Hindi
‘Haider’ gets award in Rome, other Asian winner is a re-make of American film ’12 Angry Men’
NEW DELHI: Haider, the third film in Vishal Bhardwaj’s trilogy of William Shakespeare adaptations has won the Mondo Genere programme at the 9th International Rome Film Festival.
Set in Kashmir in 1995, the Hamlet reimagining is about a young man seeking revenge after his father was kidnapped by the Indian military.
The other Asian film award went to Xu Ang’s 12 Citizens which won the award for the Cinema d’Oggi section. A remake of Sidney Lumet’s 12 Angry Men, the Chinese drama is about 12 people from different walks of life deliberating on a murder case as the jury of a law school mock trial.
The awards in Rome were determined by audiences who voted via a mobile application, the festival website or at physical voting stations placed in multiple venues.
The BNL People’s Choice Award for the gala section went to Stephen Daldry’s Trash.
Unlike previous edition, this year’s festival did not include an international competition. Instead, it expanded the audience award to give one prize for each programme in the official selection. The original award for Best First/Second film was also expanded to the Camera d’Oro Prize for Best Debut Film this year.
This year’s Camera d’Oro prize went to Andrea Di Stefan for Paradise Lost (in gala), Laura Hastings-Smith for X+Y (in Alice nella citta) and a special mention award went to Leonardo Guerra Seragnoli’s Last Summer.
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.
