Hindi
Six Indian documentary projects vie for funding at Asian Pitch in Singapore
NEW DELHI: Six out of the 10 documentary projects shortlisted for the ongoing Asian Pitch in Singapore are from India. They include Dads of India-Children of the Misty Mountains by highly-awarded Gautam Pandey.
The others are Shalom Namaste by Saif Akhtar and Surya Balakrishnan, Children in Exile by Sumit Khanna, Life after Life by Raja Shabir Khan, The Love Commandoes by Vikram Mishra, and Beyond Transfusion by Gautam Grover.
Three to five projects may be selected at the Asian Pitch which is a collaboration between top Asian broadcasters – NHK (Japan), KBS (South Korea), PTS (Taiwan) and MediaCorp (Singapore) – to fund original HD documentaries produced by Asian filmmakers.
At the pitching event in Singapore, the four broadcasters are selecting and commissioning the winning stories for their prime time slots. The broadcasters will also market and distribute the programmes in international markets.
The films have to be original Asian human-interest stories or unusual treatments of existing Asian human-interest stories; human interest stories that will interest and excite Asian public broadcasters; and human interest stories that the Asian and international community will want to know about, apart from original programmes that depicts Asia’s societal transition.
The selected films have to be made between August this year and September next year and marketed or shown in Festivals by October next year.
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.
