Hindi
A Death In The Gunj (English- mixed): Still born
A Death In The Gunj is one of those films which reminds one of the mystery novels and movies from the British black-and-white era. A bunch of people, usually friends, family and extended family gather at a lonely — as in far from a civilisation — place for a vacation. Seemingly, there is laughter and bonhomie yet, the vibes are not good.
For such a story to be told, a film’s roster needs to be talented. And, on that count, the film is well equipped. The writer director being Konkona Sensharma, an industry person herself, her goodwill counts to this end to put together a good cast.
The characters of Om Puri and Tanuja live in a remote place called McCluskieganj, in Bihar (now Jharkhand). During the winter of late 70s, the couple’s family comes to visit. It includes Gulshan Devaiah, Tillotoma Shome, Arya Sharma, Vikrant Massey and Kalki Koechlin. Ranvir Shorey, Jim Sarbh, their local friends also join in.
The makers dont deem it necessary to enlighten you as to how they are related or what their connections are. They know each other from before but we, the viewers, don’t and that does not seem to matter! So one assumes, Om Puri and Tanuja are a retired old couple living a life of seclusion but peace in this far off place in a huge cottage surrounded by jungles. The character of Gulshan is their son and Tillotoma the daughter in law with Arya being the granddaughter. Vikrant is Tanuja’s nephew from her sister’s side. There is no way of placing Ranvir, Jim and Kalki except as family friends.
Among those gathered, Vikrant comes out as the odd man out. All pranks are made at his cost.
The place has no TV and the only transistor radio is monopolised by Om Puri for cricket updates. It is an open house and there is no taboo on alcohol or smoking. The crowd gets around to play old-fashioned games. Being of Bengali origin, the first try is planchette, a board game (?) about calling the souls of dead folks who are asked to reveal family secrets.
But, they are not really playing a game, they are all together in targeting Vikrant for no rhyme or reason and making him the butt of a practical joke. Next, they play kabaddi and, again, Vikrant is almost throttled when he seems to be winning.
Vikrant, who has had a bad time in college, is avoiding his widowed mother and is a total wreck mentally, comes to terms with the fact that not only is he not welcome here but also nobody cares if he lives or dies.
The script of the film expects the viewer to understand a lot without being told. What is happening and why stops mattering because if you ask your companion next to you, he/she is as much at loss as you are. By the time the film reaches its conclusion, which lacks logic, it makes the whole lot out on a vacation look like a bunch of sadists who derive more fun out of teasing and torturing an innocent young man looking for a shoulder to lean on than their planchette and kabaddi. Direction is average as in what could have been a 75 minute narration is stretched to 110 minutes and yet failing to establish connections as well as the purpose of torturing a down and out youth! There is no comic relief, music or visuals for distraction. Only sadism.
The casting is good as mentioned earlier, but the characters lack background. Om Puri and Tanuja, the two stalwarts, have nothing to do and they do it ably. Rest act well but to no avail. Vikrant Massey is the one excels.
Producers: Honey Trehan, Abhishek Chaubey, Raagi Bhatnagar, Ashish Bhatnagar, Vijay Kumar R Swami.
Director: Konkona Sensharma.
Cast: Tanuja, Om Puri, Gulshan Devaiyah, Tillotoma Shome, Vikrant Massey, Kalki Koechlin, Ranvir Shorey, Jim Sarbh, Arya Sharma, Promila Pradhan, Ashok Pathak, Saraswati Devi.
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.
