Hindi
Siddharth Roy Kapur re-elected as president of Producers Guild of India
Mumbai: Roy Kapur Films founder and MD Siddharth Roy Kapur has been re-elected as president of Producers Guild of India at the 67th annual general meeting (AGM) of the association held virtually on 29 September. Reliance Entertainment’s Shibasish Sarkar was named as vice president of the industry body.
Another key development was the expansion in ranks of women producers in leadership roles. Emmay Entertainment and Motion Pictures LLP’s Madhu Bhojwani and Netflix India’s Ambika Khurana joined incumbents Apoorva Mehta, Manish Goswami and Sunjoy Waddhwa as vice presidents of the guild while Sol Productions’ Fazila Allana joined incumbent Ashim Samanta as treasurer.
Kapur, who has been serving for six consecutive years as the president of the guild, announced that he would not be making himself available for re-election next year. With Kapur at the helm, the guild has spearheaded multiple industry initiatives to increase the market size and reach of Indian content and include advocacy of producers interests on matters like legislation, taxation and ease of doing business.
The ongoing pandemic has thrown unprecedented challenges at the production industry. At the AGM, members were apprised of the key activities and developments during the year, including formulating rigorous SOPs for safe shooting, advocating for shooting resumption, organising vaccination camps for members and facilitating financial assistance to daily wage workers through donations by guild members.
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.
