Hindi
Umesh Kulkarni’s The Well to close London Film Fest
MUMBAI: It‘s a rare honour for Indian cinema this year at the first annual London Indian Film Festival.
While Dibakar Banerjee‘s Love, Sex aur Dhoka premiered on the opening night of the festival, Umesh Kulkarni‘s The Well (Vihir) will close the festival on 20 July.
Producer and lead star of the film Girish Kulkarni, who will grace the Red Carpet for the festival‘s closing film, will be joined by an array of luminaries spanning industry stalwarts, VIPs and film celebrities.
The Well has been feted globally following its World Premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. Stunningly filmed amongst the grandeur of the rolling Indian plains, the film is a moving ‘coming of age‘ tale that boldly captures the very essence of adolescence and the moments that define it.
It tells the story of young Sameer as he leaves the city with his parents to visit their family in the countryside, who are preparing for a wedding. Sameer, however, has only one aim, to meet his cousin and best friend Nachiket.
The two adolescent boys are inseparable and Sameer looks up to his older, free thinking cousin, who teaches him many truths as they stand at the cross-roads of their lives, with the innocence of childhood slipping away. This change is echoed by the fate of Sameer‘s female cousin, who is being forced into a marriage for the family‘s petty gains. Nachiket becomes increasingly distraught by this marriage, until he can take it no longer, leading to an action that will change Sameer‘s young life forever.
India is the largest film producing country in the world, creating up to 1,000 films a year out stripping that of Hollywood. But apart from mainstream Bollywood, very few of such films are seen in the UK.
Says Festival Director Cary Rajinder Sawhney, “We have been delighted with the response we have received thus far at the festival. UK is the largest consumer of Bollywood outside of India and we were fully aware of its relevance and significance here. Following the feedback we have received on the festival which has showcased a carefully selected repertoire of parallel Indian cinema, it‘s great to see the increasing appetite for independent Indian films and we do hope in time great movies such as The Well will be screened and talked about more broadly in the UK.”
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.
