this segment.
The data paints a picture of a maturing yet still rapidly expanding telecom ecosystem. With total telephone subscribers now well past the 1.32 billion mark and broadband users comfortably above 1.06 billion, India continues to solidify its position as one of the world’s largest and most dynamic digital markets.
From bustling city streets to remote villages, more Indians are staying connected than ever before proving that when it comes to telecom, the country’s appetite for growth shows no signs of hanging up anytime soon.
