Hindi
Make films shorter for global market: Shah Rukh
NEW DELHI: Actor Shah Rukh Khan says that there is a need to take to more positive themes in Indian films and to make them much shorter if India has to go global.
Khan who was here to participate in the ‘In conversation with Karan Johar’ session at the two-day Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on ‘Imagine the India that Can Be’, said this was also in keeping with the changing trends of seeing films in multiplexes, which could hold more shows in a day.
Addressing a press meet along with Karan Johar, Khan said that screenplay-writing was being treated as a science all over the world except India, where it was still seen as art.
Filmmakers treated the audiences in the same manner as three or four decades earlier, whereas viewers were much sharper now and screenplays could be crisper.
There was also need to “marry technology with technique” or get the right kind of manpower for handling the modern technologies available, he added.
He also stressed the need for aggressive marketing at international film festivals, adding that a film shortlisted for the Oscars needed full support despite the controversies that surrounded every selection. “Controversies are good, because they show there is a lot of diversity in our cinema, but once a film is selected, we should back it up,” he asserted.
He felt films should now start concentrating on more positive aspects of the country and not merely on the negative or regressive aspects, since there was much reason to celebrate in India‘s growth. He said Chak De was not about hockey or against cricket. It was first and foremost, a film about women empowerment and any sport would have been fine for the theme.
Answering a question, he said he had always acted in films of which he liked the storylines and did not care who made them, but he said almost all the newcomers with whom he had done films became big filmmakers afterwards. “I cater to what the people would like to see. I am not the master of my own destiny,” he said.
Johar said brevity was not his strong point and his shortest film had exceeded three hours. He may, therefore, find it difficult to cut them down to two hours as Shah Rukh had suggested. But he generally agreed that films should be shorter.
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.
