Hindi
Eros to pump in Rs 5 bn in FY’12
MUMBAI: Eros International plans to invest Rs 5 billion and release 75 movies in the fiscal ended March 2012, a senior official said.
The slate will have 16-20 Hindi movies while the remaining will be in other languages. The company has released 19 movies in the fiscal first-quarter.
“We intend to invest Rs 5 billion in FY‘12. Our plan is to release 70-75 films in the fiscal,” said Eros Group India chief financial officer Kamal Jain.
The pure play movie production company will be foraying into Telugu and Bengali language films. It already produces movies in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Punjabi languages.
“We are looking at a slate of 3-4 Punjabi movies, four Marathi movies and 1-2 Telugu movies in FY‘12,” said Jain.
Eros has eight co-productions locked for FY‘12. It will release Mausam, RA.One, Rockstar, Agent Vinod and Desi Boyz in the fiscal.
The company has planned 2-3 small movie releases with budget of less than Rs 50 million during the Indian Premier League (IPL).
“We are looking at a revenue growth of 30 per cent in FY‘12,” said Jain.
Eros had posted a consolidated revenue of Rs 7.16 billion in FY’11 and a net profit of Rs 1.17 billion.
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.
