Hindi
Blue Mountain….Lost cause
MUMBAI: Blue Mountain is a film about the ambitions and aspirations of the young, the teenagers. The youth at that age have a new aim and ambition about what they wants to do with life and with each passing day. While, often, parents’ unfulfilled desires are forced on children, like wanting the child to accomplish what a parent could not, at other times a child is expected to follow a family tradition.
Blue Mountain is about a young lad accidentally discovering his hidden talent which, it turns out, is in his genes.
A group of four school friends, played by Yatharth Ratnum, Simran Sharma, Vaibhav Hanshu and Rishabh Sharma (the mandatory fat character fond of food and always munching in this kind of groups), spend their spare time riding their cycles around the picturesque hills of Shimla. They aim high and race to the tallest peak, the blue mountain.
All four have different ambitions but one, Vaibhav, aims to become a musician/ singer and, to this end, he has entered his name for the auditions of a famous reality show on TV, Ragarocks. When the auditions are on and his turn comes, Vaibhav develops cold feet. He asks Yatharth to take his place.
At the auditions, Yatharth decides to croon a classical number he always heard his mother, played by Gracy Singh, hum around house. He qualifies. As it turns out, the number he sang has many fans. It was originally sung by his mother, Gracy, who was a renowned singer but gave up her career after marrying the character of Ranvir Shorey.
As Yatharth proceeds to Mumbai to participate in the reality show with Gracy, a wedge opens in the family since Ranvir is against Gracy forcing her ambitions on their son. He has bigger ideas for their son.
The film then proceeds to take a cursory look at the behind-the-scene happenings of a reality show while Yatharth goes on winning round after round till, for no apparent reason, he croaks while singing in concluding the round and is disqualified.
The outcome is that Yatharth is broken, suicidal, snaps at everybody and sulks to the world. While he sulks endlessly, which consists of almost the entire second part, the film sinks to its lowest, never to recover. The makers then decide to force in a happy ending but the cause is lost by this time.
Blue Mountain is an amateurish enterprise which comes across as neither a children’s film nor for mature viewer. The reality show set up is patchy. Music is little help though the intentions are to promote Indian classical music.
Except for the snow-clad Shimla, there is little else to watch here.
Producers: Rajesh Kumar Jain.
Director: Suman Ganguli.
Cast: Gracy Singh, Ranvir Shorey, Rajpal Yadav, Arif Zakaria, Mahesh Thakur, Amit Behl, Vinod Nagpal, Yatharth Ratnum, Simran Sharma, Vaibhav Hanshu, Rishabh Sharma, Mehul Kapadia, Madhvi Shrivastava, Lisa-Marie Rettenbacher, Lamira Faro.
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.
