Hindi
PVR swings into Q1 net loss of Rs 128.6 mn
MUMBAI: The multiplex industry has been hit hard and how. PVR has slumped into losses for the first quarter ended 30 June as revenue plunged by 45.82 per cent.
The company suffered a consolidated net loss of Rs 128.6 million (after share of minority interest), as against a net profit of Rs 4.6 million a year ago.
PVR clarified, “The quarter under review was an abnormal quarter for exhibition industry due to the ongoing tussle between producers/distributors and multiplex owners over revenue sharing. Due to the above tussle no films were released across theatres during the period April to mid June. Accordingly the Company incurred losses mainly on account of decline in revenues. Hence the financial results for the current quarter cannot be effectively compared to the quarter ended 30 June, 2008.”
Total income came down to Rs 445.6 million, from Rs 822.5 million, mainly due to unavailability of movies.
“We entertained over 2.3 million patrons during the quarter under review, less by 34 per cent from FY 2008, courtesy the tiff between multiplex operators and producers. Occupancies witnessed a fall from 32 per cent to 20 per cent against similar period last year,” the company said.
Around 35 screens of PVR were shut down during the period of strike. Thus, occupancy for the quarter after factoring closed screens would be approximately 17 per cent.
Meanwhile, total expenditure of the company came down to Rs 602.5 million, as against Rs 806.2 million in the previous fiscal.
The company disclosed that 5.27 per cent (or 500,000 shares) of promoter’s stake is pledged, amounting to 2.17 per cent of the total paid up equity, as on 30 June.
The movie exhibition segment suffered an operating loss of Rs 152.6 million in the quarter as compared to an operating profit of Rs 50.6 million. The revenue from the segment was Rs 399.3 million (from Rs 627.8 million), while capital employed till 30 June was Rs 3.09 billion.
In movie production and distribution business, operating loss narrowed to Rs 17.1 million, from prior year’s Rs 34 million. The capital employed till 30 June was Rs 402.6 million.
PVR has 108 screens in India, including 13 operated by its subsidiaries. Its 46 screens are enjoying entertainment tax exemption, the company said.
Hindi
Jio Studios unveils AI-powered Krishna teaser at NAB Show 2026
Global first look of Krishna uses Galleri5 AI pipeline on Azure, Historyverse slate as Jio’s Dhurandhar crosses Rs 3,000cr worldwide.
MUMBAI: Krishna has just dropped a divine teaser and this time the gods are powered by silicon, not just scripture. Jio Studios and Collective Studios’ Historyverse stole the spotlight at the NAB Show 2026 in Las Vegas with the world’s first teaser for their upcoming theatrical feature Krishna, directed by Manu Anand. The big reveal happened during Microsoft’s keynote “Powering Intelligent Media, From AI Experimentation to Real-World Impact,” where the film’s AI-native production pipeline took centre stage alongside Collective Artists Network’s in-house platform, Galleri5.
At the heart of this mythological spectacle lies a fresh cinematic workflow built by Galleri5 on Microsoft Azure’s advanced AI and cloud infrastructure. Forget bolting AI onto traditional VFX or animation, this is an end-to-end, production-grade system woven into every layer: world-building, character creation, shot design and final output. Yet the storytelling remains firmly director-led, emphasising emotional depth, stillness, music and performance rather than pure spectacle. The result? Large-format theatrical cinema rooted in Indian history and culture, but conceived in ways that were simply not possible before.
Collective Artists Network runs Galleri5 natively on Azure, leveraging Microsoft Foundry and cutting-edge AI tools to handle film, episodic and advertising workflows in a secure enterprise environment. Microsoft highlighted Collective as a “Frontier” organisation successfully moving AI from pilot projects to real production-scale deployment in cinema. The technology is also on display at Microsoft’s NAB booth in the West Hall (Booth W1731).
Jio Studios (Media & Content Business, Reliance Industries), president Jyoti Deshpande said the project advances the studio’s mission to take Indian stories global with scale, ambition and authenticity, “With Krishna, we are embracing cutting-edge AI-led filmmaking while democratising these tools to make them more accessible, intuitive and cost-effective for storytellers everywhere.”
Collective Artists Network founder & group CEO Vijay Subramaniam added, “We’re using technology developed in India to carry our culture and history to audiences worldwide at a scale never seen before.”
Microsoft, vice president for telco media & entertainment, gaming Silvia Candiani noted that the media industry has reached an inflection point, “AI is no longer about experimentation but delivering real impact at production scale… By building AI-native creative systems on Microsoft Azure, Collective exemplifies how storytellers can unlock new formats, move faster and realise a true return on intelligence while keeping human creativity at the centre.”
Krishna forms part of Historyverse, Collective Studios’ ambitious slate of history and culture-driven IPs. The slate draws from iconic figures and traditions that shaped the Indian subcontinent, including stories inspired by Kali, Karna and Durga. It builds on the already-released Mahabharat: Ek Dharmayudh series, showing how ancient narratives can be reimagined for modern screens.
Jio Studios, India’s leading content studio and the media and content arm of Reliance Industries, continues its blockbuster run. The studio’s Dhurandhar franchise led by Dhurandhar and Dhurandhar: The Revenge has become the first Indian film series to cross Rs 3,000 crore worldwide. It also delivered three consecutive years of India’s highest-grossing Hindi films: Stree 2 (2024), Dhurandhar (2025) and Dhurandhar: The Revenge (2026). In just eight years, Jio Studios has assembled a library of over 160 films and series, with more than 60 titles winning over 500 awards. Other notable successes include Laapataa Ladies (India’s official Oscar entry 2025), Stree, Article 370, Shaitaan and Mrs.
The NAB unveiling marks another step in Jio Studios and Collective’s push to blend Indian storytelling talent with frontier technology proving that the future of cinema may well be both ancient in spirit and thoroughly modern in execution. For audiences who love epic tales with a fresh twist, Krishna promises to deliver divine drama, this time with a little help from the cloud.
