Hindi
Sydney Filmfest to screen two Indian films on lonely housewives
NEW DELHI: Two Indian films being screened at the ongoing 61st Sydney Film Festival are on a common theme – lonely housewives in different eras who are forced to find interests elsewhere.
Even as Ritesh Batra’s highly-lauded The Lunchbox is among the four Indian films being screened at Festival, the other film is Charulata, made by cine craftsman Satyajit Ray and being screened almost 50 years after it was last exhibited at the same festival.
This movie is one of Ray’s women-centric films that was well ahead of its times when made in 1964 with Madhabi Mukherjee in the lead. The film is based on a story by Rabindranath Tagore and set in the late nineteenth century and tells the tale of the lonely housewife whose busy husband has no time for her.
Coincidentally, The Lunchbox is also the story of a loney housewife and how she begins to correspond with someone through letters sent inside a lunchbox.
The Festival which commenced on 4 June, will also show Pan Nalin’s Faith Connections and Richie Mehta’s Siddharth in different sections.
Richie Mehta’s film Siddharth is about the search by a father for his lost son despite his own poverty.
Pan Nalin’s documentary Faith Connections is primarily on the Kumbh Mela, which takes place every three years at selected places along India’s river banks and is attended by about 100 million people.
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.
