Hindi
ABCD, Special 26 continue to do well
MUMBAI: Murder 3 is a Bhatt Brothers formula that fails this time. Lacking in face value and music to back it, the film has had a weak opening and a poor opening weekend. The film managed to collect Rs 112.5 million in its opening weekend.
Viviek Oberoi starrer Jayantabhai Ki Love Story, a rather under-publicised and badly released film, is a write off from day one; it managed to collect just about Rs 17 million for the opening weekend.
Special 26 has been helped to a great extent by good word of mouth as the film, which opened slow on Friday, 8 February, went on to pick up over the next two days, peaking on Sunday and then going on to maintain steady collections through the week to end its opening seven days with Rs 418 million. The film also benefits the most due to the poor new releases — Murder 3 and Jayantabhai Ki Love Story — to hold well in its second weekend to collect Rs 116 million taking its 10 day total to Rs 534 million.
ABCD: Any Body Can Dance has appealed to youth and multiplex patrons. Its best performance is in western India while the east is not up to mark. The film collected Rs 278 million for its first week.
Vishwaroop has not been able to impress the Hindi moviegoer. The film collected Rs 10.5 million in its second week taking its tally to Rs 128 million.
Race2 collected another Rs 38 million for its third week taking its total to Rs 964.3 million.
The coming Friday will see two new releases. While Kai Po Che is the second Chetan Bhagat novel to be adapted for a film (after 3 Idiots) and has immediate identification in Western India, Zila Ghaziabad has a highly UP flavour. So much so that the Delhi-UP distributors are very enthusiastic about the film and plan to release it at all the 20 multiplexes in Ghaziabad and all five in Noida besides booking maximum single screens in the circuit.
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.
