Hindi
Real life-based, fiction & sequel to hit — hardly get average biz
“Sachin: A Billion Dreams” opened with fairly decent collections. It could be because of the fact that he is an icon and that the cricket fever is in the air with the IPL just having got over even as the Champions Trophy is slated to commence come 1 June.
The film has not been dramatised and that limits its appeal to those who are not cricket buffs. For example, the added spice of the two romance stories in Dhoni’s life added to the humane side of the protagonist’s character in M S Dhoni: The Untold Story. Here, though you are told that Sachin and Anjali’s romance lasted four years before they decided to tie the knot, there is no romance depicted on screen.
As the film proceeds, it is as much about the rise of the Indian cricket in the last 20 or so years, as it is about the ups and downs in Sachin’s cricketing career.
The film collected a little over seven crore on day one while the rise on Saturday was negligible. The film did its best on Sunday by collecting around nine crore to end its first weekend with Rs 23.4 crore.
* “Hindi Medium,” following much appreciation and a positive word of mouth, has gone on to become a hit even as it entered its second week. This small budget film kept improving its collections as the week progressed and even managed to collect better figures on its eighth day compared to first.
The film collected more in the rest of the week than it did in its opening weekend which is a rare feat nowadays. The film collected Rs 23.5 crore for the opening week and is reported to be holding well through its second weekend.
* “Half Girlfriend” failed to appeal to the youth which it was expected to draw. The rich girl poor boy old-fashioned angle of the story, indifferently treated, had little to hold the interest of the viewer. The film dropped during the week day to end its first week with a total of Rs 44. 8 crore. The price the film’s domestic rights have been acquired at, will lead to a shortfall in the recovery of over Rs 10 crore.
* “Meri Pyaari Bindu” emerged as an average film. Being a YRF film sans a price tag but enjoying YRF brand equity, it stands to earn little something for the company and all of that from the domestic theatrical exploitation. The film’s collection hovers around Rs 10 crore mark.
* “Sarkar” failed miserably. Failing to provide any variety or novelty from its earlier two versions nor any continuity or link to the previous stories, it takes the viewer for granted and pays for it. The film collected around Rs 50 lakh in its second week to take its two week total to Rs 6.7 crore.
* “Bahubali 2: The Conclusion” (Hindi-Dubbed) continues with its winning run, setting records in the process. The film collected Rs 29.4 crore in its fourth week to take its four week total to Rs 478.9 crore.
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.
