Veteran actor Manoj Bajpayee has expressed concern over the firing incident targeting Tiger Shroff’s car in Mumbai’s Juhu neighbourhood, describing the situation as frightening and emphasising the need for a thorough investigation. Speaking to news agency ANI, Bajpayee said he was relieved that the Baaghi actor had escaped unharmed and hoped the authorities would take decisive action.

Reacting to the incident, Bajpayee said, “I don't see a gang war, but shots are being fired from who knows where, and that's really scary. Secondly, it's sad what happened to Tiger, but the best and happiest part is that he's safe, and his driver is also recovering slowly. Anyway, we aren't law and order experts or anything. From what I've heard in the news, the investigation is ongoing. The alleged suspects have been brought to Mumbai, and they've been arrested. I just hope the investigation wraps up as soon as possible and that an example is set so that next time, anyone will think twice before doing something like this.”

The incident took place on the evening of Sunday, October 18, when unidentified assailants allegedly opened fire at Tiger Shroff’s car in Juhu before fleeing on a motorcycle. The actor escaped without gunshot injuries, while his driver, Firdous, and a bystander sustained injuries and were taken to Nanavati Hospital for treatment. The driver is reportedly recovering.

The Mumbai Crime Branch’s Anti-Extortion Cell is leading the investigation. According to reports, the suspected shooters fled Mumbai through Gujarat and Rajasthan and were intercepted in Kota before being brought back to the city. On October 21, a court remanded three accused to police custody until October 31 as investigators continued questioning them.

The probe has also widened beyond the alleged shooters. The Delhi Police Special Cell has reportedly arrested individuals suspected of being part of an interstate weapons supply network linked to the case. Investigators are examining possible connections to an overseas-based syndicate allegedly affiliated with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. An online claim of responsibility has also been reported, although the alleged links and motive remain subject to investigation.

Meanwhile, reports that the accused may have conducted reconnaissance near other prominent residences have prompted precautionary security measures, including heightened security around Salman Khan’s Galaxy Apartments in Bandra.

Tiger Shroff’s team has urged the public and media to avoid speculation while the investigation continues. The authorities are expected to establish the circumstances surrounding the attack and determine whether a wider conspiracy was involved.

Also Read: Tiger Shroff’s team issues statement after firing in Juhu, says actor made “no statements” about incident

Ranbir Kapoor, Yash, Sai Pallavi, Rakul Preet Singh, Ravie Dubey, producer Namit Malhotra, director Nitesh Tiwari and music maestro A R Rahman attended the grand musical event of their upcoming film Ramayana in Chennai. A R Rahman mesmerized the audience by performing songs from the film. However, one of the highlights of the evening was Rakul Preet Singh’s praise for Ranbir Kapoor and his portrayal of Lord Rama.

Rakul said, “I am so, so happy to be here. I am going to keep it very sweet and short. I am going to begin by thanking the visionary, Namit sir. We need a bigger round of applause for someone who has been dreaming of this film for the last 10 years. You need a huge heart, guts and a mind which is very differently wired to be able to create a film and to envision a film that India can showcase to the world and say, ‘This is our history. This is our truth’. So, thank you so much, sir. None of us would have been here without you.”

She added, “I hope all of you watch and enjoy the film. The performances are amazing. Ranbir as Lord Rama is magical. After this film, every time you think of Lord Rama, I really think that you will see Ranbir. That’s the kind of portrayal he has done.”

She then praised Sai Pallavi and Ravie Dubey, “Sai as Sita is again beautiful. She’s a phenomenal actor. She has essayed the part with a lot of purity and rootedness. She’s a delight to watch on screen. There couldn’t have been a better Lakshman than Ravie at all.”

Rakul Preet Singh further said, “Lastly, as for Yash, he is magical on screen. I don’t know how it’s humanly possible for a person like him to portray a role like that with so much conviction. It’s unreal. So, you have to see it on the big screen to witness the magic. I really hope you all like the film and believe in the vision that we have tried to create.”

Ramayana releases in cinemas worldwide on November 5.

Also Read: Ramayana Chennai event: Ranbir Kapoor apologizes for achhai-burai slip of tongue; says “Jo bhi main kehna chahoon, barbaad karein alfaaz mere!”

Ranbir Kapoor, Yash, Sai Pallavi, Rakul Preet Singh, Ravie Dubey, producer Namit Malhotra, director Nitesh Tiwari and music maestro A R Rahman attended the musical event for their film Ramayana in Chennai. A R Rahman performed to the songs of the film and mesmerized the audience. Meanwhile, Ranbir Kapoor clarified the goof-up he made the day before at a Dussehra event held in Kolkata as part of Ramayana promotions. At this event, Ranbir Kapoor mistakenly said, “Burai chahe kitne bhi taaqatwar kyun na ho, aakhir mein anth sacchai aur acchaai ki hi hogi”. The video went viral on social media, leading to a lot of trolling.

Ranbir Kapoor began by saying, “Vanakkam, Chennai! Thank you for this love and energy. We really feel welcomed by all you beautiful people. Ramayana is a story that connects all of us through love, faith and our culture. I have had the privilege of working with the maestro, Mr Rahman, on two of my films (Rockstar and Tamasha). And both have been really special to me. But sir, this opportunity will be remembered forever. It’s really an opportunity of a lifetime to collaborate with you on this film.”

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He then said, “I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for an incident that happened yesterday. I was at a Dussehra event and I had a slip of tongue. What I meant to say is ‘Burai chahe kitne bhi taaqatwar kyun na ho, aakhir mein jeet sachhai aur achhai ki hi hogi’. So, this reminds me of a collaboration that I had with Rahman sir in Rockstar – ‘Jo bhi main kehna chahoon, barbaad karein alfaaz mere’! So, I truly apologize for that (smiles).”

Ramayana releases in cinemas worldwide on November 5.

Also Read: Ramayana: Part 1 tax-free in West Bengal: CM confirms exemption for Ranbir Kapoor starrer

Ranbir Kapoor, Yash, Sai Pallavi, Rakul Preet Singh, Ravie Dubey, producer Namit Malhotra, director Nitesh Tiwari and music maestro A R Rahman attended the musical event for their film Ramayana in Chennai. A R Rahman performed to the songs of the film and mesmerized the audience. Meanwhile, Ranbir Kapoor clarified the goof-up he made the day before at a Dussehra event held in Kolkata as part of Ramayana promotions. At this event, Ranbir Kapoor mistakenly said, “Burai chahe kitne bhi taaqatwar kyun na ho, aakhir mein anth sacchai aur acchaai ki hi hogi”. The video went viral on social media, leading to a lot of trolling.

Ranbir Kapoor began by saying, “Vanakkam, Chennai! Thank you for this love and energy. We really feel welcomed by all you beautiful people. Ramayana is a story that connects all of us through love, faith and our culture. I have had the privilege of working with the maestro, Mr Rahman, on two of my films (Rockstar and Tamasha). And both have been really special to me. But sir, this opportunity will be remembered forever. It’s really an opportunity of a lifetime to collaborate with you on this film.”

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  A post shared by Bollywood Hungama🎥 (@realbollywoodhungama)

He then said, “I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for an incident that happened yesterday. I was at a Dussehra event and I had a slip of tongue. What I meant to say is ‘Burai chahe kitne bhi taaqatwar kyun na ho, aakhir mein jeet sachhai aur achhai ki hi hogi’. So, this reminds me of a collaboration that I had with Rahman sir in Rockstar – ‘Jo bhi main kehna chahoon, barbaad karein alfaaz mere’! So, I truly apologize for that (smiles).”

Ramayana releases in cinemas worldwide on November 5.

Also Read: Ramayana: Part 1 tax-free in West Bengal: CM confirms exemption for Ranbir Kapoor starrer

Vishal Rana is all set to release his next film, Tu Hai Meri Kiran, this Friday, October 23. In an exclusive interview with Bollywood Hungama, the producer spoke about the film’s casting, its catchy title, the crowded release date and a lot more.

The first thing that stands out about Tu Hai Meri Kiran is that real-life couple Sonakshi Sinha and Zaheer Iqbal are seen in a completely different dynamic. How did that come about? The script came to me, and I found it interesting as it had a lot of twists and revolved around an obsessive lover. We approached Sonakshi first, and she really liked the story. We wanted an actress in the 25-30 age group, and she fit the bill.

Then it became a challenge to find an actor opposite her who could match her personality, aura, and demeanour. At the same time, the actor had to look more powerful than her, as he plays an obsessive, creepy stalker. We auditioned several actors, but we couldn't find the one we were looking for.

One day, I happened to meet Zaheer and felt that he should audition. When he tested for the part, my director Karan Rawal and I were both surprised. He brought the required intensity to the character of an obsessive lover. The character is a creep with grey shades who derives sadistic pleasure from troubling people. That came across very well during his audition.

I then realized that people would love to see Sonakshi and Zaheer pitted against each other rather than being together. That was the idea, and we are very happy with the casting, which happened quite unexpectedly.

The other catchy aspect of the film is its title, which is also a classic song from the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Darr (1993). Tell us how you locked the title. Also, was it difficult to secure the title rights? Not really. We were looking for a suitable title. Since it’s the story of an obsessive person, one of the names that came to our minds was Darr. However, it was Zaheer who told us that he had narrated the film’s story to a friend, and she suggested the title Tu Hai Meri Kiran.

As you rightly said, even we thought that we might not get the rights. But we were pleasantly surprised when we approached IMPPA (Indian Motion Picture Producers' Association) and discovered that the title had not been registered by anyone!

The title works because it has strong recall value, but the film has nothing to do with Darr. It is neither similar to Darr nor a spin-off. It’s a completely different film, though the title gives you the vibe of a story revolving around an obsessive stalker.

Nowadays, remixes of old classics are in vogue. Did you consider acquiring the rights to the song ‘Tu Hai Meri Kiran’ from Darr? No. As I said, there are no similarities between the two films, and I don’t want people to compare them. We chose the title because the song ‘Tu Hai Meri Kiran’ has been strongly etched in people’s minds for years. We felt that the title itself was enough to give audiences an idea of what our film is about, without drawing direct comparisons. Hence, we didn’t acquire the rights to any song.

Globally, there has been a rise in films featuring dark and twisted themes, and many of them are working big time. The success of Obsession (2026) is a major example. Do you feel the timing is just right for Tu Hai Meri Kiran?

When I received the script, I liked it because it was different from the kind of films we usually make. As time passed, almost everything working in theatres was about obsessive lovers!

Obsession was released when we were completing our post-production. The film was a huge success, and we felt that the timing was perfect, as Tu Hai Meri Kiran could be our answer to Obsession.

We rarely make these kinds of films in our cinema. I hope people turn up in large numbers because the film will surely surprise them. Youngsters love stories packed with twists, and our film falls into that category. So, I believe the timing is right. Sometimes, you end up making the right film at the right time!

Tu Hai Meri Kiran releases on October 23, alongside six other films. Did you ever consider postponing its release? When I announced October 23 as the release date, only Luv Ranjan’s Pehla Pyaar Doosri Baar and one more film were scheduled to release that day. Gradually, more films joined the line-up. Then Udta Teer shifted to the same date at the last minute. By then, we had already begun our promotional campaign, so pulling back made no sense.

There have been instances where a small film has worked despite clashing with three big films. That happens when the content connects with the audience. Whichever film has better content will succeed, whether during the opening weekend or in the subsequent weeks. Hanuman Ansh was released between two big films. Yet, it managed to hold its own and make a mark. Likewise, we believe in our content.

Also, we genuinely feel that October 23 is a very good release date for our film. The other films releasing that day are mostly mid-sized or small productions. There’s no major event film clashing with us or releasing around the same time. This gives us some breathing space and allows word of mouth to build. From next month onwards, big films will release back-to-back. Had we postponed our release, we probably wouldn't have been able to bring the film to cinemas until next year.

What is the screen count for Tu Hai Meri Kiran? We are targeting a release across 500 screens with approximately 1,500 shows. Since so many films are releasing simultaneously, it’s difficult to secure screens. However, I believe that the number of screens doesn't necessarily matter.

Several films have opened on a slow note but gradually picked up, prompting theatres to increase their shows. On the other hand, many films have opened across a huge number of screens, only to collapse by Monday because the content was weak. Hence, I am hoping that our film speaks for itself and earns additional screens on merit rather than us having to push for them.

Also Read: Bombay High Court directs makers of Tu Hai Meri Kiran to deposit Rs. 8.85 crores before release

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma is returning to the Mumbai underworld with Police Company, an upcoming crime saga that will explore the city’s turbulent gang wars from the perspective of law enforcement. T-Series, in association with RGV Company Production, has officially announced the theatrical release date of the action thriller. Starring Harshvardhan Rane in the lead role, the film is scheduled to arrive in cinemas nationwide on June 4, 2027.

Known for exploring the underbelly of Mumbai through films like Satya and Company, Ram Gopal Varma is revisiting familiar territory with a narrative that shifts the focus from gangsters to the police officers who confronted them. In Police Company, Harshvardhan Rane will portray Daya Nayak, the Mumbai police encounter specialist whose operations became a significant part of the city’s underworld history.

Inspired by true events and real-life police officers who operated during the late 1990s and early 2000s, the film will delve into the functioning of Mumbai’s encounter squad during a particularly volatile period. The narrative is expected to explore the circumstances, aggressive policing tactics and high-stakes operations that shaped the battle against organised crime in the financial capital.

The film will revisit an era when gang-related violence and the underworld’s influence formed a significant part of Mumbai’s crime landscape. According to the film’s announcement, the story will trace the operations through which the encounter squad neutralised around 300 gangsters, eventually dismantling the underworld’s terror network in the city. By placing law enforcement at the centre of the narrative, Police Company aims to offer a different perspective on a chapter that has frequently inspired crime dramas in Hindi cinema.

Alongside Harshvardhan Rane, Police Company features Fardeen Khan, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Paresh Rawal, Saurabh Shukla, Makarand Deshpande and Ashwini Kalsekar in pivotal roles. The ensemble brings together several established performers, including actors who have previously been associated with Ram Gopal Varma’s distinctive brand of crime cinema.

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The casting also marks a creative reunion for several veteran actors whose work has contributed to Varma’s crime-film legacy over the decades. Their presence adds to the film’s focus on an intense, character-driven narrative set against the backdrop of Mumbai’s underworld and the police operations mounted against it.

Presented by Gulshan Kumar and T-Series, Police Company is directed by Ram Gopal Varma and produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar and Ram Gopal Varma. The film is being made under the banners of T-Series Films and RGV Company Production.

With its real-life inspiration, portrayal of a defining period in Mumbai’s underworld history and Harshvardhan Rane stepping into the role of Daya Nayak, Police Company marks Varma’s return to a genre closely associated with his filmography. The crime drama is slated for a nationwide theatrical release on June 4, 2027.

Also Read: Harshvardhan Rane on working with Ram Gopal Varma: “If you love geniuses, you won’t consider Sir a taskmaster”

For much of the past decade, whenever Hindi cinema discovered a successful genre, the instinct was understandably to make it bigger. Romances became glossier, action films became louder, and spy films steadily evolved into enormous spectacles filled with international missions, elaborate stunts and heroes capable of taking on entire armies.

Ayushmann Khurrana's career has usually moved in the opposite direction. Instead of asking how a familiar genre can become bigger, some of his most successful films have asked a more interesting question: what happens if you put a completely unexpected protagonist or problem inside it?

With Udta Teer, Ayushmann may now be applying that philosophy to one of Hindi cinema's most commercially attractive contemporary genres: the spy movie.

The basic idea itself announces that this isn't business as usual. Ayushmann plays a Pakistani spy, but the complication is deliciously unusual: he loses his memory. Suddenly, the man who is supposed to know everybody else's secrets is struggling with the most fundamental mystery of all: his own identity. The trailer consequently treats espionage not merely as an excuse for action but as the foundation for comedy, mistaken identity, satire and chaos. This is classic Ayushmann territory, but there is an important distinction.

Ayushmann hasn't simply spent his career choosing unconventional subjects. He has repeatedly taken recognisable Hindi-film genres and altered the way the protagonist is allowed to behave within them.

Consider the romantic comedy. When Ayushmann made Vicky Donor, the central romantic hero wasn't defined by the usual obstacle of family status, an ex-lover or parental opposition. He was a sperm donor trying to navigate romance, secrecy and an unconventional profession.

With Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, the traditional question of whether the boy and girl would get married was replaced by a far more intimate complication surrounding male sexual performance. Yet the treatment remained accessible, humorous and deeply rooted in family dynamics.

Bala took a familiar story about romance and self-confidence and placed premature baldness at its centre. Dream Girl transformed a comedy of mistaken identities into something even more bizarre through a man whose female voice creates a parallel persona desired by multiple strangers.

Then came Andhadhun, where even the protagonist's relationship with the truth became slippery. Ayushmann's apparently blind pianist wasn't the conventional morally uncomplicated hero Hindi thrillers had conditioned audiences to expect.

The pattern becomes difficult to ignore. Ayushmann does not necessarily reject mainstream genres. He seems to enjoy entering them through the side door. That makes Udta Teer particularly intriguing because few Hindi-film genres currently carry as many established conventions as the spy film.

The contemporary cinematic spy is usually hyper-competent. He remembers licence plates, faces, codes, weapons, escape routes and confidential information with machine-like precision. His appeal comes partly from the fantasy that he is always three steps ahead of everybody else. Udta Teer appears to begin by taking away exactly that advantage. Ayushmann's spy cannot even completely depend on his own memory.

It is a small creative inversion with potentially enormous comic possibilities. Instead of asking audiences to marvel at how much the hero knows, the film can derive its entertainment from everything he doesn't. Instead of an invincible secret agent controlling his surroundings, the protagonist can find himself responding to a world that knows more about him than he does.

That reversal also happens to play directly into one of Ayushmann's most effective qualities as a performer. He is exceptionally comfortable playing men who do not have control of the room. Across his career, his characters have panicked, lied badly, been humiliated in front of their families, worried about what society thinks of them, battled insecurities and occasionally found themselves trapped in situations they cannot possibly explain without making matters worse.

For another kind of star, appearing constantly in control might be essential to preserving the hero image. Ayushmann's screen persona has frequently benefited from losing control. And that may be exactly what makes his entry into the spy space interesting.

The genre does not need another Ayushmann Khurrana pretending to be somebody's version of a conventional action star. It becomes potentially far more distinctive when the genre itself bends around what Ayushmann does naturally.

Indian audiences have seen several different interpretations of espionage in recent years, but the broad popular image remains connected to danger, patriotism, intelligence agencies and large-scale action. Udta Teer appears willing to retain the stakes while removing some of the solemnity.

The result could be the emergence of something Hindi cinema has rarely attempted at this scale: the genuinely mainstream spy patriotic comedy where the central joke isn't that the protagonist is incompetent, but that circumstances have robbed a potentially capable spy of the one thing every agent requires - certainty about who he is.

That is also why Ayushmann's casting seems less like an actor being inserted into a genre and more like the genre being recalibrated around an actor. This has been one of the fascinating constants of his career.

He doesn't necessarily reinvent genres by demolishing their rules. He does it by introducing one disruptive variable.

If Udta Teer succeeds in doing the same, Ayushmann Khurrana won't simply have entered the spy genre.

He may once again have done something that has quietly defined his most interesting work: entered a familiar Bollywood genre, rearranged its rules and walked out leaving behind a version that looks distinctly his own.

Also Read: The Ayushmann Khurrana genre is BACK: Udta Teer sees Bollywood’s king of crazy concepts return to his sweet spot