Hindi
Sony DADC acquires home video license of Warner Home Video
MUMBAI: Home Entertainment Services by Sony DADC has acquired the exclusive home video license of Warner Home Video for India aimed at marketing and distributing their content on all physical formats in the country.
The venture, that is expected to become a market leader in the retailing of home entertainment products in the country, plans to bring an innovative and path-breaking approach to the marketing and distribution of the same.
Commenting on the association of Sony DADC with Warner Home Video, Rajat Kakar, Business Head of ‘Home Entertainment Services by Sony DADC’ said, “We are extremely excited to have joined hands in partnership with Warner Home Video. This association will help us maximize our reach in the home entertainment segment. It will also add more movie titles under our repertoire and enhance our content base. We are glad to begin this alliance with Argo, the winner of this year’s Best Picture Academy Award.”
The first title that would be released by Sony DADC under this alliance in India would be Argo that won the ‘Best Picture’ award at the recently held 85th Academy Awards. The film, directed by Academy Award winner Ben Affleck is a dramatisation of the 1980 joint CIA-Canadian secret operation to extract six American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary Iran.
Under this license model, close to 400 Warner Home Video titles are planned for release. They include films like The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Man Of Steel, 300: Rise Of An Empire, The Hangover III, The Great Gatsby and Pacific Rim.
In addition to the fantastic array of movies lined up for the exciting year of 2013, Warner Home Video has some amazing movie titles under their repertoire, which includes classics like Ben-Hur, Gone With The Wind, Casablanca, 300, The Departed, the Harry Potter film series, Friends, The Big Bang Theory, Tom & Jerry series and The Lord Of The Rings franchise, which will now be distributed by Sony DADC in India.
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.
