Hindi
Paan Sing Tomar nets Rs 40 mn at BO in dull week
MUMBAI: The week was crowded with as many as four releases, despite a dull period. While all the films had poor or nil opening response, Paan Singh Tomar seems to have found some favour with the audience.
The athlete-turned-dacoit film opened poorly on Friday with figures well under Rs 10 million; however, the second day showed a marked improvement with Sunday collections more than doubling. The film closed its first weekend with a little over Rs 40 million.
London Paris New York had an unimpressive opening coming as it does during exams and, hence, missed out on its target audience. The film could not manage to improve much during the weekend to finish with Rs 34 million.
Diary of a Butterfly and Will You Marry Me found no takers.
Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya collected Rs 112 million in its first week; most of it came from the first three days. Jodi Breakers slid further after the weekend to collect Rs 84 million in its first week.
Ekk Deewana Tha, Married To America and ? (Question Mark) showed a token presence in their second week.
Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu collected Rs 13.5 million in its third week to take its three-week tally to Rs 406.5 million; released as a joint venture between the producer and Hiralaxmi Films with the all-India theatrical price determined at Rs 250 million, the film may fall short by about Rs 50 million.
Agneepath added Rs 5 million in its fifth week to take its total collections to Rs 1.20 billion.
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.
