Hindi
Barfi in Rs 1 billion club
MUMBAI: Looks like director Anurag Basu‘s luck is paying him rich dividends. After being selected as India‘s official entry to the Oscars in the foreign language film category this year, Basu‘s Barfi! has added another feather in its cap. It has joined the Rs 1 billion club of Bollywood.
The total cost of the movie has reportedly been Rs 300 million and since its release on 14 September, the love triangle featuring Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Ileana D‘Cruz has appealed so much to the moviegoers that it has raked in Rs 1 billion at the box office.
The other Bollywood movies that grossed Rs 1 billion this year are Housefull 2, Rowdy Rathore, Bol Bachchan and Ek Tha Tiger.
Barfi! has been produced by UTV Motion Pictures and after Rowdy Rathore, this is the production house‘s second film to achieve the feat.
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.
