Hindi
Hindi remake of Dookudu to star Salman Khan
MUMBAI: If everything goes well, Mahesh Babu‘s Telugu film Dookudu is set to be remade in Hindi with Salman Khan in the lead.
Said script writer Kona Venkat, who worked on Ready in Telugu and Hindi and is also associated with Anees Bazmee‘s No Entry sequel and Sohail Khan‘s Sher Khan, “Sreenu, who directed Ready in Telugu, is keen to remake Dookudu in Hindi with Salman. In fact, the lead character‘s heroism suits Salman bhai perfectly. We won‘t need to make alterations for the Hindi version.”
The Telugu film has been doing excellent business all over earning till date Rs 300 million. While the Mahesh Babu film cost Rs 350 million to make, the budget set aside for the Hindi version has been pegged at Rs 600 million.
Interestingly, Dookudu was written keeping Khan in mind. But there is a hitch that needs to be solved. While the protagonist in the Telugu film is a cop, Khan doesn’t want to do a cop film till the Dabaang sequel. Airing his views Venkat said if the filmmakers of the Telugu remake decide to wait till Dabangg 2 is ready, then there should be no reason for Salman to decline the movie.
The filmmakers are awaiting Khan to see the film and green signal its making.
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.
