When, in November 2025, the Indian cinema world lost one of its most shining stars, Dharmendra, it felt like someone had stolen the heart and soul from the industry. Thus, when 2026 began with the film ‘Ikkis,’ which featured his last on-screen presence, the industry and fans felt a sense of sentimentality. In the war drama, Dharmendra had a lot of scenes with ‘The Family Man 3’ actor Jaideep Ahlawat. In an exclusive conversation with us, Jaideep shared all the fond memories of the late star from the sets and highlighted that he felt lucky to share the screen with the legend.

Dharmendra’s demise and the emotional impact

“The whole country, I think, all cinema lovers, there was not a soul who didn’t feel bad,” said Jaideep while speaking about Dharmendra’s demise. “I felt a void while promoting Ikkis. I wish he were there, in all these promotions. He should have been with us to watch this film, to see his work,” he added, recalling the late star.“So, anyway, this is a hollow hypothetical thought. It’s destiny, nothing can be done about it,” expressed the actor.

Jaideep Ahlawat’s emotional account of his time with Dharmendra on the sets of ‘Ikkis’

“You feel lucky to be part of a project where the legend is there,” he said as we started the conversation. “I had a lot of fun working with him. Being with him, I never feel that you are working with such a great legend. He makes you feel like family,” the actor continued before adding, “He was constantly cracking good jokes, making small one-liner jokes, reciting very beautiful poems, telling stories.”“Working with him has made me feel amazing,” said Jaideep.

What’s next for Jaideep Ahlawat?

“Every actor wants to be a part of a good story, to get to play good characters, to keep surprising himself, and not get bored with the art form. So, the aspiration is to keep working, to keep doing good work, to keep surprising myself,” said Jaideep, shedding some light on his dreams as an actor.“There is always an effort. It is not necessary to do it every time. To get a chance to work with good people, to get a chance to be a part of good stories,” concluded the ‘Ikkis’ star.

Shukla Kumar, wife of the late Hindi cinema legend Rajendra Kumar and mother of actor Kumar Gaurav, has passed away. The Hindi film industry is mourning her demise. The family has organized a prayer meeting on January 10. According to the Bollywood Hungama report, Shukla Kumar avoided the limelight but was an important figure in her family. She got married to Rajendra Kumar and had seen the rise and evolution of Hindi cinema before her eyes.Reportedly, Shukla Kumar was a sister of Ramesh Behl and Shyam Behl of the Hindi film industry. She was the aunt of their sons, Goldie Behl and Ravi Behl. She and Rajendra Kumar welcomed one son and two daughters. Her son Kumar Gaurav was a former actor. On the other hand, her daughter Dimple reportedly got hitched to a Hollywood film producer, Raju Patel. Her other daughter, Manorama, got married to an Indian movie producer, O.P. Rahlhan.

More about Rajendra Kumar and Kumar Gaurav

Rajendra Kumar was popularly known as “Jubilee Kumar” due to his unmatched box office streak. The actor came to Mumbai to try his luck in the Hindi film industry. As per the reports, he didn’t want to become an actor, and hence, for five years, he worked as an assistant to filmmaker HS Rawail. He assisted in movies like ‘Patanga’, ‘Sagai’, and ‘Pocket Maar’.He featured as a main lead in ‘Vachan’ (1955) opposite Geeta Bali. The movie became a huge hit. Later, he went on to star in the movie ‘Mother India’, co-starring Nargis and Sunil Dutt. Well, the rest is history. Rajendra Kumar passed away due to cardiac arrest on July 12, 1991, at the age of 71. He was suffering from cancer; however, refused to take any medication for the same.Her son, Kumar Gaurav, marked his debut in the film industry with ‘Love Story’ in 1981 and went on to become an overnight sensation. The film starred Vijeta Pandit as the female lead. At his peak, he was considered the next big thing in Hindi cinema. However, gradually, the actor started to fade from the industry. Over the years, he decided to stay away from the limelight.Kumar Gaurav got married to Sanjay Dutt’s sister, Namrata Dutt.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has openly shared his frustration after a serious umpiring mistake came to light in the fifth and final Test of the Ashes 2025-26 at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in Sydney. The well-known commentator called it unacceptable in modern cricket, saying technology should never allow such errors to happen.

Michael Vaughan hits out at Snicko and No-Ball Errors in the 5th Ashes Test

Vaughan was talking about Harry Brook’s dismissal in England’s second innings in the New Year’s Test that was won by Australia by five wickets to clinch the series with a stunning 4-1 margin on Thursday, January 8. Well, on Day 4 at the SCG, England was in a strong position at 219/3 when Beau Webster trapped Harry Brook lbw for 42.

Read Also: “We are a better team now” – Brendon McCullum refuses to abandon Bazball despite 4-1 Ashes defeat

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That wicket was the turning point of the match for England, as they could take only a small lead of just 36 runs and gave Australia the upper hand in the final Ashes Test at the SCG. Replays later revealed a clear issue. Webster had bowled an illegal delivery, with his back foot landing outside the return crease. Despite this, the no-ball was not called.

The third umpire, Kumar Dharmasena, failed to pick it up, even though the laws clearly state that every wicket-taking ball must be checked for both front-foot and back-foot no-balls. If the error had been spotted, Brook would have been called back, as the wicket would not have counted.

Vaughan demands action as England suffers defeat in the final Test

England completely lost momentum after Brook’s dismissal. The innings fell apart soon after, with the team adding only 124 more runs. That collapse left Australia a modest target of 160, which they chased down with ease on Day 5 inside 32 overs to retain the Ashes at home.

The frustration grew even more the following day when another decision went against England. During Australia’s chase, Jake Weatherald appeared to edge a delivery from Brydon Carse. Once again, the decision went upstairs, and Dharmasena gave Weatherald a lifeline, citing not enough evidence of a clear spike on Snicko.

The call left Carse visibly angry and England captain Ben Stokes furious. After the Ashes ended, Vaughan made it clear that England would not use these decisions as excuses for losing the Ashes, but he stressed that such mistakes should not be repeated.

Read Also: Ben Stokes faces BAN THREAT after accusing ICC, Umpires of destroying cricket

It’s not acceptable in this era: Vaughan calls out poor umpiring at SCG

Michael Vaughan was quoted as saying by News Corp: “I don’t think England will use these kinds of decisions as an excuse for why they haven’t won the Ashes, but fundamentally, we’re in 2026. With all the technology, that shouldn’t happen. To think there’s been some back-foot no-balls bowled on wickets and nothing has been done; it’s not acceptable in this era.”

With all the technology available, missing back-foot no-balls on wicket-taking deliveries is simply not acceptable. He questioned whether third umpires are consistently checking for these no-balls and reminded everyone that knowing and applying the rules is a basic duty of officials.

Vaughan signed off by saying, “That shouldn’t happen. That is a big moment. Are the third umpires looking for a back foot no-ball or not? They’re the officiators of the game; they should know every rule. It’s a no ball; it should have been called.”

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Director Aditya Dhar‘s ‘Dhurandhar’, starring Ranveer Singh and Akshaye Khanna in lead roles, has ended another week at the box office, and done so on a record-breaking note. The film that has been adding its name to the box office record books over the past weeks, hit a new high as it completed its fifth week at the box office. As per box office reports on Sacnilk, the film managed to maintain its hold over the box office and rake in a collection in the Rs 4 crore range.

‘Dhurandhar’ week 5 collections

The film reportedly earned an estimated Rs 4.25 crore on Day 35, matching its Wednesday’s box office collections. The film that released in just the Hindi language, had an overall occupancy rate of 10.81 per cent. This has helped push the film’s total box office collection of week 5, past the Rs 50 crore mark, a first for any Bollywood film.

‘Dhurandhar’ sets new Week 5 box office record

With a total collection of Rs 51.25 crore on Day 35, ‘Dhurandhar’ now holds the record for the highest week 5 collections. This is a huge 20 crore difference from the previous record-holder, Vicky Kaushal’s ‘Chhaava’, which earned an estimated Rs 30 crore. ‘Dhurandhar’ was able to beat that record in just its fifth weekend, scoring an estimated total of Rs 33.25 crore net.

‘Dhurandhar’ week-wise collections

While ‘Dhurandhar’ has managed to make its way onto the record books, week 5 remains its lowest performing at the ticket windows. Until now, the film managed to keep its box office collections above the Rs 100 crore mark. However, post week 4, it has seen a gradual dip in numbers. The film’s week-wise India nett collections stand as follows:Week 1: Rs 207.25 croreWeek 2: Rs 253.25 croreWeek 3: Rs 172 croreWeek 4: Rs 106.5 croreWeek 5: Rs 51.25 crore

‘Dhurandhar’ gross total collections

‘Dhurandhar’ has now hit a net total collection of Rs 790.25 crore nett in India. As per the report, the film’s gross total now stands at Rs 948 crore.With its current earnings, the film has already surpassed the net collections of ‘RRR’. With the film now on its way to the Rs 1000 crore gross mark, it stands to beat the lifetime collections of ‘KGF: Chapter 2’.

‘Dhurandhar’ worldwide collections

In the international markets, the film has already shot past the Rs 285 crore mark, thus taking its overall worldwide box office collections to an estimated Rs 1,233 crore.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met 12 leading Indian AI startups on Thursday, where he called for promoting affordable and inclusive AI along with frugal innovation, while suggesting that a unique AI model should be presented to the world that reflected the spirit of ‘Made in India, Made for the World’. During the interaction ahead of the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in Feb, PM emphasised that startups and AI entrepreneurs are the co-architects of India’s future and said that the country has immense capacity for both innovation and large-scale implementation. “PM said that the world’s trust in India is the country’s biggest strength. He emphasised the need to ensure that Indian AI models are ethical, unbiased, transparent, and based on data privacy principles,” an official statement said. The 12 AI startups, which were present in the meeting, have qualified for the ‘AI for ALL: Global Impact Challenge’ in the upcoming summit and comprised Avataar, BharatGen, Fractal, Gan, Genloop, Gnani, Intellihealth, Sarvam, Shodh AI, Soket AI, Tech Mahindra and Zenteiq. These 12 startups are working in a diverse set of areas, including Indian language foundation models, multilingual LLMs, speech-to-text, text-to-audio and text-to-video; 3D content using generative AI for e-commerce, marketing, and personalised content creation; engineering simulations, material research and advanced analytics for data-driven decision-making across industries; healthcare diagnostics and medical research, among others. Besides, Modi suggested that Indian AI models should be distinct and promote local and indigenous content and regional languages. The startups present in the meeting backed govt’s commitment to advancing the AI ecosystem and highlighted the vast future potential of the AI sector, observing that the centre of gravity of artificial intelligence innovation and deployment is beginning to shift towards India, the statement said.

KOLKATA: The ED on Thursday conducted searches at political consultancy firm I-PAC’s office in Salt Lake and its director’s Loudon Street home in connection with a five-year-old case, prompting CM Mamata Banerjee to call it political vendetta and “a crime” and dub Union home minister Amit Shah “nasty and naughty”.Banerjee, who trailed the ED teams throughout the day with director-general of police Rajeev Kumar and Kolkata Police commissioner Manoj Varma in tow (in Salt Lake and Loudon Street, respectively), accused the ED of “snatching the party’s poll strategy and candidate list” and Shah of masterminding the operation.The searches began early, with ED officials splitting into three groups and reaching I-PAC director Pratik Jain’s Loudon Street apartment and its Sector V office and a businessman’s home in Posta between 6.05am and 6.30am. Only two employees were at the I-PAC office while Jain was at home.CM Banerjee later said she realised something was amiss when she was unable to reach Jain by phone. KP commissioner Varma and other senior cops reached his Loudon Street residence between 10.30am and 11.30am to “verify the credentials” of ED officials.Banerjee arrived there around noon and stayed for seven minutes before leaving with a green folder, a hard drive and a mobile phone. “Amit Shah has sent ED to snatch our party’s poll strategy and candidate list. Is this the ED’s work?” she asked. “They searched our IT cell office and the house of our IT cell-in-charge to collect hard disks and documents having our poll strategies. The candidate list, party strategy, everything is here. The nasty, naughty home minister, who cannot protect the country, is trying to take away our party papers to win the election. What will happen if I raid BJP office?” Banerjee asked, questioning the timing and intent of the searches, before heading for I-PAC’s Sector V office.

Vendetta By ‘Nasty’ Union Home Min: CM

The ED search at this 11th-floor office at Godrej Waterside building started at 6.05am with the confiscation of two staffers’ phones. Banerjee reached around 12.45pm and, a little later, cops were seen carrying bundles of documents out of the office and putting them in a car in the basement over the next half-an-hour.‘Why take away our party documents before election?’ The ED’s forensic team transferred data relating to polls and SIR from our offices when no one was there. They have taken our hard disks and papers. It is my duty to check on my people when they are in trouble. We are sober, cultured people. But that is not our weakness. I will not tolerate our stuff being snatched away,” Mamata Banerjee said.“I sometimes call Pratik or others for party matters. I was not aware of the issue initially. I called (this morning) but he didn’t respond. Later, I learnt that the ED had taken his phone. I then thought they had probably taken away all our strategy documents and plans. That was when I decided to go there,” she said outside the Sector V office.“Shah should fight the polls democratically if he wants to win. Why raid our party’s IT office and snatch our documents? We get notices whenever elections approach. Notices are not sent to the BJP, which has all the money and muscle power,” Banerjee said.DGP Kumar reached the Sector V office a little later with other senior cops as security was stepped up following the arrival of Trinamool workers in droves, many of them led by state fire services minister Sujit Bose and Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation mayor Krishna Chakraborty. The ED, too, had to requisition additional CRPF personnel even as Bidhannagar Police tightened the security cordon around the complex.The CM remained at the Sector V office for nearly four hours and left around 4.20 pm after ED officials concluded their search at Jain’s Loudon Street home and allowed him and his family free movement. They reached the Sector V office around 3.30 pm, escorted by a KP team.TMC seniors said Banerjee spoke to Jain for about 45 minutes before leaving for another programme at the Gangasagar transit camp in the Maidan. The ED team left the Sector V office at 5.20 pm, following which I-PAC employees were allowed to enter the office.