Hindi
Kunal Nayyar to star as lead in Gurinder Chadha’s ‘Christmas Karma’
Mumbai: True Brit Entertainment, Bend It Films, Maven Screen Media and Civic Studios has announced ‘Christmas Karma’, a contemporary Bollywood musical set in contemporary London and inspired by Dickens’ much loved A Christmas Carol, with Kunal Nayyar (The Big Bang Theory) leading the cast as Scrooge and with a further cast including Eva Longoria, Boy George, Billy Porter, Hugh Bonneville, Leo Suter, Charithra Chandran, Pixie Lott, Danny Dyer, Bilal Hasna, Allan Corduner, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Rufus Jones, Eve, Nitin Ganatra.
BAFTA-nominated Gurinder Chadha (‘Bend It Like Beckham’, ‘Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging’, ‘Blinded by the Light’) wrote, is directing and producing the feature, with music by the six-time Ivor Novello award winning Gary Barlow. Financing for ‘Christmas Karma’ is from Civic Studios. Gurinder Chadha, Celine Rattray, Trudie Styler and Amory Leader will produce. Zygi Kamasa, Anushka Shah, Paul Mayeda Berges, Sophia Pedlow, Hannah Leader will serve as Executive Producers.
‘Christmas Karma’ is the fifth high profile scripted project from new British distributor True Brit Entertainment, who formed in November 2023. The feature also sees Chadha’s return to the big screen following her time working on the Indian historical television series ‘Beecham House’. Her last feature film “Blinded by the Light” premiered in Sundance 2019 and was subject to a frenzied bidding war with Warners Bros acquiring multiple territories.
Commenting on the new feature film, Civic Studios CEO Anushka Shah said, “We are thrilled to partner with the acclaimed director Gurinder Chadha and an exceptional cast for ‘Christmas Karma.’ Being a global company with Indian roots, we are excited to achieve a new milestone as we take on this ambitious international project that speaks to audiences around the world, and especially the South Asian diaspora.”
‘Christmas Karma’ is part of a wider Civic Studios’ slate ranging from an animated feature film ‘Schirkoa’ that won the NETPAC award for the Best Asian Film at International Film Festival of Rotterdam 2024, to its latest OTT series ‘Family Aaj Kal’ released on SonyLIV, with several feature films and series in the pipeline. Civic Studios is a global media company that creates authentic stories of change, hope and pride, across formats of film, web series and short-form digital content and develops, finances, produces and co-produces for an Indian and international market with a distribution reach across theatres, film festivals and streaming platforms.
Gurinder Chadha commented:
“Just as I have enjoyed Frank Capra’s ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ for many years, my aim with ‘Christmas Karma’ is to create a festive classic for our times and for generations to come.
By adapting one of history’s greatest novels – Charles Dickens’ CHRISTMAS CAROL – I am making a British Film from my unique, original point of view but one that resonates with Dickens’ masterful statement on the human condition.
I am delighted to be working with Anushka Shah and her lovely team at Civic Studios who have supported me on this project very early on. What a pleasure and honour it’s been for me to work with amazing Indian female producers.
I am blessed with such a great diverse cast and eclectic music team – the soundtrack will be banging, influenced by Gospel, Bhangra, Carols and classic pop songs. You will not be able to sit still!”
Zygi Kamasa commented:
“Gurinder has an incredible ability to tell such interesting contemporary British stories. Its been over 20 years since we made Bend it like Beckham together and this film has all those hallmarks of heart, comedy, drama and an incredibly feelgood ending. It will be a celebration of multi-cultural London set to an incredible set of songs written by Gary, Shaznay and Nitin, using musical genres from Rap, to disco to Bhangra and will be the ultimate Christmas movie which we will release in December 2025. It really is the perfect fit to the range of British films we will release at True Brit.”
Kunal Nayyar commented:
“To explore a beloved holiday tale through the eyes of an immigrant story (much like my own) is exactly the kind of movie that I believe will resonate with so many of us who are searching for the meaning of home. It takes a visionary like Gurinder to take a chance on a story like this, and I am humbled to be a part of it. “
Gary Barlow commented:
“It was an absolute honour to be asked to write music for Christmas Karma. I love Gurinder personally and professionally, and to collaborate with such a diverse and eclectic cast on the soundtrack has been really great fun”
Nitin Sawhney commented:
“It has been such fun working on Christmas Karma with Gurinder. She is a relentless tsunami of ideas, creativity and inspiration, who makes the alchemy of magical movie-making so enjoyable. To take an old Dickens classic like “A Christmas Carol” and make it relevant to multicultural contemporary Britain is no easy task but Gurinder has done so with impressively effortless good grace, humour and ambition. I am honoured to bring my own eclectic background of orchestral scoring, Indian classical influences, electronica, songwriting and composition to a cinematic table already replete with the exciting ingredients of an unforgettable Christmas classic.”
Shaznay Lewis commented:
“It has been a wonderful experience working with Gurinder on Christmas Karma. Putting these songs together has been a writer’s dream, and the creative process has been an exceptional journey for me. Gurinder is a powerhouse, and her will and wit are something to be admired. I have learned a lot, and I’m incredibly honoured to be a part of the writing team.”
Gurinder Chadha is represented by CAA. Kunal Nayyar is represented by Innovative and Lovett Management. Eva Longoria is represented by Linden Entertainment, WME, Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis and Yorn, Levine, Barnes. Billy Porter is represented by CAA, Industry Entertainment and Slate PR. Boy George is represented by Paul Kemsley. Hugh Bonneville represented by Gordon and French.
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.
