Hindi
Sunil Bohra to release Pain’s Chittagong
MUMBAI: Producer-director Bedabrata Pain is a relieved man after filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and his distributor friend Sunil Bohra coming forward to bail out the filmmaker and undertaking to be a presenters of his film Chittagong with Sunil Bohra alone distributing the film as well.
Confirming the same Bohra said, “Anurag is a good friend. He liked the film a lot and told me about it. We are jointly presenting the film and we will try and ensure that the film has a wide release like any other commercial film.”
The film, starring Manoj Bajpai, is set against the backdrop of a little known saga in 1930s British-occupied India, where a group of schoolboys and young women, led by a schoolteacher, Masterda Surjya Sen dared to take on the British Empire.
With the release, Pain‘s Chittagong stands to be the second film on the Chittagong uprising after Ashutosh Gowariker‘s film Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey.
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.
