Hindi
Soccer icon David Beckham joins Sky to promote sports through long-term partnership
MUMBAI: Soccer icon David Beckham is joining British pay TV service provider Sky as an ambassador work to support grassroots sport and encourage participation across Britain and Ireland.
During this long-term partnership, Beckham will also feature in ads to promote sport and services offered by Sky.
In his role as a Sky ambassador, he will help to use the power of sport to change lives through the Sky Sports Living for Sport initiative. Now in its tenth year, this free initiative uses the stories and expertise of athlete mentors to inspire young people to learn new skills and improve their lives. Around 30,000 young people a year participate in the programme, which reaches one third of all secondary schools in Britain and has just launched in Ireland. Beckham is managed by Simon Fuller’s XIX Entertainment.
In joining Sky, Beckham teams up with other sporting icons part of the company’s support for British sport and grassroots participation. They include Olympic gold medalist Jessica Ennis CBE, who became an ambassador for Sky Sports last year; Sir David Brailsford, Principal of Team Sky and the architect behind the exceptional performance of British Cycling; and Sir Bradley Wiggins, five times Olympic gold medalist and first ever British winner of the Tour de France.
Beckham said, “Sky have followed my career since I broke into the Manchester United first team. They have done a huge amount to promote and encourage involvement in sport in Britain and I am delighted to be joining them. I have always been passionate about the importance of sport in the lives of young people. It is not all about winning – just getting involved in sport gives you confidence and skills for life. I was lucky to have some amazing role models when I was younger, and I am excited about the opportunity to work with Sky to pass on some of that knowledge to the next generation.”
Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch said, “It is great to welcome David to Sky. Sport is at the heart of what we do and both we and David believe in its power to excite, inspire and change lives. As a hero and inspiration on and off the field, David is a perfect ambassador to help us get more people involved in sport.”
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.
