Hindi
‘Lincoln’, ‘Life Of Pi’ top Oscar nominations
MUMBAI: ‘Lincoln‘ continued to gain strong momentum in the Hollywood awards season. The Steven Spielberg biopic got 12 nominations. Just behind is Ang Lee‘s ‘Life of Pi‘ with 11 nominations.
Both are among the nine pictures nominated for best film. The others are ‘Argo‘, ‘Silver Linings Playbook‘, ‘Amour‘, ‘Zero Dark Thirty‘, ‘Beasts Of The Southern Wild‘, ‘Django Unchained‘ and ‘Les Miserables‘. Missing from the list are ‘Skyfall‘, ‘The Master‘ and ‘Moonrise Kingdom‘.
But the big surprise is in best director. Apart from Lee and Spielberg none of the other three directors who were nominated for the DGA have gotten in. This includes Kathryn Bigelow who helmed critics favourite ‘Zero Dark Thirty‘ and Ben Affleck for ‘Argo‘. That seriously hurts both these films‘ chances of winning the best picture Oscar. The last time a film won best picture without its director being nominated was ‘Driving Miss Daisy‘ way back in 1989.
Apart from Lee and Spielberg, the directors competing for an Oscar are Michael Hanecke for ‘, Benh Zeitlin for ‘Beasts Of The southern Wild‘ and David O Russell for ‘Silver Linings Playbook‘.Amour
Another big surprise is in foreign language film. The nominees do not include ‘The Intouchables‘. ‘Amour‘ is the favourite to win here. The other nominees are ‘Kon-Tiki‘, ‘No‘, ‘A Royal Affair‘ and ‘War Witch.
The best actress category has the oldest ever nominee Emannuelle Riva for ‘Amour‘ and the youngest ever in Quvenzhané Wallis in “Beasts of the Southern Wild”. But the race is probably a shootout between Jessica Chastain for ‘Zero Dark Thirty‘ and Jennifer Lawrence for ‘Silver Linings Playbook‘. Naomi Watts in ‘The Impossible‘ has also made the cut.
Lawrence has a bit of an edge in that ‘Silver Linings Playbook‘ did better than expected. It got eight nominations including one in supporting actress for Jackie Weaver. It is the only movie to have been nominated in all the acting categories. ‘Les Miserables‘ also got eight nominations, though more were expected. Its helmer Tom Hooper has been left out.
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.
