Hindi
Sony, Balaji’s cold launch on a cold night – ‘Kkoi Dil Mein Hai’
On 27 September showmanship scaled amazing heights when film-maker Vashu Bhagnani released the music of his last venture Out Of Control (Ritesh Deshmukh, Hrishita Bhatt, Brande Roderick) in an aircraft, en route to Delhi.The producer hired an entire aircraft of Air Sahara to launch the music of the film mid-air. From the boarding cards to the head rests in the aircraft – everything had the logo of the film embossed. Besides, cloth banners of the film were put up at the entrance of the domestic airport (Santacruz in Mumbai).
Then, came producer Manmohan Shetty with his new film‘s launch, Waqt- A Race Against Time on 24 November, at Mumbai‘s Juhu Beach! Starring Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Priyanka Chopra, Paresh Rawal and Rajpal Yadav, the film is being produced by Blockbuster Movie Entertainers and presented by Manmohan Shetty, Kishore Lulla and Sunil Lulla.
| If the film industry can get innovative, why should the television industry lag behind? So thought Ekta Kapoor and Sony Entertainment Television. On 21 December, Balaji |  |
Telefilms‘ new serial Kkoi Dil Mein Hai was launched amidst ‘promised‘ fanfare at a surprising venue- Mikanos, a happening discotheque in Mumbai.
The evening was flagged off by a few games which the DJ played with the youngsters around. After a while, a huge cake was cut – it was Karishma Tanna‘s birthday (Psst… thought of asking her which one, but let it pass!). After a few snacks and drinks, we were served the screening of the first episode.
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Every 10 minutes, the DJ (not that we can recall his name!!) gave us a break and asked questions on the serial. ‘Watch it with attention, you dare not drown yourself with more pegs‘ – was the message. Anyways… |
| Mikanos DJ with Poorva Gokhle at the Kkoi Dil Mein Hai party |
Every 10 minutes, the DJ (not that we can recall his name!!) gave us a break and asked questions on the serial. ‘Watch it with attention, you dare not drown yourself with more pegs‘ – was the message. Anyways…
We cannot go by the guys and gals who were asked ‘Kaisa Lag Raha Hai?‘ by the DJ. They ‘had to‘ gush, we believe. So we kept our ears open. The hushed whispers behind our backs revealed that the serial had been accepted, but people found it a bit too similar to Saaya and Jassi. Saaya; because this too has two friends as different as chalk and cheese and Jassi; because the episode starkly preached that beauty lies within, simplicity is the essence of life, blah, blah, blah…
The cr?me de la cr?me of the Balaji camp were conspicuous by their absence. So the party was sans Ekta Kapoor, Jeetendra, Shobha Kapoor and Nim Sood. Neither did any of the leading cast of Ekta‘s other serials grace the occasion, though earlier we had been told that they would.
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We saw only Karishma Tanna (in a tight black top and the same black skirt which she wore throughout the inaugural episode!) who made a hurried exit as soon as the screening was over. She said she wanted to celebrate her birthday in ‘Bombay Blues‘. |
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| SET India executive VP Sunil Lulla, actors Poorva Gokhle & Karishma Tanna at Mikanos |
Also present at the party were Poorva Gokhle (in a white top with a pink tight pant), glamorous Ashlesha Sawant (Kahiin To Hoga and ex-Kyunki Saas Bhi Bahu Thi) looking like a million dollars, model-turned-actress Suchitra Pillai (wonder what was she doing there? Her film coffers are not full. Is she going to lean on television? Are we going to see her in the serial as fashionable Karishma Tanna‘s friend, just like we saw Mandira Bedi adding glamour in Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin for a while?), Aditya Dongra (Addi of Kyun Hota Hai Pyarrr) and Sandeep B (who plays the guy sandwiched between the two friends in this show).
The music was good, but hardly anybody took to the dance floor to shake a leg.
The mercury had dipped when we drove back home, nearing midnight. The ‘thanda‘ attendance had compounded the chill.
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.
