Hindi
Box Office: Demonetisation adds to sequel woes
MUMBAI: Attempts to cash in on the trend of sequels is not working. In most cases, the sequel has nothing to do with the original, content-wise and, when there is some connection, the content is poor. Both the releases of the week, Rock On II and Chaar Sahibzaade: Rise Of Banda Singh Bahadur, are sequels.
Both have met with a miserable fate at the box office. There was an added factor of the demonetization of the currency notes of Rs 500 and 1,000 which affected all businesses including cinema which is not really a priority in such a situation. The situation may even lead to the postponement of one or two films due for release soon.
*Rock On II, sequel to the 2008 film Rock On, lacked in just about every department, be it script, content, romance and, mainly, music; not a single song worth humming considering this is a musical. With all these aspects being poor, the film’s length of 139 minute becomes telling on the viewer.
The film had a poor opening on day one, showed little improvement on Saturday as well as on Sunday ending its first weekend with Rs 6.2 crore. The number of shows per screen have been reduced today onwards.
*Chaar Sahibzaade: Rise Of Banda Singh Bahadur (3-D: Animation) takes forward the story of the merciless killing of four sons of Guru Gobind Sikh, the tenth Sikh Guru. The Guru decides to end the tradition of guru and, instead, appoints one of his disciples, Banda Singh, to carry out certain tasks to safeguard the sect. Rather than get to the story, the film takes too much time getting into repeating the story from the first part and, a 134 minute animation film is stretching it thin.
The film fell much short of its first part and the collections remained in lakhs through the weekend.
*Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, with nil opposition, managed to collect Rs 20.4 crore in its second week taking its two week total to Rs 98.6 crore.
*Shivaay managed to rake in Rs 16.4 crore in its second week as the film’s vigorous promotion continued and there were no major releases for a choice for the moviegoer. The film takes its two week tally to Rs 81.5 crore.
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.
