Hindi
Housefull 2 is a fair entertainer
MUMBAI: Housefull 2 can be called a crowded comedy in a sense that the screen is filled with multiple characters of various hues. Towards the end, the film creates a mini India on screen with twelve actors in the main roles portraying Marathi, Gujarati, Sindhi, Punjabi etc roles catering to all parts.
Randhir Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor are brothers who don‘t see eye-to-eye but both have one common aim – to find the son of some renowned and wealthy man for their respective daughters.
Mithun Chakraborty is a childhood friend of Boman Irani, an ex-police boss, on whose advice Mithun gives up his dark past, spends time in jail and travels to England to not only make his fortune but also be counted among one of the most respected names there. On the occasion of Chakraborty turning a new leaf, Boman Irani had sought a promise from him that they would turn their friendship into family relationship when their children grow up.
Both Randhir and Rishi Kapoor are both told by match maker Chunkey Pandey that Chakraborty‘s son, Reitesh Deshmukh would be an apt suitor for their daughters, Asin and Jacqueline Fernandez. The brothers vie for Deshmukh while making sure the other does not get the whiff on his intent.
Deshmukh loves Zarine Khan, a model, and is not in a position to tell Mithun Chakraborty. He also has to ward off Randhir Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor‘s daughters. As a result, Akshay Kumar, John Abraham and Shreyash Talpde each end up posing as Reitesh Deshmukh.
Meanwhile Talpade, Deshmukh‘s friend, is in love with Shahzan Khan. He is humiliated by her father Rishi Kapoor and plans revenge. What follows are the comic situations, romance, songs and dances.
Housefull 2 may not have much by way of a story but it does manage to create some really funny situations.
The film often loses pace in the first half, but manages to hold its own in the later part, which is also shorter. There is not much help from songs but the item number Anarkali…. is well choreographed.
The scenes between Chakraborty, Irani and Malaika Arora are stretched.
What works for the film is its multifaceted cast and the fact that yesteryear stars have been cast as fathers. Economic considerations can be seen in the casting of heroines with all four lacking mass following.
The film has been shot extensively on indoor locations, which helps keep the budget down. The film has just one real action scene with all four heroes involved; it is well executed.
While performances by all male artistes is good, if rated the order it would be Mithun Chakraborty, Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, Reitesh Deshmukh and Shreyash Talpade.
Johny Lever is good but having seen the film with the audience in Uttar Pradesh, it looked like his native Marathi lingo was not going down well with the audience. All four female actors are passable.
Housefull 2 is a fair entertainer and due to its star cast and reasonable opening at multiplexes (the single screens opening is not the same) should be able to sail safe.
Hindi
Jio Studios unveils AI-powered Krishna teaser at NAB Show 2026
Global first look of Krishna uses Galleri5 AI pipeline on Azure, Historyverse slate as Jio’s Dhurandhar crosses Rs 3,000cr worldwide.
MUMBAI: Krishna has just dropped a divine teaser and this time the gods are powered by silicon, not just scripture. Jio Studios and Collective Studios’ Historyverse stole the spotlight at the NAB Show 2026 in Las Vegas with the world’s first teaser for their upcoming theatrical feature Krishna, directed by Manu Anand. The big reveal happened during Microsoft’s keynote “Powering Intelligent Media, From AI Experimentation to Real-World Impact,” where the film’s AI-native production pipeline took centre stage alongside Collective Artists Network’s in-house platform, Galleri5.
At the heart of this mythological spectacle lies a fresh cinematic workflow built by Galleri5 on Microsoft Azure’s advanced AI and cloud infrastructure. Forget bolting AI onto traditional VFX or animation, this is an end-to-end, production-grade system woven into every layer: world-building, character creation, shot design and final output. Yet the storytelling remains firmly director-led, emphasising emotional depth, stillness, music and performance rather than pure spectacle. The result? Large-format theatrical cinema rooted in Indian history and culture, but conceived in ways that were simply not possible before.
Collective Artists Network runs Galleri5 natively on Azure, leveraging Microsoft Foundry and cutting-edge AI tools to handle film, episodic and advertising workflows in a secure enterprise environment. Microsoft highlighted Collective as a “Frontier” organisation successfully moving AI from pilot projects to real production-scale deployment in cinema. The technology is also on display at Microsoft’s NAB booth in the West Hall (Booth W1731).
Jio Studios (Media & Content Business, Reliance Industries), president Jyoti Deshpande said the project advances the studio’s mission to take Indian stories global with scale, ambition and authenticity, “With Krishna, we are embracing cutting-edge AI-led filmmaking while democratising these tools to make them more accessible, intuitive and cost-effective for storytellers everywhere.”
Collective Artists Network founder & group CEO Vijay Subramaniam added, “We’re using technology developed in India to carry our culture and history to audiences worldwide at a scale never seen before.”
Microsoft, vice president for telco media & entertainment, gaming Silvia Candiani noted that the media industry has reached an inflection point, “AI is no longer about experimentation but delivering real impact at production scale… By building AI-native creative systems on Microsoft Azure, Collective exemplifies how storytellers can unlock new formats, move faster and realise a true return on intelligence while keeping human creativity at the centre.”
Krishna forms part of Historyverse, Collective Studios’ ambitious slate of history and culture-driven IPs. The slate draws from iconic figures and traditions that shaped the Indian subcontinent, including stories inspired by Kali, Karna and Durga. It builds on the already-released Mahabharat: Ek Dharmayudh series, showing how ancient narratives can be reimagined for modern screens.
Jio Studios, India’s leading content studio and the media and content arm of Reliance Industries, continues its blockbuster run. The studio’s Dhurandhar franchise led by Dhurandhar and Dhurandhar: The Revenge has become the first Indian film series to cross Rs 3,000 crore worldwide. It also delivered three consecutive years of India’s highest-grossing Hindi films: Stree 2 (2024), Dhurandhar (2025) and Dhurandhar: The Revenge (2026). In just eight years, Jio Studios has assembled a library of over 160 films and series, with more than 60 titles winning over 500 awards. Other notable successes include Laapataa Ladies (India’s official Oscar entry 2025), Stree, Article 370, Shaitaan and Mrs.
The NAB unveiling marks another step in Jio Studios and Collective’s push to blend Indian storytelling talent with frontier technology proving that the future of cinema may well be both ancient in spirit and thoroughly modern in execution. For audiences who love epic tales with a fresh twist, Krishna promises to deliver divine drama, this time with a little help from the cloud.
