Hindi
A week full of damp squibs, despite huge expectations
Some whiz kid got the idea that to make an Indian version of the popular comic book series Adventures of Tin Tin,blending it with a generous dose of Hollywood musicals and the rest will follow. But this just an idea, a one-liner. Not a script. However, a star fell for it for as he had nothing to lose. One can understand that, but how does a studio fall prey to the idea and commits anything between Rs 300 to Rs 1.50 billion?
If last week the result was Jagga Jasoos costing around Rs one billion in the making, this week there was Munna Michael which was a straight but unimaginative ‘inspiration’ taken from the films of 1980s, described as disco films. When they were not branded as Disco films, Jumping Jack Jeetendra ruled and later when Mithun Chakraborty took over the mantle of the dancing star, it was the disco era and, he was the disco star!
While the films in that era boasted of massive twists and turns and emotional appeal, Munna Michael is poorly scripted with nothing except dances and action. Casting Nawazuddin Siddiqui in a film cannot be considered an asset just because he is building a fan base despite not fitting into the scheme of things by any stretch of imagination!
Not surprisingly, Munna Michael proves to be a loser. It opened such a poor response that immediately on its release, the theatre managements decide to reduce the film’s screening slots. The film collected 64 million on day one, lost some ground on Saturday while improving by around Rs 100 million on Sunday. The film collected Rs 205 million for its opening weekend.
Lipstick Under My Burkha, a pretentious film based on the lives of women in Bhopal had the maker raise an issue, highlights the lives of four miserable women with their dreams and aspirations, mainly related to sex and freedom but ending without a remedial conclusion or even a suggestion to this end.
Thanks to the controversy generated at the Film Censors, the film found few viewers mainly in select Delhi and Mumbai multiplexes. The film managed to collect Rs 11.5 million on day one and showed a marginal rise on Saturday and peaking on Sunday to collect Rs 55 million for its opening weekend. The real test for the film will be through the rest of the week.
Jagga Jasoos, having been rejected, managed the first week’s collections of about Rs 431 million. The second week holds no promise as the film managed to add Rs 12 million on its eighth day compared to Rs 79 million on its first day
The highly-touted Sridevi starrer Mom collected Rs 71 million in its second week to take its two-week total to Rs 296 million.
Guest in London added Rs 1.5 million in its second week to take its two-week total to Rs 68.5 million.
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.
