Hindi
Bodyguard becomes first Bollywood film to collect Rs 1 bn in 1st week
MUMBAI: Salman Khan’s Bodyguard has made the fastest run to the Rs 1 billion milestone in India’s box office history. The movie collected Rs 1.05 billion in its first week, bettering performances from other super hits like 3 Idiots and Dabaang.
“The historic performance at the box office has been helped by the mass following of Salman Khan, the good pairing of Khan and Kareena Kapoor and the extended weekend,” Reliance Entertainment CEO Sanjeev Lamba told Indiantelevision.com.
Reliance Entertainment carried out an aggressive campaign and chalked out a wide release of the film. “This is also the first film of Salman Khan that has got a bumper opening in the US and is doing exceedingly well in the UK, Australia and New Zealand,” added Lamba.
In the overseas circuit, the film has grossed ?840,000 from UK and $1,051,132 from US during the extended weekend.
Meanwhile, another film in which Reliance Entertainment is involved is doing well. The Ajay Devgn-starrer Singham has mopped up Rs 1 billion in its sixth week. The film grossed Rs 510 million in its first week.
Said Lamba, “A hard-hitting story, the wonderful combination of director Rohit Shetty and star Ajay Devgn and some amazing action sequences have resulted in an extremely successful run for the film. Singham is the first mainstream film produced by Reliance Entertainment and we are very pleased with the results.”
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.
