Hindi
Judwa remake has an advantage over Chef
*Wrong time release and the film pays heavily. Much beyond its demerits. Pre-Diwali is the dullest period to release a new film but, even the best of production houses with years of standing still go ahead and do it.
T Series released Chef in this dull period and, when asked, the explanation was that the weeks ahead were crowded with multiple releases! This explanation showed a total lack of confidence in your own product where you have invested somewhere around Rs 250 million plus!
So, was it the wise thing to do to release the film when nobody cares for visiting cinema houses and be done with it? Commit a financial suicide? Sure, Judwaa2 released during this dull period but the film had an advantage of a long four day weekend with two additional national holidays! That was an exception, not an example.
Also, Judwaa 2 featured a rising star in Varun Dhawan and had the advantage of being the remake of the `1997 Salman Khan hit, Judwaa, with the common director, David Dhawan.
So the week delivers a decent film in Chef, what can be called a family fare for the weekend. The film had nothing besides the fading star Saif Ali Khan on the cast, lacked totally in promotion or creating awareness of any kind about it and paid the price. It faced rejection on day one failing to reach even a crore mark. Equally bad on day two though there was a little improvement but, how do you expect a film to pick up when there is no promotion and, hence, no awareness about it? The film will end its opening weekend with Rs 35 million.
The scene was so bad, the exhibitors cancelled the shows of Chef and gave them to Judwaa2 on day one of release!
*Another watchable film which went unnoticed last Friday was Tu Hi Mera Sunday. A pleasant film was not worth watching at multiplex admission rates. Somewhere, the exhibition trade is killing the same business they expect to earn monies from!
The film went totally unnoticed.
*The other release of the week, Tu Hi Mera Sunday and 2016: The End, won’t even leave a trace.
*Judwaa2, though released during a dull period had so much going for it. It was the remake of a successful franchise, starred an upcoming star and was backed by a four day weekend. It collected by leaps and bounds and, then, continued to do well even in its second week in the face of poor new releases.
The film ended its first week with as much as Rs 961 million and even continued to do fairly well during its second weekend. Having added about another Rs 170 million in its second weekend the film has collected Rs 1.13 billion for 10 days.
*Newton has added Rs 57 million in its second week to take its two week total to Rs 169.5 million.
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.
