Hindi
Dadasaheb Phalke award for cinematographer V K Murthy
NEW DELHI: Legendary cinematographer V K Murthy, the cinematographer of all of Guru Dutt‘s films, will receive the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2008 for outstanding contribution to films.
The award carries a cash prize of Rs one million, a Swarna Kamal and a shawl.
Murthy would be the 56th recipient of the award that will be presented to him along with the awards for the best films for 2008 by President Pratibha Patil.
This is the first time ever in the history of the Dadasaheb Phalke awards that a cinematographer has been chosen to receive the nation‘s highest award in cinema.
Interestingly, the father of Indian cinema Dadasaheb Phalke after whom the award is named, was himself a cinematographer besides being producer, director and actor.
Murthy has provided some of Indian Cinema‘s most breathtaking visual moments. He broke new grounds, ushered in modern and highly sophisticated techniques, and brought in rich visual artistry into Indian cinema.
Murthy shot India‘s first cinemascope movie Kagaz Ke Phool and is also one of the pioneers of colour cinematography. His picturisation of the title song of Chaudavin ka Chand mesmerised the audience.
Classics like Kagaz Ke Phool and Sahib, Bibi aur Ghulam won him Filmfare Awards.
Born in 1923 in Mysore, Murthy earned his Diploma in Cinematography from SJ Polytechnic, Bangalore in its very first batch 1943-46. As a student, he also took part in India‘s freedom struggle and was jailed in 1943 and is a recipient of freedom fighter‘s pension. Having spent nearly five decades in Mumbai, the ace cinematographer is now based in Bangalore.
He was a recipient of the IIFA Lifetime Achievement Award at Amsterdam in 2005.
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.
