Hindi
Cricket movie brings in the moolah
MUMBAI: There have been a few biopics made earlier on sport personalities, most with tepid reception with, may be, a couple of them making an impact and sustain at the box office. However, cricket has no barrier between audiences as it enjoys universal following.
To add to the delight of the lovers of cricket, M S Dhoni: The Untold Story tells about the struggles of an aspiring cricketer from a small town middleclass India, M S Dhoni, who went to lead the Indian cricket team on the path of glory. The combination proved just the recipe to draw the viewers. Cricket and Dhoni lovers alike took to the film instantly overlooking all its flaws.
M S Dhoni: The Untold Story opened to an excellent response all over befitting a regular commercial star cast film. The film collected about Rs 20 crore on day one, sustained very well on Saturday with a negligible drop but held on very well on Sunday. Being a solo release after a deluge of mediocre and poor films also helped its cause. The film collected Rs 61.6crore for its opening weekend.
However, the film has shown a noticeable drop today (Monday), especially at single screens. The film was exempt from entertainment tax in UP (200 screens over two months) which may utilized next Friday onwards. Tax exemption is also expected from Delhi government soon.
While the collections match the appreciation the film has earned, the film faces a massive challenge for the status of a commercial success is its huge price tag.
*Banjo, a film about a gully bred Banjo player, suffered due to its outright regional Marathi flavor; the musical instrument as well as the flavor, both lacking all India identity.
However, what this purported musical lacked the most was what it needed the most, music. The film lacked grossly in popular songs. The film met with rejection on the very onset. Having met with a poor response and collecting a mere Rs 4.45 crore for its opening weekend, the film continued with its poor run through the week to collect Rs 7.6 crore for its first week.
*Parched will have to remain contended with the festival circuit as the film has not been able to make an impact at the box office. The film managed just Rs 1.2 crore for its first week.
*Days OfTafree: In Class, Out Of Class, a remake of the Gujarati film, Chhello Divas, goes overboard with its theme of college campus fun, as it depicts the fun few would identify with. The film collected Rs 1.75 crore in its first week.
*DilSala Sanki and Chapekar Brothers fail miserably at the box office.
*Pink makes the most of poor oppositions in its second week and sustains with excellent collections of Rs 22.4 crore to take its two week total to Rs 57.9 crore.
*Raaz: Reboot collets 1.35 crore in its second week taking its two week tally to Rs 24.05 crore.
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.
