BY SUNIT JANGIR

Mumbai, July 18 - The winners of the 72nd National Film Awards were announced on Saturday, celebrating the finest Indian films certified by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) during 2024. Article 370 emerged as one of the biggest winners of the ceremony, taking home the prestigious Best Feature Film award, while its lead star Yami Gautam won her maiden National Award for Best Actress. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}) Among the other major honours, Kartik Aaryan (Chandu Champion) and Mammootty (Bramayugam) shared the Best Actor award, while Sudipto Sen was named Best Director for The Kerala Story. The award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment went to Kalki 2898 AD, recognising the sci-fi epic's impact both critically and commercially. Several regional films and technical achievements were also recognised across multiple categories, highlighting the diversity of Indian cinema. Notable winners included Srikanth as Best Hindi Feature Film, Lucky Baskhar as Best Telugu Feature Film, Raayan as Best Tamil Feature Film, and Bramayugam, which picked up multiple technical honours in addition to Mammootty's Best Actor win. The awards once again showcased outstanding performances and filmmaking excellence from across the country. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}) 72nd National Film Awards 2026 - Winners List Category Winner Best Feature FilmArticle 370 Best ActorKartik Aaryan (Chandu Champion), Mammootty (Bramayugam) Best ActressYami Gautam (Article 370) Best DirectorRajkumar Periasamy (Amaran) Best Supporting ActressRopashree Varkady (Mithya), Sachana Namidass (Maharaja) Best Supporting ActorSanjay Mishra (Bhakshak) Best Feature Film Providing Wholesome EntertainmentKalki 2898 AD Best Film Promoting National, Social and Environmental ValuesCaptain Miller Best Debut Film of a DirectorSwatantrya Veer Savarkar Best Children's Film35 Chinna Katha Kaadu Best Child ArtistRiddhiman Banerjee, Tapomoy Deb, Gitashree Chakraborty, Arundev Pothula & Athish S Shetty Best CinematographyShehnad Jalal (Bramayugam) Best Screenplay (Original)Sukumar (Pushpa 2) Best Screenplay (Adapted)Yogesh Deshpande (Swargandharva Sudhir Phadke) Best Dialogue WriterVenky Atluri (Lucky Baskhar) Best Production DesignNitin Zihani Choudhary (Kalki 2898 AD) Best Action DirectionAnl Arasu (Maharaja) Best Make-Up ArtistP Ravi Kumar (Committee Kurrollu) Best Costume DesignDeepali Noor & Sheetal Sharma (Pushpa 2) Best Music DirectionShashwat Sachdev (Article 370) Best Background MusicGV Prakash (Amaran) Best LyricsManoj Muntashir (Maidaan) Best Male Playback SingerAbhay Jodhpurkar – "Gharat Ganpati" (Navasachi Gauri Mazi) Best Female Playback SingerVaikom Vijayalakshmi – "Angu Vaana Konilu" (ARM) Best ChoreographyVijay Ganguly (Stree 2) Best Sound DesignManas Choudhury (Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3) Best EditingR Kalaivannan (Amaran) Best Assamese FilmJuiphool Best Bengali FilmChalchitra Ekhon Best Hindi FilmSrikanth Best Kannada FilmMithya Best Malayalam FilmFeminichi Fathima Best Marathi FilmMukkam Post Bombilwadi Best Odia FilmLahari Best Tamil FilmRaayan Best Garhwali FilmDholi Best Telugu FilmCommittee Kurrollu Best Gujarati FilmMaaran Best Manipuri FilmSunita Best Konkani FilmMog Asum Best Tulu FilmIMBU Special MentionDhanush (Captain Miller) & Suren G (Meiyazhagan)

BY CHRISTA LINCY

The highly anticipated Hollywood epic, The Odyssey, has made a thunderous debut at the Indian box office, proving once again that high-concept international cinema has a massive footprint in the domestic market. On its opening day, the film collected a net of 16.10 crore rupees across a wide release of 8,413 shows. This strong start has pushed the total India gross collections to 19.22 crore rupees on day one itself. The narrative's scale and visual ambition seem to have resonated deeply with the Indian audience, particularly in the urban centers where premium screens are driving the revenue. The digital footprint of the film is perhaps even more impressive than the raw collection figures. On the popular ticketing platform BookMyShow, The Odyssey recorded a total of 611.53K tickets sold for its opening day. This was a combination of a very strong pre-sale period, which accounted for over 340,000 tickets, and a massive Friday surge that added another 271,530 tickets. These numbers place the film in elite company, ranking as the fourth-highest Hollywood opener in terms of Day 1 ticket sales on the platform. Here is how the top five Hollywood openers currently stand in terms of BookMyShow Day 1 sales: Deadpool & Wolverine: 842K Avatar: Fire and Ash: 840K The Conjuring: 814K The Odyssey: 612K Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning: 487K (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}) The trajectory of these pre-sales provides a fascinating look at how the buzz for the film intensified as the release date approached. While the initial weeks of June saw a steady but modest interest, the momentum shifted gears significantly in mid-July. The final three days of the pre-sale period were particularly explosive, with daily bookings jumping from roughly 36,000 to over 114,000 tickets just before the Friday premiere. This surge highlights how the marketing campaign successfully converted general awareness into definitive ticket sales in the final stretch. Here is the detailed daily breakdown of the pre-sale journey on BookMyShow: 8 June: 12.7K 20 June: 8.24K 29 June: 5K 30 June: 5.1K 1 July: 5.52K 6 July: 5K 7 July: 5.4K 9 July: 5K 10 July: 10.46K 11 July: 18.2K 12 July: 20.3K 13 July: 23.01K 14 July: 36.91K 15 July: 63.81K 16 July: 114.84K Final Pre-Sales: 339.49K (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}) A closer look at the performance in national chains reveals that the film dominated the multiplex environment. According to the daily advance and performance data, the top three chains—PVR, INOX, and Cinepolis—accounted for a significant portion of the opening day gross. The total gross from these national chains stood at approximately 9.5 crore rupees from roughly 163,600 tickets sold. PVR led the charge with about 89,400 tickets sold, generating a gross of 5.3 crore rupees. INOX followed with nearly 52,700 tickets contributing 2.9 crore rupees, while Cinepolis added approximately 21,500 tickets with a gross of 1.3 crore rupees. The average occupancy across these chains was a healthy 20.20 percent over 3,745 shows. The Odyssey wave is particularly evident when comparing it to other recent Hollywood releases. By selling over 612,000 tickets on its first day, it comfortably outpaced the opening of Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning, which recorded 487K tickets. This suggests that the film has successfully transitioned from being a niche interest to a mainstream phenomenon in India. The sheer volume of shows—over 8,400 across the country—indicates that distributors had high confidence in the film's appeal, a gamble that appears to have paid off given the 16 crore plus net opening. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}) As the film enters its first weekend, the momentum is expected to build even further. With very little competition in the high-spectacle genre right now, The Odyssey has a clear path to dominate the premium formats like IMAX and 4DX. If the word-of-mouth remains as strong as the initial ticket sales suggest, we could be looking at one of the highest-grossing Hollywood films of the year in India. The next few days will be crucial to see if the film can maintain its 20 percent plus occupancy rates as it expands its reach beyond the major metros.

BY CHRISTA LINCY

The Dhamaal franchise has successfully entered the 100-crore club in India, hitting the milestone on its second Friday. For a comedy series now in its fourth installment, reaching 101.50 crore rupees in net collections by day eight is a testament to its consistent brand pull. Dhamaal 4 has carved out its own trajectory by staying steady through the week. This achievement confirms that there is still a significant appetite for ensemble comedies, provided they can maintain a hold over family audiences during the crucial second-weekend transition. If we look at the specific numbers for Day 8, the film collected 5.50 crore rupees. This represents a very controlled drop of about 8.3 percent compared to the previous day’s 6.00 crore collection. Usually, a second Friday sees a steeper decline, but the film managed to hold its ground across 8,158 shows. These collections are particularly decent when you consider the massive wave created by The Odyssey, which has occupied most of the premium outlets and top-tier screens. In spite of this heavy competition for screen space, Dhamaal 4 has remained steady, pushing its total India net collection to 101.50 crore rupees and its India gross to a healthy 121.03 crore rupees. Logically, the film is benefiting from its family-friendly appeal, which allows it to find significant momentum during evening and night screenings even when facing a major blockbuster. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}) The international performance is also contributing steadily to the bottom line. On Day 8, the film added 50 lakh rupees from overseas markets, taking the total overseas gross to 18.75 crore rupees. According to data shared by Venky Box Office, the North America market has been a key contributor, with a Thursday gross of 38,000 dollars (approximately 32 lakh rupees), bringing the total in that region to 814,000 dollars (approximately 6.84 crore rupees). When we combine the domestic and international numbers, the worldwide gross for Dhamaal 4 now stands at 139.78 crore rupees. Occupancy trends for the second Friday show an interesting regional divide and a clear build-up in momentum as the day progressed. The overall occupancy for the Hindi 2D version stood at 16.31 percent, starting slow in the morning at 5.92 percent and climbing to 13.31 percent in the afternoon. By the evening, this rose to 17.08 percent, finally peaking during the night screenings at 25.46 percent. When we look at the major territories, the National Capital Region managed an overall occupancy of 15.8 percent across its 750 shows, with night shows hitting 23 percent. Mumbai followed a similar pattern with 649 shows and an overall average of 16 percent, seeing its strongest turnout at night with 26 percent occupancy. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}) The performance in other key cities also highlights where the film is finding its audience. Bengaluru turned out to be a standout performer with the highest overall occupancy at 18.8 percent across 173 shows, bolstered by a massive 34 percent occupancy during the night. In Pune, the film maintained a solid 15 percent overall occupancy over 287 shows, ending the day with 25 percent for night screenings. Meanwhile, the markets in Gujarat showed slightly lower numbers; Ahmedabad saw 11.5 percent overall across 568 shows, and Surat recorded 6.3 percent for its 305 shows. These detailed figures suggest that while the morning starts are generally quiet, the urban centers and late-night audiences are the primary drivers keeping the film steady against newer releases. In terms of advance bookings at the national chains, the film saw a decent turnout for its second Friday, selling around 14,700 tickets. The total gross from these major outlets was approximately 45.5 lakh rupees. If we break this down using rounded figures, PVR was the primary driver with nearly 6,800 tickets sold, bringing in roughly 23 lakh rupees. INOX followed with about 5,400 tickets and a gross of 15.5 lakh rupees, while Cinepolis contributed another 2,500 tickets with a gross of around 7 lakh rupees. These numbers clearly reflect the audience's current preference for watching comedy films in a multiplex environment. On the popular ticketing platform BookMyShow, the film sold about 100,000 tickets on its second Friday alone, which places it at the tenth spot for second-Friday ticket sales in the 2025-26 period. To date, the platform has recorded a total of over 18.1 lakh ticket bookings for the movie. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}) The journey to 100 crores in eight days puts Dhamaal 4 in a comfortable position as it enters the crucial second Saturday and Sunday. The goal will now be to capitalize on the weekend surge to push the worldwide gross toward the 175 crore mark. Given the lack of a major new comedy release in the immediate window, the film has a clear path to continue its run without much friction.

BY CHRISTA LINCY

The long-standing anticipation surrounding Rocking Star Yash's next move is finally shifting from speculation to reality. After the massive global success of the KGF franchise, the focus has moved entirely to his upcoming project, Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups. Industry trackers and trade reports suggest that the makers are preparing a massive trailer launch event in Bengaluru on August 8, 2026. This isn't just a standard digital release; it is being positioned as a major promotional spectacle to set the tone for its worldwide theatrical debut on August 26. The path to securing a final release date for Toxic has been a complex process of tactical shifts and high-stakes planning. Initially scheduled for April 10, 2025, production hurdles and logistical challenges pushed the project into the following year. A brief window on March 19, 2026, was considered, but trade circles quickly noted a potential collision with Ranveer Singh's Dhurandhar. To avoid this clash and navigate specific market sensitivities in the Middle East, the date was moved to June 4, 2026. However, it was the strong international feedback following a showcase at CinemaCon that led to the final decision. By locking in August 26, 2026, the team is now prioritizing a global distribution strategy that gives this high-budget venture the breathing room it needs to perform across diverse territories. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}) What makes this project particularly interesting from an industry perspective is the collaboration between Yash and director Geetu Mohandas. Known for her critically acclaimed, grounded storytelling in films like Moothon, Geetu is now steering a project with a reported budget ranging between 850 and 1,000 crore rupees. This transition from independent-style sensitivity to a high-stakes, pan-world gangster epic set in the Goa underworld of the 1940s to 1970s is a bold move. It suggests that Toxic will likely prioritize character depth and stylized grit over the standard high-decibel action tropes we often see in big-budget cinema. The promotional strategy has already started building a unique identity for the film. The recent Ladies and Ladies teaser was a strategic choice, shifting the spotlight onto a powerful female ensemble that includes Kiara Advani, Nayanthara, Huma Qureshi, and Rukmini Vasanth. This indicates that while Yash remains the central draw, the narrative architecture depends heavily on these supporting characters. Furthermore, the track Tabaahi has already generated significant digital traction. The chemistry between Yash and Kiara Advani in the song has served its purpose, keeping the film trending across social media platforms and broadening its appeal beyond the traditional action-seeking demographic. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}) When we look at the box office trajectory, the stakes are significantly higher than they were during the KGF era. KGF: Chapter 2 was a phenomenon that built its momentum over years, eventually becoming a benchmark for Indian cinema. Toxic, however, is entering the market with the pressure of a massive 1,000-crore investment. To be profitable, it needs to perform exceptionally not just in the domestic markets of Karnataka and the Hindi belt, but also internationally. Shooting the film simultaneously in Kannada and English is a clear indicator that the producers are targeting a global footprint from day one. The choice of Bengaluru for the August 8 event is a calculated nod to Yash's roots, ensuring that the local fan base remains the core of the film's energy before it scales up. If the trailer hits the right notes, the August 26 release could potentially challenge existing opening-day records, though the ultimate test will be how the audience reacts to this newer, more stylized version of the superstar.

BY SUNIT JANGIR

Mumbai, July 18 - Veteran actor Paresh Rawal has triggered a fresh controversy surrounding the 2023 hit OMG 2 after claiming that the film's original concept was his idea and that he was never credited for his contribution. The actor alleged that he had worked on the story with filmmaker Amit Rai years before the project took shape, but the script underwent major changes after Akshay Kumar came on board, eventually leading to his exit from the film. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}) According to Rawal, the initial version of OMG 2 was significantly different from the one that eventually reached theatres. He claimed that the original story did not feature a divine character and that his name was omitted despite contributing to the film's conception. The actor expressed disappointment that he received no story or concept credit after the project moved forward without him. Producer Ashwin Varde has strongly denied the allegations, calling Rawal's claims "baseless, untrue and unsubstantiated." Varde further alleged that Rawal had once attempted to develop OMG 2 without Akshay Kumar, describing such an effort as "unethical." He maintained that the film was developed independently and insisted that Rawal's version of events does not reflect what actually transpired during the making of the sequel. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}) Director and writer Amit Rai has also rejected Rawal's assertions, stating that the screenplay and concept of OMG 2 were his own work. Rai denied that the film originated from Rawal's idea, effectively dismissing the actor's claims of creative ownership. With both the producer and director publicly refuting the allegations, the dispute has escalated into one of the biggest behind-the-scenes controversies surrounding OMG 2, reigniting discussions about authorship, story credits and creative recognition in the Hindi film industry.

BY SACNILK

Mumbai, July 18 - Singer-composer Kshitij Tarey, known for memorable tracks such as Aye Khuda, Madno and Javeda Zindagi, says composing the music and background score for the upcoming web series Ab Hoga Hisaab allowed him to explore the emotional depth of its characters. The series, starring Mouni Roy, Sanjay Kapoor and Shaheer Sheikh, features two original songs composed by Kshitij Tarey, including the title track sung by him and the romantic number Saaiyaan Ve sung by Shaan. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}) Speaking about what made him connect with the story, he said, "When I came on board, the story immediately connected with me. It had so many emotional layers, and capturing the protagonist’s journey through music was both challenging and fulfilling. Along with the background score, creating two completely different songs for the series made the experience even more exciting," Tarey said. The singer said composing for a web series differs from films due to its episodic storytelling and changing viewing habits. "The essence of background music remains the same — it always serves the story and the characters. But with a web series, you compose across multiple episodes and also keep in mind that audiences are largely watching on personal devices, which naturally influences the treatment of the music," he added. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}) Tarey also spoke about collaborating with veteran singer Shaan, calling him an inspiration both professionally and personally. "He is an exceptional artiste and an even better human being. Every interaction with him is a learning experience, whether it’s his approach to singing or the stories he shares from his journey in the music industry," he said. Reflecting on the enduring popularity of songs like Aye Khuda, Madno and Javeda Zindagi, Tarey said the biggest reward for any artiste is knowing that their music continues to resonate with listeners. "When people tell me that my songs stayed with them during some of the most emotional phases of their lives, it means everything to me. There’s no greater satisfaction than knowing your music has become a part of someone’s personal journey," he said.