Hindi
Pink: Neither strategy nor reviews helped
Pink, with Shoojit Sircar as the force behind the film, was much hyped. The film also enjoyed a great deal of media and critics support. However, all this hype did not help the film as the response on the opening day remained tepid with a business of about Rs 4.2 crore.
It is the word of mouth which matters more in the days of high-priced admission rates and the film caters mainly to the multiplex audience. As the film managed to generate a debate on the social media, its collections took a jump on Saturday with figures of Rs 7 crore plus while Sunday went very well as the film collected Rs 20.6 crore for its first weekend.
Raaz: Reboot opened a bit better benefitting on its brand as it followed three Raaz episodes. The film took a reasonable opening day collections of about Rs 5 crore but, once the word of mouth spread about its poor merits, it dropped on Saturday while the Sunday collections remained static for the film to collect Rs 14.8 crore for its opening weekend.
Baar Baar Dekho proved to be a let-down on all counts. A farfetched story idea, to script writing to execution and casting, it looked amateur in all departments. The film earned almost total rejection. With an opening weekend of Rs 18.4 crore, the drop in the four days that followed was telling as it closed its first week with a total of Rs 26.1 crore.
Freaky Ali, a lift from a Hollywood film, Happy Gilmore, tried to attempt a comedy around the sport of golf, an unfamiliar sport with the Hindi audience, backfired. Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s talent could not sell this dud.
The film had a poor opening weekend of Rs 6.4 crore, and had little hope of sustaining through rest of the week as it collected Rs 10.7 crore for its first week.
Akira continued with its poor run in second week. The film collected Rs 3.1 crore to take its two week tally to Rs 27.2 crore.
A Flying Jatt collected Rs 10 lakh in its third week to take its three week total to Rs 35.6 crore.
Rustom collected Rs 20 lakh in its fifth week to take its five week total to Rs 124.3 crore.
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.
