Hindi
Madhya Pradesh to float a film city, invites investors
MUMBAI: The Madhya Pradesh government is setting up a film city 20 km away from Bhopal.
Built on 430 acres of land, the idea is to provide infrastructure and attract the entertainment industry from across the country to invest in the state.
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan pitched to investors and industrialists in Mumbai, promoting the location over rival projects like Film City in Mumbai and Ramoji Rao studios in Hyderabad.
Attending the meet were film personalities like Manmohan Shetty, Prakash Jha, Sudhir Misra, Boney Kapoor and Raza Murad.
The chief minister pointed out that there were suggestions that the government should enter into a joint venture with film studios or give plots to studios to develop on their own.
So will the idea catch on in the world of Bollywood? Says Manmohan Shetty who is planning to set up an entertainment park in the outskirts of Mumbai, “Right now the plan looks unviable, but only time will tell whether film people would vie for the Madhya Pradesh project or not when there are already film cities in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Jaipur.”
The Madhya Pradesh government is toying with the idea of reducing entertainment tax if 50 per cent of a film is shot in the state. These are just a part of an initial plan and will be incorporated in the final policy.
Not many, however, feel at this stage that these measures will be enough. Says filmmaker Harry Baweja, “I don’t think this plan would be accepted by film folks in general. Who will set up a studio in Bhopal, carry the entire equipment from Mumbai and set shop there? That’s another thing if latest film equipments are available there and the state government gives us enough facilities.”
Hindi
Dhurandhar the revenge storms past Rs 1,000 crore in a week, rewrites box office records
Aditya Dhar’s spy thriller sets fastest run to Rs 1,000 crore with record-breaking weekday hold
MUMBAI: The box office has a new juggernaut—and it is moving at breakneck speed. Dhurandhar the revenge has smashed past the Rs 1,000 crore mark worldwide in just a week, clocking a staggering Rs 1,088 crore and resetting the rules of the blockbuster game.
Backed by Jio Studios and B62 Studios, and directed by Aditya Dhar, the spy action sequel opened to the biggest weekend ever for an Indian film globally—and then refused to slow down. Unlike typical tentpole releases that taper off after Sunday, this one powered through the weekdays with rare muscle, posting Rs 64 crore on Monday, Rs 58 crore on Tuesday, Rs 49 crore on Wednesday and Rs 53 crore on Thursday.
The numbers stack up to a formidable first-week haul. India collections stand at Rs 690 crore nett and Rs 814 crore gross, while overseas markets have chipped in Rs 274 crore, taking the worldwide total to Rs 1,088 crore in just eight days.
The film’s opening weekend alone delivered Rs 466 crore, laying the foundation for what is now being billed as the fastest climb to the Rs 1,000 crore club in Indian cinema. Every single day of its first week has set fresh benchmarks, from the highest opening weekend to the strongest weekday hold—metrics that typically separate hits from phenomena.
A sequel to the earlier hit Dhurandhar, the film has not just built on its predecessor’s momentum but obliterated previous records, emerging as the biggest global blockbuster run by an Indian film to date.
At this pace, the film is not merely riding a wave—it is creating one.
