Movies
Green Gold Animation creates CG character for Telugu film Rākāsā
Chhota Bheem studio expands into mainstream VFX with dialogue-free digital lead.
MUMBAI: Green Gold Animation, the house that gave India Chhota Bheem, is now stepping out of the kids’ zone and into the big screen with a rather silent but powerful performer. The Hyderabad-based studio’s VFX division has delivered a fully computer-generated character for the upcoming Telugu-language comedy-fantasy thriller Rākāsā, set for theatrical release on 3 April 2026. Directed by Manasa Sharma and produced by Niharika Konidela under Pink Elephant Pictures in collaboration with Zee Studios, the film marks a notable move for Green Gold into complex, character-driven work for mainstream cinema.
What makes the project stand out is its ambitious central character, a completely digital creation that does not speak a single line. Instead, the character relies entirely on animation, movement, facial expressions and body language to convey emotion and connect with audiences. This is a relatively unexplored approach in Telugu cinema at this scale.
Green Gold’s VFX team was involved from early pre-production through to final delivery, completing over 750 CG shots with a team of more than 100 artists. The work included detailed character animation, performance design and fluid simulations, all executed within tight timelines and practical budgets through strong planning and close collaboration.
Green Gold Animation founder & CEO Rajiv Chilaka said the project pushed the team to approach character creation differently. “Building a fully digital character where every emotion had to come through performance and detailing was very meaningful,” he noted.
Green Gold VFX supervisor and VFX creative director Murali Manohar Reddy added that the emotional depth had to be communicated entirely through visual performance. “This wasn’t about reinventing technology, but about using our tools and processes with precision to serve the story,” he said.
Producer Niharika Konidela praised the collaboration, saying the Green Gold VFX team understood the vision and brought strong detail and emotion to the character while working within practical constraints.
The film blends humour, action and mythological elements, following an NRI protagonist on a chaotic and magical adventure. It stars Sangeet Shobhan, Nayan Sarika, Vennela Kishore, Brahmaji and Ashish Vidyarthi, with music by Anudeep Dev.
For a studio best known for colourful kids’ animation, delivering a silent, emotionally expressive CG lead for a mainstream theatrical release is quite the plot twist. With Rākāsā, Green Gold Animation is quietly proving it can speak volumes even without dialogue.
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.
