Hindi
Rush: No need to rush to the theatres for it
MUMBAI: Films on media are a genre that provides some scope since electronic media has mushroomed and the competition is killing. Rush is one such film. However, the story the makers of Rush have chosen is not new.
Emraan Hashmi is a TV news reporter who is ambitious and wants to make it big but with honesty. That is his self created hurdle and one that costs him his job. He plans to down a couple of drinks before he even starts contemplating his next move. His love life is always in trouble and now this. But, the word spreads fast and even before he can gulp his drink, his phone rings with an offer he can‘t decline.
Hashmi is not given much time to reflect and has to meet up Neha Dhupia immediately. Dhupia represents a TV channel owned by Aditya Pancholi; she is the facilitator and fixer for Pancholi and her offer includes all that Hashmi has dreamt of: a BMW, a multimillion pay packet and a luxurious apartment besides the attraction of heading the crime news channel Pancholi owns. Hashmi‘s job is to be the first to flash all crime news before other channels even reach the scene and for that he is assured the channel has a computer programme that can intercept phone calls of the police control rooms in 44 cities across India! Hashmi thinks this to be unethical but in addition to the lucrative offer, a little sweet talk from Pancholi convinces him to go ahead.
Hashmi has a lover but to create scope for a couple of songs, a little flirting, some real some imaginary, has been planted in the script without dwelling on who is seducing who! Guess what, a picture of Hashmi and Dhupia coo-chi cooing makes it to a newspaper front page too! Since when did newspapers start printing about romance of news reporters? Well, that was just to add some drama between Hashmi and his woman, Sagarika Ghatge.
It is now time to unfold the secret behind the channel‘s lead in reporting crimes before others and the reason behind Hashmi‘s big package. The reason is not simple as Pancholi had explained: a programme that intercepts police calls. It is something very sinister or so it was supposed to be, had the plot been developed properly and dramatically. Hashmi discovers that the channel and its mafia affiliates are the ones who ‘create‘ these news; they commit the crimes and the channels is already present to cover them.
The idea is rather farfetched in an era when all the channels don‘t really succeed or survive because of TRPs; sucking up to politicians or other such lot is enough. And, who cares for petty crime news anymore? To add to the woes, the narration is straight sans excitement and the climax is lame. The film has some good songs. Performances are generally lacklustre. Hashmi is okay. Pancholi does not bother with expressions. Dhupia has little of substance to do. Ghatge has nothing to do.
Rush is utterly forgettable.
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.
