Hindi
Filmmakers Onir and Sanjay Suri resort to crowd funding for Chauranga
MUMBAI: Looks like Onir and Sanjay Suri‘s upcoming film Chauranga is all about crowd sourcing.
After crowd sourcing talent like its publicity designer and background score designer who were picked through an open contest on Facebook, the filmmakers have now resorted to crowd funding for their film to be directed by Bikas Mishra.
Crowd funding is collective pooling of resources by people, usually via the internet, to support efforts initiated by other people or organisations.
Chauranga, a fictional account of six days in a dark corner of India, tells the story of class oppression in rural India.
This project was part of Screenwriters‘ Lab at Locarno Film Festival and ScriptStation at Berlin Talent Campus. It won the Incredible India award for the best project at the co-production of NFDC Film Bazaar, Goa 2011. It also received script and project development funding from Goteborg International Film Festival, Sweden. It was recently invited for Paris Project, the co-production market of Paris International Film Festival 2012.
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.
