Hindi
PVR picks up Ritesh Batra’s ‘The Sense of an Ending’ for India
MUMBAI: FilmNation Entertainment, which holds the worldwide rights of Ritesh Batra’s The Sense of an Ending, has completed international sales for the movie at Berlin’s European Film Market.
In major deals across various territories, PVR has acquired the India rights of the film from FilmNation Entertainment.
On the other hand, Sony has acquired Latin America and Eastern Europe; Wild Bunch has closed France, Germany, Italy and Spain; Studiocanal took the UK; and Fox International Channels has acquired Pan-Asian pay TV rights.
In other deals, Longride (Japan), Roadshow (Australia), Svensk (Scandinavia), Mediasoft (South Korea), and Lumiere (Benelux) have picked up the drama that stars the Academy Award winner Jim Broadbent along with Harriet Walter, Emily Mortimer, Michelle Dockery and Charlotte Rampling.
Among other territories closed are Greece (Spentzos), Israel (Lev), the Middle East (Italia), Portugal (Lusomundo),Switzerland (Frenetic), Turkey (Aqua), Hong Kong (Edko), India (PVR), Indonesia (Prima Cinema), Singapore (Shaw Renters) and South Africa (Ster Kinekor).
The movie stars Broadbent as a recluse who is forced to face the devastating legacy of his first love and revise his understanding of his own nature.
The film is co-financed by BBC Films and produced by Origin Pictures.
Batra says, “It’s been a real pleasure to adapt Julian Barnes’s great novel to the screen, I loved working with the writer Nick Payne and with production. These are exciting times as the film has sold all over the World, I do believe that it is a matter of time before we make Indian stories with great Indian actors that will travel more than or as much as English language cinema does.”
Batra’s previous film, the critically acclaimed hit The Lunchbox, starring Irrfan Khan, and Nimrat Kaur, was BAFTA nominated and won the Viewers’ Choice Award at the 2014 Cannes Festival.
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.
