Hindi
Rajkummar Rao’s Newton to make world premiere at Berlin Festival
MUMBAI: The New Year is beginning on a high note for Drishyam Films, the makers of much loved films such as Masaan, Dhanak and Waiting. Their latest film Amit V Masurkar’s Newton is all set to make its World Premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival, one of the world’s most prestigious film festivals to be held from 9-19 February 2017. The film will have a red carpet premiere with its cast and crew on 10 February, during the opening weekend of the top-tier festival.
The public programme of the Berlin International Film Festival shows about 400 films per year, mostly international or European premieres. Films of every genre, length and format find their place in the various sections: great international cinema in the Competition, independent and art house in Panorama, films for the young audience in Generation, new discoveries and promising talents from the German film scene in Perspektive Deutsches Kino, avant garde, experimental and unfamiliar cinematography in the Forum and Forum Expanded, and an exploration of cinematic possibilities in Berlinale Shorts.
Newton, starring Rajkummar Rao in the title role is a sharp political black comedy that takes place on an election day in Central India. Rajkummar Rao, whose star is on the rise following with strong, highly appreciated performances in films like Aligarh and Queen, plays Newton, a rookie clerk on election duty in a conflict-ridden jungle of Chhattisgarh, who tries his best to conduct free and fair voting despite the apathy of security forces and the looming fear of an attack by Maoist rebels.
The film also stars acclaimed actors Anjali Patil (of Mirzya fame), Pankaj Tripathi (of Gangs of Wasseypur fame) and Raghubir Yadav (veteran actor from Peepli Live).
Newton is Amit V Masurkar’s second film after the sleeper hit Sulemani Keeda in 2014. The film produced by Manish Mundra will be screened in the ‘International Forum of New Cinema’, considered as the most daring section of the Berlinale featuring avant-garde, experimental works, political reportage and yet-to-be-discovered cinematic landscapes.
Newton was part of the Co-Production Market (CPM) at Film Bazaar 2015 and also one of the Film Bazaar Recommends titles at Film Bazaar 2016.
Interestingly, all of Drishyam Films’ films starting from Ankhon Dekhi, Masaan, Waiting, Dhanak and Umrika have made their world premieres at top-billed international film festivals. Masaan (2015), directed by Neeraj Ghaywan premiered at the Cannes Film Festival 2015 and won two awards — FIPRESCI, International Jury of Film Critics prize and Promising Future prize in the Un Certain Regard section. Umrika won the audience award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section at the Sundance Film Festival, in 2015. Newton is Drishyam Films’ second venture to make its world premiere at Berlinale after Nagesh Kukunoor’s Dhanak (Rainbow) which made its world premiere at Berlinale 2015 and also received a special mention from the jury.
Amit V Masurkar, who has co-written and directed Newton, says, “We’re all excited to have a grand premiere of Newton in Berlin which is a very prestigious festival and has launched some of the most interesting films from across the world. Newton is a political film with a generous helping of quirky, dark humour which reflects the absurdity of the world we live in. We’re sure it will resonate with audiences at home and abroad.”
Starting 2017 with such great news, Founder of Drishyam Films and the producer of Newton, Manish Mundra says “Newton stands true to our vision of telling powerful stories that are rooted in our culture yet universal in their appeal. We are thrilled to be back at Berlin with this special film, and plan to bring it to our audiences at home soon after.”
Drishyam Films aims to build a platform for unique voices of Indian independent cinema and create global content with rich Indian flavours. Their filmmaking journey started with the award-winning film Ankhon Dekhi directed by Rajat Kapoor. Its success was followed by Umrika directed by Prashant Nair which premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2015 and bagged the Audience Choice Award.
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.
