Hindi
Box Office: ‘Saala Khadoos’ opens weak; ‘Airlift’ collects Rs 82.8 crore in first week
MUMBAI: Saala Khadoos shows once again that sports films don’t usually work with Hindi audience and, if and when they do, they have limited takers. The film had a poor opening considering names like Raju Hirani and R Madhavan are in the credits. It barely collected Rs 1.2 crore on Friday, after which, not managing to improve much on Saturday and Sunday, it collected Rs 5.3 crore for its opening weekend. It’s the very predictable script that took the film down.
On the other hand, Mastizaade fails to sell is senseless, humorless skin show and forced comedy. The film is so void of humor, it depends only on Sunny Leone to salvage it; sadly, that does not happen. The fact is, now box office is mostly about multiplex audience and this film is what would have been called C grade mass film during pre-multiplex days. The film has managed to put together 11.15 crore for its opening weekend and is not expected to sustain through the week.
Airlift has proved to be the only film so far in the year of 2016 to win appreciation as well as box office numbers. The film opened slowly on Friday last but then took wings. It improved on the following Saturday and took a quantum jump on Sunday thereby recording a weekend of Rs 44.24 crore as against the opening day of little over Rs 10 crore which is remarkable.
This is rare that the film, which has almost met its weekend figures over next four days to close its first week with an impressive Rs 82.8 crore.
Kyaa Kool Hain Hum 3, a supposed sex comedy, is poor. The film, after an opening weekend of Rs 17.2 crore, manages to add just another Rs 9.1 crore to take its first week total to Rs 26.3 crore.
Wazir survives through its third week but merely. The film collect 1.1 crore and takes its three week tally to 37.95 crore.
Bajirao Mastani comes to the end of its run with collections of RS 1.05 crore in its sixth week. The film collections tot up to Rs 171.45 crore for six weeks.
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.
