Hindi
Reliance Big Pictures looks for a big 2010
MUMBAI: 2009 proved to be a good year for Reliance Big Pictures. Paa and 3 Idiots turned out to be two of the successes of the year. Now Reliance Big is hoping that 2010 will turn out to be a bigger year. It has lined up a mixed bag of offerings ranging from mainstream masala to regional and art house films.
Take a dekko at its slate for 2010:
Kites, produced by Rakesh Roshan and directed by Anurag Basu starring Hrithik Roshan, Barbara Mori, Kangana Ranaut and Kabir Bedi, will have its release in Hindi and English simultaneously.
Well Done Abba, produced by Big Pictures in association with Sahyadri Films and directed by Shyam Benegal stars Boman Irani, Minissha Lamba, Sammir Dattani, Ila Arun, Sonali Kulkarni, Ravi Kishen, Rajit Kapur, Ravi Jhankal and Yashpal Sharma. It is slated for a January 2010 release.
• Mani Ratnam’s Raavan in which Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will be seen together on screen for the first time is a modern day adaption of Ramayan. The film is being readied in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu for a 10 August release.
The Vinay Shukla-directed Mirch stars Konkana Sen Sharma, Raima Sen, Shahana Goswami, Shreyas Talpade, Rajpal Yadav, Boman Irani, Sushant Singh, Arunoday Singh and Prem Chopra among others. The film, scheduled to release in 2009 got stuck because of the multiplex strike and is to release later this year.
Says Big Pictures CEO Sanjeev Lamba, “2009 was a challenging year for us. We had targeted to release 18 films in 2009 in late 2008. Who knew that we would have to face a long multiplex strike then. We released only 11 films while the rest got delayed for several reasons.
“But, on the whole, the year 2009 was a year of satisfaction for us and we are very happy. With Kites, Well Done Abba, Raavan and other films which would be releasing till the middle of next year, we are hopeful that next year too would be an equally good year for us.”
Big Pictures also has eight regional languages that would release next year.
Prominent among them are Shaji Karun’s Malayalam film Kutty Srank starring Mammooty, Kamilini Mukherjee, Padmapriya and Meenakumari. Then there is Rituparno Ghosh’s Bengali film Abohomaan starring Dipankar De, Mamata Shankar, Ananya Chatterjee, Jishu Sengupta and Ria Sen.
They are followed by Buddhabed Dasgupta’s Bengali film Janala starring Tapas Paul, Swastika Mukherjee and Indraneil Sengupta. Then we have the M S Sathyu directed Ijjodu starring National award- winning actress, Meera Jasmine and Anirudh in the lead roles. Finally,there is a Tamil film titled Singam directed by Hari starring Surya and Anukha. It will release in the second quarter of next year.
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.
