Hindi
A series of 7 debacles at the box office
MUMBAI: The flood of seven releases this week – Arjun, Yeh Khula Aasmaan, MLA, Rakhtbeej, Chutki Bajake, Love Recipe, Love Wrinkle Free – met with disastrous results at the box office.
Department has proved to be a debacle. After the film‘s opening weekend collection of Rs 81 million (not Rs 71 million as reported last week), the film ended the first week with Rs 111 million.
Ishaqzaade has continued to sustain well in its second week, adding Rs 125 million to take its tally to Rs 382.5 million. The third weekend collections stood at Rs 43 million, closing its 18-day net collection of Rs 425.5 million.
Dangerous Ishhq 3-D collected just Rs 4 million in its second week. The film has netted Rs 63 million.
Jannat 2 added Rs 24 million in its third week, taking its total to Rs 448 million.
Vicky Donour remained strong even in its fifth week to collect Rs 28 million, making its kitty swell to Rs 383 million.
Housefull2 has collected Rs 6 million in its seventh week. With this, the film totals Rs 1.17 billion.
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.
