Hindi
Hindi cinema’s grandmaster Bhansali gets a new patron
MUMBAI: In a marriage of melody and melodrama, Saregama India has splashed Rs 325 crore on Bhansali Productions, backing one of Hindi cinema’s most lavish auteurs with the kind of cheque that would make even his on-screen maharajas blush.
The deal, announced on December 16th, pairs India’s oldest music label with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the director who never met a chandelier he didn’t want to film in slow motion. It’s a shrewd play: Saregama secures exclusive rights to all future film music from Bhansali Productions, eliminating the need to duke it out in bidding wars whilst the maestro gets the financial muscle to expand his slate of grandiloquent epics.
For a studio that delivered Rs 304 crore in revenue and Rs 45 crore in profit last year—up from a paltry Rs 5.52 crore in FY24—the timing couldn’t be better. Bhansali Productions is on a roll, with over ten films planned for the next three years, including Love and War, starring Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal, and Do Deewane Shehar Mein, a romantic drama featuring Siddhant Chaturvedi and Mrunal Thakur.
Saregama’s initial outlay buys it 9,960 compulsory convertible preference shares, with options to increase its stake to 28 per cent by 2028 and potentially 51 per cent by 2030. The investment, expected to boost earnings per share by FY27, marks a strategic pivot for Saregama, which plans to wind down its own film production over the next two years in favour of such partnerships.
Saregama vice chairperson Avarna Jain called it an alignment with “India’s finest creative minds”. Bhansali, known for films like Padmaavat, Bajirao Mastani and Netflix’s Heeramandi, said the firm has found a partner who understands that “powerful cinema requires time, trust, and deep respect for the process”. Translation: the sets will remain enormous, the costumes extravagant, and the songs suitably stirring.
Kotak Investment Banking advised on the transaction, which brings together content and commerce in a way that’s part pragmatism, part spectacle—much like a Bhansali film itself. If it works, Saregama will have locked in a pipeline of premium music whilst bankrolling Bollywood royalty. If it doesn’t, well, at least the soundtrack will be magnificent.
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.
