Hindi
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani: Fun, frolic and a bit of love
MUMBAI: One of the tried and tested genres of film, acceptable to just about all kind of audience is a feel good love story with music to back it if one knows how to. This ‘how to‘ involves the romance to be plausible, clean and emotional. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani is only the second outing for writer-director Ayan Mukerji. His first was a coming of age film, Wake Up Sid, which was also with Ranbir Kapoor. While Kapoor has since done almost a dozen films, Mukerji, to his credit, has not only come of age, he has matured into an accomplished writer-director.
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Producers: Hiroo Yash Johar, Karan Johar. |
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani has no side characters, no comedians or villains and no distractions. To make up for all that, it has been shot extensively on pleasant outdoor locales and generally carries a positive flavour throughout. And, during these parts, the film carries that whiff and charm of those Nasir Hussain romances.
The clique of school backbenchers, Kapoor, Kalki Koechlin and Aditya Roy Kapoor, decide to go on a track with a group of 25 others when a top ranker, scholarly, bespectacled Deepika Padukone, bored of her bookworm life, decides to join in. She has none of the traits of the three and is an odd one out in the group. They believe in enjoying each moment, something she has never had the inclination or the time to do in pursuit of her studies, earlier for school and now medical. But everybody is enjoying and it does not take her long to join in. The trek outing is all about having fun, drinking, games and bonhomie. There are two one-sided romances happening: Padukone is gradually drawn to the charm and youthfulness of Kapoor while Koechlin loves Aditya; why the latter is indifferent is not known while Kapoor does not agree with the concept of love, marriage and being tied down to one girl or one place.
The outing is over. Kapoor proceeds to the US with the scholarship he has been offered and takes to travel photography. Just the dream he nourished, roaming places and meeting people. He has no intentions of returning to India, having lost his father, Farooq Shaikh, while having no communication, and has no ties with stepmother, Tanve Azmi. His contact with his friends is almost negligible. He has been busy filling his scrapbook with notes on places he visits. Now, he has been offered a dream posting, an assignment in Paris. That is when he receives a message from Koechlin asking him to attend her wedding, a five day affair in Udaipur.
The four friends come together again. Koechlin is marrying Kunal Roy Kapoor, Aditya runs a bar which he is about to lose having incurred heavy losses (It seems he is never without alcohol in his hand, and he probably drank up his bar!). Padukone is a doctor running her own clinic and Kapoor, of course, is a TV host of international repute now. Elaborate weddings being a favourite with filmmakers, this part is all about fun and dances and every Indian identifies with it. There is no melodrama but, yes, the buried romance is rekindled in Deepika‘s heart and, unwittingly though, this time Kapoor too succumbs. It is time for the film to head for its happy ending.
The feeling is that the film stretches its length at least by 15 minutes; this becomes more evident as there are just two able artistes to carry it through its 161 minutes marathon duration in Kapoor and Padukone. As the film begins, for some time the proceedings are dull, the Madhur Dixit item number is unnecessary and is not even good. Otherwise, the first half of the film passes smoothly. The second half becomes slow towards the latter portions, as one expects some drama towards the end.
For positives, the film has a well written script and competent direction from Mukerji. Pritam‘s music is a definite plus with almost all songs having appeal, while Amitabh Bhattacharya has provided perfect lyrics to blend with the theme of the film. Filmed mostly outdoors, between snow-capped mountains and picturesque Udaipur, it makes for a pleasant viewing. Kapoor is getting better with each film; he is a natural. Padukone is a perfect foil and justifies her lovelorn look throughout. Aditya carries on with the glass he picked up in his earlier film; no idea what he would have done with his hands otherwise. Koechlin has a limited range. Kunaal is okay.
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani has opened reasonably well, especially at multiplexes and, with its positive reports, is sure to get better over the weekend.
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.
