Hindi
S Korean firm acquires global rights of Sidharth Srinivasan’s film
MUMBAI: South Korean film sales company Finecut has acquired the international rights of Sidharth Srinivasan‘s horror film The Profane, a co-production effort from India, UK and Korea.
Andy Starke and Pete Tombs of UK‘s Root Films and Finecut‘s SUH Young-Joo are the production partners.
The film is the story of a brother and sister, at odds with the world and one another, who take their elderly mother to Varanasi to fulfill her dying wish – to be cremated and have her ashes scattered in the holy river Ganges.
But, once there, the mother refuses to die. To find a way out of their dilemma, her two children are forced to resort to extreme measures. Measures that trap them in a world of strange magic and dark desires, a world ruled by the dead rather than the living.
Earlier named Samaadhi (The Penance), the film was selected for Locarno Open Doors and Hong Kong Asia Film-Financing Forum 2011.
The Profane is likely to roll early 2013.
Sidharth Srinivasan’s debut short film, The Tightrope Walker, premiered in the Competition section at Venice Film Festival in 2000 while his feature film Pairon Talle (Soul of Sand) had its World premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2010.
Hindi
Jio Studios, Sanjay Dutt team up to revive Khal Nayak
Rights acquired for new version, format under wraps as remake plans take shape.
MUMBAI: The villain is back and this time, he’s rewriting his own script. Jio Studios has partnered with Three Dimension Motion Pictures and Aspect Entertainment to revive the 1993 cult classic Khal Nayak, marking a fresh chapter for one of Bollywood’s most iconic anti-hero stories. The original film, directed by Subhash Ghai under Mukta Arts, was a commercial and cultural milestone, with Sanjay Dutt’s portrayal of Ballu becoming one of Hindi cinema’s most memorable performances.
Dutt, along with Aksha Kamboj, has now acquired the rights from the original creators, bringing on board Jio Studios and its President Jyoti Deshpande to steer the project creatively.
While the exact format whether remake, sequel, prequel, or a completely new narrative remains undisclosed, the collaboration aims to reinterpret the story for contemporary audiences while retaining the essence that made the original a defining film of the 1990s.
The move taps into a broader industry trend of reviving legacy intellectual property, particularly characters with strong recall value. “Khal Nayak” was notable for pushing mainstream Hindi cinema into morally grey territory at a time when heroes were largely one-dimensional, making Ballu’s character a standout.
The project also marks the film production debut of Aspect Entertainment, signalling a push towards more technology-led storytelling frameworks. Meanwhile, Jio Studios continues to expand its slate, having built a library of over 200 films and series, with more than 60 titles collectively winning 500-plus awards.
For Dutt, the revival is as much personal as it is strategic, a return to a role that reshaped his career. For the industry, it is another sign that nostalgia, when paired with scale, remains a powerful box-office proposition.
Because in Bollywood, some villains never fade, they just wait for the perfect comeback.
