Hindi
Madhuri Dixit to star in Dedh Ishqiya
MUMBAI: The sequel of the 2010 hit Ishqiya is finally coming up. The ball has been put to roll with Madhuri Dixit Nene signing on the dotted line to play the female lead in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Dedh Ishqiya. She has been paired with Naseeruddin Shah.
This edition will not have Vidya Balan as in the first part. Balan had recently said, “In the first part, the two men (Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi) come to my village to meet me. In the next part, they will go elsewhere, so obviously they will meet someone new and not me. Anyways, I like Madhuri Dixit and I`m happy that she is in the sequel.”
Dedh Isqiya is about the adventures of Shah and Arshad Warsi and takes off from where Ishqiya ended. It is said that Dixit Nene will play a grey character of a begum whose style of making love is very royal (nawabi). It’s her habit to spout shayari while wooing her man.
Abhishek Chaubey had directed the rural drama, which opened to great reviews and box office collections. The film was co-produced by Vishal Bhardwaj and Shemaroo Entertainment.
The film will start rolling in May.
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.
