Hindi
Rascals: A poor comic film
MUMBAI: With most stars turning to film production and also since most are past their romantic role playing age, a comedy film seems to be the only choice.
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Producer: Sanjay Dutt, Sanjay Ahluwalia, Vinay Choksey. |
The The film Rascals is actor Sanjay Dutt‘s foray into film production; playing safe, he opts for a comedy film entrusting the helm to David Dhawan who has quite a successful track record with this genre. But the fact that a comedy would need a good writer with some very sharp gags seems to have been overlooked.
Dutt and Ajay Devgn are two conmen, rather born conmen as the animation depiction in the film‘s titles would suggest. Next the duo pick on Arjun Rampal, a self styled toughie; while Ajay Devgn steals his bag with Rs 3 million in cash, Sanjay Dutt makes away with his Mercedes.
Soon both are headed for Bangkok sitting next to each other on a flight trying to con each other where Devgn emerges the loser as Dutt makes away with all his cash and belongings. Both check into a ritzy hotel and their con business turns to game of outwitting each other to find favours with Kangna Ranaut who they see splashing her money around.
The rest of the con game consists of both the lead men contesting for who smooches and necks Kangna Ranaut the most! There are a few distractions in the form of Chunky Pandey, Lisa Ray, Satish Kaushik and Hiten Paintal brought in and out of scene at whim; hence, effectively contributing nothing.
The script has no coherence and the gags on which the film is built are banal and childish, the laughable ones being about three in all! With no script to go on, David Dhawan manages a farce at best and the only time you are amazed at his confidence is when he lives the film‘s end open to a sequel!
Dutt and Devgn both lacking a natural comic streak resort to buffoonery and seem to be the only ones enjoying what they are doing instead of letting the audience in on it too. Kangna Ranaut is supposed to contribute in oomph; not burdened with much clothing, she manages that amply. Arjun Rampal is wasted while with Chunky Pandey, Satish Kaushik and Lisa Ray nothing is expected and nothing is forthcoming. Lack of catchy songs is made up by bevy of dancers and crowds. Bangkok locations are pleasant. But, then, they have been so in all the horde of recent films shot there! For a funny film, dialogue writing is sad.
Rascals is a poor example of a comic film which will start telling on its box office performance within first three days.
Love Breakup Zindagi: Just another love story
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Producer: Sahara Motion Pictures, Born Free Entertainment P Ltd. |
Weddings are still the popular tried and tested situations for a new love to blossom; what is more, they also give you scope to use upample footage of a thin story line in the name of colourful marriage rituals like sangeet, mehendi etc.
Love Breakup Zindagi is one more in the line up of wedding romances with a bit of contemporary where a boy and girl from different worlds meet and are drawn to each other but don‘t instantly say ‘I love you‘, leaving scope open for other part of the film‘s story to materialise.
Zayed Khan is a well placed adman in Delhi with his associate and friend Cyrus Sahukar as his soul mate. Zayed Khan has a steady girl friend in career oriented Pallavi Sharda who is not totally convinced she is the girl for him while Cyrus Sahukar is twice divorced and, hence, much experienced in the ways of women‘s matters. Dia Mirza is a Mumbai based creative kind whose banker boy friend, Vaibhav Talwar, is too busy for them to find a suitable date to marry.
There is boy‘s side and there is girl‘s side in a wedding: Zayed Khan and Cyrus Sahukar are from the boy‘s (Satyadeep Misra) side while Dia Mirza is from the girl‘s. Anurita Ghosh, a friend, lands up at Chandigarh to attend their wedding. Somehow, a Punjabi wedding is a norm for film love stories to flourish! A twin love story starts at the wedding, Zayed and Dia Mirza being ones to be attracted to each other and Cyrus Sahukar finding his third love in Tisca Chopra.
Wedding over, the four are back on their respective desks only for Zayed Khan to be conveniently sent to Mumbai for office work while, also conveniently, her suitor, Vaibhav Talwar having to go to Singapore. The seeds of romance, sowed in Chandigarh, take roots as Zayed Khan is taken on a Mumbai Darshan tour by Dia Mirza. For things to fall in place in the end, she puts all her daily sojourns down in a diary which can work out a quick understanding on parts of all concerned and bring the film to a happy end!
The problem with Love Breakup Zindagi is that it is just another love story with an Indian wedding as the backdrop. Things are held out on a platter for the duo to fall in love, later meet and date at fancy and bring in the third angle only for the brevity sake at the end. There are a few pleasant moments but not enough to carry a routine film with nil face value through.
Music is fairly good. While Zayed Khan and Dia Mirza are passable, Cyrus Sahukar and Tisca Chopra perform more convincingly; Umang Jain and Anurita Ghosh are good, considering this is their debut film. Vaibhav Talwar, Pallavi Sharda and Satyadeep Misra are okay.
Love Breakup Zindagi has had no takers at most centres on its opening day and nothing much is expected to change over the weekend.
Soundtrack has limited box office aspirations
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Producer:Sanjiv Goenka, Apurv Nagpal. |
Soundtrack is inspired from the English film It‘s All Gone Pete Tong, described as a comedy. Soundtrack, however, shows no traces of a comedy and, if at all it had to be slotted in a genre since it does not fit any regular one, it can be slotted into a new genre — weird film.
The film is about a small town lad, Rajeev Khandelwal, who comes to Mumbai gifted with his zeal for music; soon he is a top sound maker on the disco circuit, almost a genius. The success goes to his head and life is all about wine, women and drugs thereafter. However, the profession of loud noises in nightclubs does take its toll on his life; soon he is losing his hearing, thanks to noise and drug abuse and finally he is stone deaf.
This all had to happen to him just when he was on the verge of getting a break to score a film soundtrack. While the hero lives his life in fast lane, there is his alter ego, dressed as a clown, one never figures out doing what: is he a good impression on the hero or a bad one? Whatever it may be, the alter ego is surely an irritant for the viewer.
Now the genius is AWOL since he does not want the world to know about his deafness and all sorts of speculations are made about his act; from RJs to DJs to singers and filmy music composers comment on him and his absence. In-between there are slides quoting the greatest composer in history, Beethovan, who also went deaf but continued to compose, conduct and perform after the handicap.
Ditched by his woman, Rajeev Khandelwal comes to terms with his plight; he meets Soha Ali Khan, a deaf person, who teaches him to lip read as well as to cope with life after deafness. Rajeev Khandelwal descends back to earth, turns into an obedient momma‘s son and overcomes his shortcoming to prove his genius scoring a number his father taught him as a child to present it in public performance.
Not much credit can be given to writer/director, the source being a foreign film. Musical score is good, fast paced. Rajeev Khandelwal does a good job carrying almost the entire burden of the film. Soha Ali Khan is okay.
Sountrack is not the kind of film to nurse any box office aspirations.
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.
