Hindi
Heropanti: Of a one man army
MUMBAI: There are a few oddities about Heropanti, probably created on purpose. The film is identified with the 1983 film Hero which launched, Jackie Shroff, the father of the hero of Heropanti, Tiger Shroff. All that is common between Hero and Heropanti is that the latter uses the signature flute tune of Hero, that too in a badly slaughtered and remixed version. The genes of both films have nothing in common. This film seems to have been made on a shoestring budget with the intent of cashing in on Jackie Shroff’s goodwill of over 30 years and freshness of Tiger Shroff.
In fact, Heropanti resembles any south Indian film where a strong family with a lot of muscle power finds suitors for its daughters in a similar family status. Even the treatment meted out is like any recent south film though here the strong muscle-wielding family is Jat, who don’t mind killing their own daughter if she marries outside of the family arrangement.
The story goes like this: the daughter of the most dreaded Jat Chaudhary, played by Prakash Raj, has eloped with her lover on her wedding day (in films they have to vanish from the mandap for greater effect). The Chaudhary is devastated as his izzat is at stake. He decides to follow the tradition, find his daughter and her lover and kill them. To find them, he rounds up the guy’s friends because they should know where the couple has gone. While the two friends are easily picked up and half beaten to death and imprisoned, the third one, Tiger, is not as easy to handle. He bashes up all of Prakash’s goons until he is taken by surprise.
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Director: Sabbir Khan. Cast: Tiger Shroff, Kriti Sanon, Prakash Raj, Vikram Singh. |
Producer: Sajid Nadiadwala.
Tiger too is locked up in a barn with his other friends and they try to escape on the first opportunity. However, Tiger wastes the chance when he spots the girl he had fallen in love at first sight back in Delhi. He decides to stay back, track the girl and win her over. As happens in film stories, the girl he loves is the Chaudhary’s other daughter. Chaudhary, who is overly possessive about his daughters and can’t bear to think that his daughters can love somebody else more than they love him.
As Tiger displays his prowess with action and dancing while chasing his love, the second half of the film succeeds in generating more interest than the earlier part which dragged a lot. In fact, with no known face except Prakash Raj, the film is all about Tiger’s abilities.
The fact is, Heropanti, like its title, is forced (the real Mumbai slang is Herogiri). While the background of the film is about north Jats, it is made to look like a typical southern film. The direction is shoddy with chalta hai attitude. The dialogue is good in parts. Action is very well shot. The film has two good numbers with well choreographed dance moves. Performance wise, Tiger excels in action and dance but needs to improve in dialogue delivery. Kriti Sanon is a mismatch with Tiger; she looks much more mature and manly. Prakash Raj is his usual self. Rest of the goons are okay.
Heropanti has opened to over 50 per cent houses which are very good for a new face film and considering its budget. The film should jump to plus side on its first weekend of business thanks to curiosity to watch Tiger.
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.
