Hindi
Film on Kashmiri pandits selected for film fest in New York
NEW DELHI: ‘I am – Megha’, a film touching upon the lives of Kashmiri Pandits forced to flee Kashmir and starting their lives anew in a new place and environment, has been selected as the opening film at the “Engendered Film Festival” in New York on 21 September.
Directed by Onir, it is one of the four films made on protagonists who share a common dream – a desire to regain their lives.
The series ‘I am’ is an initiative of film director-producer Onir and actor-producer Sanjay Suri to make films addressing certain issues in society, and a vision to use the medium of mainstream films to spread awareness while popularising the culture of watching content oriented cinema.
Says Onir, “With this project, we hope to bring in another dimension to independent cinema in India. This project offers scope to different co-producers to partly co-produce any of the stories along with the main producers. We believe that independent cinema exists to give a voice to those working against the tide and outside the system.”
‘I am Megha’ is a story of two friends – a Kashmiri Pandit woman and a Muslim woman – separated by conflict. Against the backdrop of the ethnic cleansing in Kashmir in the late 80’s and early 90’s, this story tells of loss of home and identity.
Megha, enacted by Juhi Chawla, returns to the Valley after 16 years to sell her old home, and is reminded of the life she spent with her best friend Rubina, a Muslim, enacted by Manisha Koirala. The film has been partially inspired by the assassination of the father of Sanjay Suri, who also plays a role in the film.
‘I am Afia’ is the story of a single woman who wants to experience motherhood, but is afraid of the ticking clock. Unable to trust or even wait for a man, she decides to find that perfect donor who can give her the perfect child. Her search takes her through the underbelly of desire- desperation.
‘I am Omar’ with Rahul Bose is a horrific tale of sexual discrimination; blackmail and prejudice is part of the torrid fabric. It reveals how the police use Article 377 (law under Indian Penal code which criminalizes homosexuality) to harass and blackmail gay men. ‘I am Abhimanyu,’ starring Anurag Kashyap, is the story of a child sexual abuse survivor.
Beginning as a documentary filmmaker, Onir has made three feature films before this series, all with Suri: ‘My brother Nikhil’, ‘Bas Ek Pal’ and ‘Sorry Bhai’. Suri has acted in around 25 films beginning with ‘Pyar mein kabhi kabhi’ in 1999.
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.
