Hindi
War against video pirates getting fierce
MUMBAI: The war against video pirates is increasing by the day. On Sunday, crime branch officials arrested five more persons from Ahmedabad and Mumbai respectively actively involved in the heinous act. Reportedly, these people were big suppliers of pirated DVDs all over the country.
The first group made copies of yet-to-be-released films when they were sent to laboratories for post-production processing jobs. They then sent those to their Pakistani associates through the web who would again copy and circulate them in other Asian countries.
The second group bribed loaders when they were assigned to deliver the film reels to theatres in districts. The accused paid money and took the reels to Andheri studios and then got them copied in DVDs for circulation.
The three arrested from Ahmedabad have been identified as Chirag Raval, Mois Roopwala and Rahul Mehta, while the duo picked up in the city are Imran Shaikh alias Wasim and Ashfak Baig.
Said Association of Motion Picture Producers and Television Programme (AMPTPP) senior vice president Vikas Mohan, “The police is strongly after the pirates and I am confident that the way they are moving around in search of the pirates, very soon the industry will heave a sigh of relief.”
The social service branch of the Mumbai police busted a video piracy racket last week and arrested eight persons, including Adlabs business development manager Durgadas Bhakta, UFO associate vice-president Rajesh Choudhary, Reliance Big Pictures manager (overseas distributions) Neerav Shah and Shemaroo overseas distribution head Nagda Kalapi.
The number of persons arrested in the case now stands at 13. Crime branch sleuths say that more arrests were likely in a day or two.
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.
