Hindi
Chakravyuh premiered at London Film Fest
MUMBAI: Prakash Jha‘s Chakravyuh was premiered at the 56th BFI London Film Festival on Friday. It was attended by the stars of the film.
Directed by Prakash Jha and starring Arjun Rampal, Abhay Deol and Manoj Bajpai, Chakravyuh is a political thriller highlighting the experience of India‘s Naxalite community.
On the sidelines of the premiere, Prakash Jha said his film‘s inclusion at the BFI London Film Festival was a matter of great pride. “I am extremely happy that the London Film Festival wanted to choose a popular Bollywood film for the festival and they decided to choose mine, which is in the popular genre, but is not really a populist Bollywood film,” he said in a statement.
“It felt that I am trying to tell this very serious story in a popular manner because it has songs, it has the big actors and a setting which is huge and it also has a cause. I‘m extremely happy that Chakravyuh has been accepted at the London Film Festival. It‘s great,” he added.
Said Abhay Deol of the film‘s director, “Prakash Jha – he prepares a lot which just makes the process easier. This was one of the easiest films to shoot and what I mean by that is it was so well prepped we could focus on our work. Prakash has his own fan following and he‘s an experienced filmmaker. He takes you to task before you shoot the film so that while you shoot the film you are free to focus on what you need to do.”
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.
