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Subhash K Jha revisits the history of the hit game show Kaun Banega Crorepati to celebrate 25 years!

Within one week of this millennium, the face of Indian television changed beyond recognition. Nobody—not even the enterprising far-sighted Star Plus boss Sameer Nair who surreptitiously initiated moves to import Who Wants To Be A Millionaire into this country—could have guessed what was in store for and on Indian television in and from July 2,000 onwards.

The other channels were left looking like honorary denizens of the idiot box ( with the stress on idiot). From being a distant third Star Plus simply swept past the competition to emerge way ahead of Zee and Sony Entertainment who didn’t know what hit them until it was too late.

Who would have thought that Kaun Banega Crorepati would change us into a nation of knowledge-thirsty gamblers? Children in their free time no longer play—or watch—Antakshari.

Uttera Singh’s Pinch (2025) arrives as a confident first feature from a multi-hatted creator who writes, directs and plays Maitri, a young travel-vlogger grappling with an assault by her own landlord. Set in a dusty western Indian town, the film unfolds within a cramped apartment complex and spills into a vibrant Hindu festival sequence.

Singh opens with a startling public attack—an unsuspecting guest accused by Maitri of violating her—and then rewinds twenty-four hours, tracking how everyday interactions among neighbors, relatives and festival pilgrims build toward riotous retaliation.

This social dramedy balances wry humor with mounting tension as Maitri navigates patriarchal strictures and her own thirst for justice. Singh’s tight script clocks in at just 83 minutes, moving briskly from hallway confrontations to ritual processions with minimal detours.

The result is an invitation to global audiences to observe small-town India through a lens that alternates between wry observation and emotional intensity,...

Set in smalltown western India, Uttera Singh’s directorial debut “Pinch” (in which the writer-director also stars) unfolds with propulsive rhythms and a bleakly humorous tone. Its subject matter — a young woman dealing with being sexually assaulted by an older neighbor and family friend — ought not to make for raucous subject matter. However, Singh commands both sides of the camera with confidence, even if her storytelling veers toward tying too neat a bow on discomforting material.

“Pinch” opens in medias res with a politically charged occurrence: a crowd at a Hindu festival turns on a man and attacks him for reasons yet unknown, resulting in an act of mob vigilantism — an all-too-common event in modern India. But the movie’s focus isn’t so much the zeitgeist that yields these public beatings, but rather, the strange and amusing way that a young woman present in the crowd, Maitri (Singh), uses...

A large family enters a crowded train car. They spread out — busying themselves finding seats, settling in, placing luggage — when the youngest adult woman feels the unwelcome hand of a passing stranger. She whips around, but the man has already disappeared into the crowd, and when she tells a trusted female relative, the result is instinctive disgust, but only briefly.

“That just happens.”

This is not exactly a scene from Uttera Singh’s “Pinch,” but similar enough and entirely true. Her debut feature and 2025 Tribeca Festival premiere takes on a small piece of a big topic, delivering not only a gripping and nuanced narrative but an astutely told directing effort.

Writer and director Singh plays Maitri, whose life takes a sharp turn when her landlord gropes her on a bus and she retaliates in kind. Soon, the incident involves Maitri’s mother, their neighbors, and the small community living in their building,...

25 years ago, the face of Indian television changed beyond recognition. Nobody—not even the enterprising, far-sighted Star Plus boss Sameer Nair, who surreptitiously initiated moves to import Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (Kaun Banega Crorepati) into this country—could have guessed what was in store for and on Indian television in and from July 2000 onwards.

The other channels were left looking like honorary denizens of the idiot box (with the stress on idiot). From a distant third, Star Plus simply swept past the competition to emerge way ahead of Zee and Sony Entertainment, who didn’t know what hit them until it was too late.

Who would have thought that Kaun Banega Crorepati would change us into a nation of knowledge-thirsty gamblers? Now children in their free time no longer play—or watch—Antakshari. They play Kaun Banega Crorepati, and everyone wants to be Amitabh Bachchan. An unprecedented Gk wave took over the country.

To this day, the use of a genre feature that mixes scares with romantic undertones is a style that has been quite prominent in Indian cinema, much more than in most other countries, as it's a proven box-office hit in most cases. Produced by the mother/daughter team of Shobha and Etka Kapoor, who had been better known for producing Indian soap operas on TV as well as the earlier successful Bollywood romantic scarefest in “Bhoot,” this did not turn into a success upon release but has since grown into a cult classic over years with it now appearing on physical media courtesy of Echelon Studios.

“Krishna Cottage” is available from Echelon Studios

After meeting up in school, friends Manav (Sohail Khan), his girlfriend Shanti (Anita Hassanandani), Kabir (Alihassan Turabi), his girlfriend Nupur (Divya Palat), Akshay (Hiten Tejwani), and Talli (Vrajesh Hirjee) welcome new student Disha (Isha Koppikar) when she appears at the college.

7 Bollywood Films that were initially flops but went on to become Cult Classics(Photo Credit –YouTube)

However, not every film that releases to lukewarm or even hostile reception fades into obscurity. Some films, initially considered flops, find a second life through television reruns, streaming platforms, or sheer word of mouth, eventually achieving cult status. Here are seven such Bollywood films that overcame their initial failures to become timeless classics.

1. Andaz Apna Apna (1994)

Directed by: Rajkumar Santoshi

Starring: Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Raveena Tandon, Karisma Kapoor

(Photo Credit –YouTube)

Plot: Amar and Prem, two dim-witted friends with big dreams, aspire to marry a rich heiress, Raveena Bajaj, to solve their financial troubles. Their bumbling antics lead to a series of comedic misadventures, rivalries, and a showdown with a notorious criminal.

Initial Reception: When it released, Andaz Apna Apna faced stiff competition from other films and struggled at the box office. The comedy,...

Tribhuvan Mishra CA Topper on Netflix India is another addition to the adult comedy genre that has a good premise and no cringeworthy moments in the nine-part show. This is the story of a middle-aged man who, after a certain point in life, has no option but to become a male prostitute to get some extra income for the family. This was a transactional move, and Tribhuvan Mishra goes about his life with this new income-generating work until trouble befalls him.

Spoilers Ahead

Was Tribhuvan Mishra in trouble?

Tribhuvan Mishra CA Topper begins with the male protagonist in his kinky costume being attacked by someone. He tries his level best to save himself from being killed. The scene was happening inside a room of a seedy lodge in Noida, and the attack was vicious. The scene moves to a flashback, set months ago when Tribhuvan Mishra was introduced as a law-abiding,...

Tribhuvan Mishra: CA Topper is a brand-new adult comedy that is about a government officer who has no option but to get into the world of solicitation discreetly and earning quick money out of it. Since he has entered this world without anyone knowing about it, including his family, people he knew and loved needed to be kept away from kept away to make sure his secret is not exposed. There are plenty of characters that become obstacles for him as he begins working as a male prostitute. The show is a Netflix India original, released on July 18, 2024.

Spoilers Ahead

Tribhuvan Mishra

Manav Kaul as Tribhuvan Mishra, is a CA Topper by qualification and currently works as a government officer. There is sincerity about him, which everyone likes, and he is known to be a clean person who refuses to take bribes from rich people. Tribhuvan and his wife Ashoklata are leading a happy life,...

Tribhuvan Mishra: CA Topper starts off as a fun adult comedy as we follow the adventures of the titular character as he goes around providing his services to the women of Noida. But as soon as he attains a certain level of fame and Bindi, the dissatisfied wife of a gangster named Teeka Ram, is introduced, it becomes clear that their paths are going to cross, and it’s going to lead to a lot of chaos and mayhem. And, well, that’s exactly what happens. After a lot of twists and turns, the Bhujiya King, Teeka Ram, arrives with his wife and lackeys at a family function to identify and kill Tribhuvan Mishra for sleeping with Bindi and killing Lappu (an ex-employee of Teeka), and a long shootout ensues. Most of the characters make it out of there alive, and since their arcs are left unresolved, it’s obvious...

Adult comedies are a tricky matter. The director and the writers must ensure the movie or television show does not become crass or risqué to the point being unbearable. They have to avoid making it cringeworthy too. Only a few films in this genre have succeeded: Hunterrr, starring Gulshan Devaiah, and Vicky Donor, starring Ayushman Khurana. These two films pushed the boundaries of adult comedies by discussing a subject that was hardly touched upon in the past. The Kya Kool Hai Hum and the Masti series of films are examples of how an adult comedy is not to be served to the audience. Tribhuvan Mishra: CA Topper, the Netflix India original, is about a middle-aged man who ends up in a dire financial situation and has to look for alternative ways to make extra income for his family. This nine-part series was created by Puneet Mishra and released on...

Creativeland Studios has tapped industry veteran Shobha Sant as its new CEO, Variety can reveal.

In her new position, Sant will lead Creativeland’s filmed entertainment division and oversee the talent business of Aig-India, the joint venture between Creativeland Studios and Artist International Group. The joint venture seeks to provide Indian talent with opportunities to achieve international acclaim while also introducing international talent to the Indian subcontinent.

Sant brings over 30 years of experience to the role, most recently serving as head of content alliances – films, at billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Studios.

Sant will work alongside Creativeland founder and managing director Sajan Raj Kurup and COO Alpa Golcha, who joined the company after stints at Amazon Prime Video India and Dharma Productions.

Prior to her time at Jio Studios, Sant held the CEO position at Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bhansali Productions (“Heeramandi”) for more than five years, during which she...

Even before he could receive the Padma Shri award announced by the government on the eve of January 26, Dhrupadacharya Pandit Laxman Bhatt Tailang, passed away at 9 am on Saturday. Pandit Tailang breathed his last at the age of 93 at Durlabhji Hospital in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

He was undergoing treatment for pneumonia and other diseases for the last few days.

As per Pandit Tailang’s daughter, the famous Dhrupad singer of Rajasthan, Professor Madhu Bhatt Tailang, “Panditji was admitted to Durlabhji Hospital as his health was deteriorating for the last few days. During treatment, he breathed his last in the hospital at 9 am on Saturday.”

Pandit Tailang’s entire life was spent singing and he provided extensive music education to his son Ravi Shankar and daughters Shobha, Usha, Nisha, Madhu, Poonam and Aarti and made them proficient in different genres.

Besides being a music lecturer at Banasthali Vidyapith from 1950 to 1992 and Rajasthan Music Institute,...

CinemaNot unlike in real life, mothers in cinema had to either don the cape of an angel or prepare themselves to be demonised, while the wives, daughters, and sisters had to live within the confines of one-dimensional images.For the longest time, Malayalam cinema has put mothers on a pedestal. One of the most iconic scenes in Malayalam celluloid continues to be the climactic shot in Sibi Malayil’s Thaniyavarthanam (1987), featuring a traumatised mother (Kaviyoor Ponnamma) feeding rice laced with poison to her adult son (Mammootty) with a mental illness. These images are juxtaposed with those of a much younger mother feeding her baby, essentially manipulating the audience, and leaving anyone with an iota of compassion struggling to hold back their tears. Not unlike in real life, mothers in cinema simply had no way out — either they don the cape of an angel or prepare themselves to be demonised. Not surprisingly,...

Indian content queen Ektaa R Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms, which is in robust financial health, has revealed a strong upcoming slate.

On the film front, Balaji recently boarded director Nanda Kishore’s Malayalam and Telugu-language magnum opus “Vrushabha,” starring Mohanlal, and also in the works are Hansal Mehta’s “The Buckingham Murders,” starring Kareena Kapoor, Rajesh Krishnan’s “The Crew,” starring Kapoor, Tabu and Kriti Sanon and Karan Boolani’s “Thank You for Coming,” starring Bhumi Pednekar. Sequels to Dibakar Banerjee’s groundbreaking “LSD: Love, Sex Aur Dhokha” and Raaj Shaandilyaa’s “Dream Girl,” starring Ayushmann Khurrana and Ananya Pandey are also in the making.

On the television and streaming front, the details of the shows will be eventually released by the respective platforms, but broadly, they include an untitled historical for a leading broadcast channel, a pre-medieval era show for a global streamer, a show based on a real...

EntertainmentSeason 5 of Bigg Boss Malayalam started rolling on March 26 with host Mohanlal welcoming 18 contestants from varied backgrounds into the house.YouTube/AsianetBigg Boss Malayalam Season 5 concluded on Sunday, July 2, with Akhil Marar emerging as the title winner and walking away with the prize money of Rs 50 lakh. Actor Reneesha Rahiman of Seetha Kalyanam TV serial fame was the first runner-up. Out of the five contestants who rose up to the top after the 100-day game show, social media influencer Junaiz VP came third, followed by social entrepreneur Shoba Vishwanath and actor Shiju Abdul Rasheed. The finale, headlined by actor Mohanlal who has been the host of the show for the past five seasons, also featured dance performances by contestants who were previously evicted from the house. Some popular contestants from the previous seasons also made appearances in comedy skits, intended to cheer the finalists and engage viewers. Akhil Marar, the current title winner,...

Prime Video’s Modern Love anthology series is back again and this time the creators have brought us entertaining and moving stories from the beautiful city of Chennai. Chennai is just like any other metropolitan city that nurtures the love stories of people from various facets of society. The meaning of love changes from time to time and episode to episode, but the core remains the same. Chennai brings us a love for Tamil music, especially music by the legendary Ilaiyaraaja, who is also one of the composers on some of the episodes. Modern Love Chennai runs for six episodes, and each episode explores the theme of love in many forms. The first episode is directed by Raju murugan.

Spoilers Ahead

Shobha’s Anger

Lalagunda Bommaigal, aka Dolls of Lalagunda, is set in the suburbs of Chennai and begins with Vaiju, Shobha’s friend, going from one room of a hospital to another room,...

Now famous among her rising number of fans because of her ‘Delhi Crime’ character, Dcp Vartika Chaturvedi, actress-restaurateur-hostess with the mostest Shefali Shah has established herself as the new queen of the web after her powerful performances in ‘Delhi Crime’, ‘Human’, ‘Jalsa’ and ‘Darlings’.

From Gujarati theatre, which has produced a phalanx of Hindi film stars, starting with A.K. Hangal and Sanjeev Kumar, to superhit TV soaps such as ‘Banegi Apni Baat’ and ‘Tara’, when she was known as Shefali Chhaya, to ‘Satya’ and ‘Monsoon Wedding’, to her web successes, Shah has appeared in many avatars in an acting career that spans more than three decades, and in each one of them she has been a winner.

And she capped her super-busy acting calendar by opening a vegetarian restaurant named Jalsa in Ahmedabad last year, which was when the world outside her circle of friends learnt that she is an...