Hindi
Dev Benegal wins at Hong Kong Film Bazaar
NEW DELHI: Dev Benegal’s Dead, End has won the the Network of Asian Fantastic Films (NAFF) prize at this year’s Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) awards.
Network of Asian Fantastic Films (NAFF) prize is sponsored by the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan).
Benegal’s film is being directed in collaboration with actor-filmmaker Satish Kaushik as producer and actor. It revolves around the story of Lal Bihari, a farmer from Uttar Pradesh, who was declared dead from 1976 to 1994. After a relative, in a bid to usurp his land, proved that Bihari had died, the latter had to fight against the bureaucracy to prove that he is alive.
Kaushik had planned to make the film a decade earlier with Anil Kapoor and took on Benegal because of the manner in which the latter developed the screenplay.
This year, the HAF received around 300 submissions from 11 countries and regions. Each winner receives a HK$150,000 (US$19,300) cash prize.
The forum, that connects Asian filmmakers and their upcoming film projects with film financiers worldwide, was held from 24 to 26 March at the Hong Kong convention and exhibition centre.
Hong Kong’s Angel Whispers and Taiwan’s Private Eyes:1 picked up the main awards at the HAF.
Actress Carrie NG’s directorial debut, a murder mystery about the disappearance of a prostitute, won the HAF Award for a Hong Kong project. She is set to co-direct with Shirley Yung. Chang Jung-chi’s Private Eyes, about a playwright who becomes a private detective, won the award for a non-Hong Kong project. The director’s Touch of the Light (2012) was a HAF project in 2009.
The HAF Script Development Award went to Jack Shih’s The Solitary Pier, an animated film about a fisherman in a small seaside village. The HAF/Fox Chinese Film Development Fund, which comes with a HK$100,000 (US$12,900) prize and a development contract with Fox, went to Shu Haolun’s romance drama Love is Speaking.
The Wouter Barendrecht Award named after the late Fortissimo Films co-founder that comes with a cash prize of HK$50,000 (US$6,440), went to Fazila AmiriI’s documentary Hip Hop Kabul. Presenters Michael J. Werner and Nelleke Driessen praised the project as “very daring”.
Established for the first time this year, the Fushan Documentary Award went to Zhao Liang’s Dust about the coal mines of Inner Mongolia. Zhao will receive a HK$100,000 (US$12,900) cash prize and a development contract with the newly formed Fushan Features.
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.
