• Salman Khan's Bajrangi Bhaijaan sees Bollywood's best opening this year. The film, released a day before Eid and launched in 4,200-4,500 screens across the country, has seen this year's best opening in Bollywood. The director-actor duo of Kabir Khan and Salman Khan has weaved its magic on the silver screen once again, recording net box-office opening collections of Rs 27.25 crore (after tax). • Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment dropped two posters for his Eid 2016 flick Raees, setting the stage for a showdown with Salman Khan who has Sultan on the same date next year. Raees hails from Excel Entertainment and SRK's own Red Chillies Entertainment, and is directed by Rahul Dholakia. It co-stars Farhan Akhtar, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Mahira Khan and tells the story of a bootlegger whose business is thwarted by a tough policeman. • Telugu epic Baahubali smashes box-office record in Bollywood takedown. Friday and Saturday saw takings for Baahubali (also filmed in Tamil, and dubbed into Hindi and Malayalam) in the order of 135 crore, and a Hindustan Times piece has pegged the whole weekend at 165 crore ($26m). Most heartening is that Rajamouli's film was warmly reviewed: the Guardian called it “a near-perfect balance between physicality and poetics”, and Times of India said “the larger-than-life execution matches [Rajamouli's] grandiose vision”. • Aamir Khan's brother Faisal is all set to make a Bollywood comeback with “Chinar-Daastaan-E-Ishq”, which he said is completed and ready for release as soon as they find distributors. • ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan' released their second song ‘Tu Chahiye' sung by Atif Aslam, composed by Pritam and choreographed by Ahmed Khan. This is the first time that legendary Atif Aslam sung for Salman Khan. • After Atif Aslam, Adnan Sami croons for ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan'. Salman Khan took to Twitter to mention that it's his favourite song from the film. Singer Adnan Sami has not just sung a qawwali for Salman Khan's ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan' but he also features in the track, which has snapshots of the superstar. • Pakistan has released a film which it hopes will enable it to step out of the shadow of India's world-famous Bollywood film industry. The film, called Bin Roye, has a budget to rival what its neighbour usually spends, and a plot that would not look out of place on Indian screens. • Two schedules of Hera Pheri 3 have already been completed with the film's leading men Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham and Suneil Shetty. And there is no sign of any leading lady on the sets! According to rumours the film's producer Firoz Nadiadwala and director Neeraj Vora are yet to zero in on leading ladies for the three heroes. Apparently, the leading ladies would be brought on board later. • The ‘Ironman': Milind Soman completes toughest triathlon in the world. The Bollywood actor and model just made the country proud by successfully completing the Ironman Triathlon held in Zurich, Switzerland on 19 July, reported Times of India. The triathlon is considered one of the world's toughest races and had 2,000 participants which included seven Indians. 50-year old Milind Soman completed the triathlon in 15 hours and 19 minutes. • Bollywood music for new Animal Planet show on India's wildlife. The melodious and peppy three-minute song in Tamil, Bangla and Hindi with passionate lyrics, vibrant choreography and mesmerizing performances introduces the show “Hey Mera India”, which debuts on the channel from August 15 this year. – Compiled by Mariam Nihal
