Hindi
LIFF postponed following Uttarakhand human tragedy
NEW DELHI: The 2nd Ladakh International Film Festival (LIFF) scheduled to be held nextmonth has been postponed due to the massive human tragedy in Uttarakhand caused by floods and landslide.
LIFF Festival director Melwyn Chirayath told indiantelevision.com that the festival is now likely to be held in September.
He said: “We stand in solidarity with the victims and their family in their period of grief and mourning. It seems grossly inappropriate to go ahead with LIFF under such tragic circumstances.”
He noted that while Leh, which is also a part of the Himalayan region, had been largely unaffected by the inclement weather, the Festival was being postponed as a precautionary measure.
“After consulting with the local government, we will announce the new dates of the festival. All other details of the festival remain the same,” he added.
Earlier, it had been announced that a total of 115 films from fifteen countries will be screened at the Festival.
The films will be screened in five screens in Leh, according to Chirayath who said the festival will be inaugurated by Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah and the awards on the closing day will be given away by Information and Broadcasting minister Manish Tewari.
The jury for LIFF 2013 will be headed by well known actor/director Aparna Sen while members are Paul Smaczny (Emmy winner), Mathew Robbins (Palm d‘Or), Vimukhti Jayasundara (Palm d‘Or), Alireza Shahrokhi (Iran) & Teri McLuhan (Canada).
In addition, there will be a retrospective on lyricist-filmmaker Gulzaar by director/producer Vishal Bharadwaj who had got his first major break in the former‘s ‘Maachis‘.
There is a section celebrating women through some of the finest women oriented films made in India.
A major highlight is the green carpet premiere at LIFF 2013 of Teri Mc Luhan‘s documentary ‘Frontier Gandhi‘, on the forgotten freedom fighter, nationalist and peace advocate Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan. There will also be a special children‘s section curated by Amole Gupte, chairperson of the Children‘s Film Society, India, which will feature six children‘s films.
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.
