Hindi
Curtains of Pune Film Festival will go up on 7 January
MUMBAI: The Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) will be held from 7 to 14 January. With this edition is set to become the state‘s official festival.
Screenings will be at E-Square, Inox, Fame multiplex in Fatimanagar, City Pride in Kothrud, National Film Archives of India (NFAI) and NFAI‘s new auditorium on Paud Road.
The PIFF was first held in 2002 and now with the backdrop seven eventful editions, the 8th version of PIFF promises more variety, more movies and greater insight and entertainment into the international cinematic world.
Every year, PIFF attracts dignitaries from the national and international film fraternity. The festival that attracts worldwide attention, will screen films under the Country Focus, World Cinema, Retrospectives, Indian Panorama, Music ‘n‘ sound, NFAI, Tributes categories.
The fest will be presided over by Suresh Kalmadi, MP, and director-PIFF and eminent filmmaker, Jabbar Patel.
For the first time, the Sachin Dev Burman International Award for creative music and sound is being introduced this time and so will be a scriptwriting workshop.
The PIFF, organised jointly by the Pune Film Foundation and the Government of Maharashtra will feature 150 films from 42 countries.
The festival will be inaugurated at the Balgandharva Rangmandir on 7 January
and the concluding ceremony will also be at the same venue.
The Pune International Film Festival was launched in 2002, with an idea of attracting the best in celluloid to Pune. The first “International Film Festival” received a response brimming with success. Slowly, event by event, PIFF has evolved into a major annual event.
Delegates can register their films from December 25.
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.
