Hindi
‘The Japanese Wife’ to release on 9 April
MUMBAI: The Japanese Wife, directed by Aparna Sen, will be released with 50-70 prints at select cities in the country on 9 April.
The film, which is in English, Japanese, and Bengali, will initially be released in cities like Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore. It may be released in other cities later.
“Saregama, the producers of the movie, has entered into a deal of over Rs 10 million with Bharti Airtel’s Airtel Talkies for publicising the film,” Sarergama head of acquisition and distribution Sarang Sharma told indiantelevision.com.
The film, starring Rahul Bose, Raima Sen, Japanese actress Chigusa Takaku and veteran actress Moushumi Chatterjee, is based on Kunal Basu’s book of the same name.
It is the story of an Indian who befriends a Japanese woman as a pen-friend and this gradually grows into more than mere friendship.
Rahul Bose had earlier worked with Aparna Sen in Mr. & Mrs. Iyer and 15th Park Avenue.
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.
