Hindi
Several film personalities to feature in Samanvay Festival of Indian Languages
Five National film award winners and one Oscar awardee are among the speakers at the third edition of the India Habitat Centre (IHC) Indian Languages’ Festival ‘Samanvay’ being held from 24 to 27 October.
This year the festival’s theme is ‘Jodti Zubanein, Judti Zubanein: Language Connections’. Spread over four days, the festival would also have seven Padma Shri awardees, twelve Sahitya Akademi recipients, and a Padma Bhushan awardee. Twenty languages and dialects would be featured at Samanvay 2013.
‘Samanvay’ is a platform for bringing together expressions of human thought in the varied and diverse cultural contexts that have been nurtured and have flourished in many languages spoken in our cultural milieu. These conversations amongst brilliant and well-known writers will seek to bring to our audiences the sparkle of multilingual expressions and their inspirations.
Participants from the world of entertainment include Gulzar, Jerry Pinto, Ketan Mehta, Mahesh Bhatt, Piyush Mishra, and Sanjay Kak.
Samanvay 2013 is about connections between languages and the connections languages make: Jodti Zubanein, Judti Zubanein. This is a continuum of the themes that defined the first two editions of the festival; the inaugural an exercise in understanding the notion of the Indian-ness of the various literatures of the country, the second a celebration of the multi-faceted interaction between languages and dialects. It is not only about listeners, readers and authors; it is also about the ethics and ethos of connecting through a language.
There will be conversations around oral literature, media, and translations, along with poetry performances, folk art, stand-up comedy, theatre and cultural evenings. Beyond the language specific sessions, we cover some of the issues that have shaped our intellectual and social life in recent times: sessions on civil society, activism, dalit and women writing, alternate voices from literature, cinema, radio, publishing, gender violence, aspirations, dreams and voices of the marginalized, and above all the threats of a new form of patriotism that treats itself as a religion.
Announcing the festival, Samanvay Festival Director Raj Liberhan said, “For us at the India Habitat Centre, Samanvay is not an event but a cause. All of us in this country find ways of translating our thoughts into words. Samanvay is a multilingual platform to debate, share and ideate on issues affecting us.”
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.
