Hindi
Box Office: Demonetisation adds to sequel woes
MUMBAI: Attempts to cash in on the trend of sequels is not working. In most cases, the sequel has nothing to do with the original, content-wise and, when there is some connection, the content is poor. Both the releases of the week, Rock On II and Chaar Sahibzaade: Rise Of Banda Singh Bahadur, are sequels.
Both have met with a miserable fate at the box office. There was an added factor of the demonetization of the currency notes of Rs 500 and 1,000 which affected all businesses including cinema which is not really a priority in such a situation. The situation may even lead to the postponement of one or two films due for release soon.
*Rock On II, sequel to the 2008 film Rock On, lacked in just about every department, be it script, content, romance and, mainly, music; not a single song worth humming considering this is a musical. With all these aspects being poor, the film’s length of 139 minute becomes telling on the viewer.
The film had a poor opening on day one, showed little improvement on Saturday as well as on Sunday ending its first weekend with Rs 6.2 crore. The number of shows per screen have been reduced today onwards.
*Chaar Sahibzaade: Rise Of Banda Singh Bahadur (3-D: Animation) takes forward the story of the merciless killing of four sons of Guru Gobind Sikh, the tenth Sikh Guru. The Guru decides to end the tradition of guru and, instead, appoints one of his disciples, Banda Singh, to carry out certain tasks to safeguard the sect. Rather than get to the story, the film takes too much time getting into repeating the story from the first part and, a 134 minute animation film is stretching it thin.
The film fell much short of its first part and the collections remained in lakhs through the weekend.
*Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, with nil opposition, managed to collect Rs 20.4 crore in its second week taking its two week total to Rs 98.6 crore.
*Shivaay managed to rake in Rs 16.4 crore in its second week as the film’s vigorous promotion continued and there were no major releases for a choice for the moviegoer. The film takes its two week tally to Rs 81.5 crore.
Hindi
Abundantia and invideo join hands for Rs 100 crore AI films
Studio Aion and global video tech leader join forces for 5 AI-driven films over 3 years.
When Hollywood meets artificial intelligence, the credits might soon read “Directed by Algorithm” but Abundantia Entertainment wants to keep the human spark in the frame. The Mumbai-based studio’s AI-powered division Aion has teamed up with generative-video pioneer invideo in a Rs 100 crore strategic partnership, billed as India’s largest structured commitment to AI-driven filmmaking to date.
Announced at the India AI Film Festival (IAFF) beside the historic Qutb Minar in New Delhi on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, the alliance pools Abundantia’s creative and production muscle with invideo’s cutting-edge AI video tech. The duo will channel the Rs 100 crore development and production corpus into a slate of five AI-driven films over the next three years, blending human imagination with machine-powered tools to craft stories that aim to be both emotionally rich and technologically bold.
Abundantia Entertainment founder & CEO Vikram Malhotra framed the move as cinema’s next big leap, “AI in film-making is now real! Every major leap in cinema from sound to colour to digital has expanded storytelling possibility. AI represents the next inflection point. With Abundantia Aion, we are building a future where AI strengthens and amplifies the filmmaker’s voice, not substitutes it.”
Invideo founder & CEO Sanket Shah echoed the sentiment: “At invideo our mission has always been to democratize high-quality video creation through AI. Partnering with a top-notch studio like Abundantia Entertainment enables us to extend this capability into the world of high-quality filmmaking by building tools and workflows that allow creators to move from idea to cinematic expression faster and more freely than ever before.”
The collaboration already has momentum. Abundantia Aion is developing India’s first AI-generated Hindi feature film, Chiranjeevi Hanuman, slated for release in 2026, alongside its next AI-powered project, Jai Santoshi Mata, as part of a broader slate. The partnership will explore OpenAI-style workflows, advanced generative pipelines (bolstered by invideo’s recent Google Cloud tie-up), and new ways to accelerate everything from concept to final cut.
Backed by Tiger Global and Peak XV, invideo brings deep generative-video expertise to the table, while Abundantia’s track record in storytelling ensures the tech serves the narrative rather than stealing the show. In a year when AI is rewriting rules across industries, this Rs 100 crore bet signals India’s ambition to shape not just follow the future of cinema. Lights, camera, algorithm… action.
