Hindi
Urumi bags best film award at Madrid fest
MUMBAI: The 11th edition of Imagineindia International Film Festival, Madrid has awarded Urumi with the Best Film award. About 70 films were screened in 12 sections at the festival across four venues in the city.
The competitive section comprised six films – Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara by Zoya Akhtar, Urumi by Santosh Sivan, Memoirs in March by Sanjay Nag, Achal (The Stagnant) by Bikramjit Gupta, Adaminte Makan Abu by Salim Ahamed and Traffic by Rajesh Pillai.
While Santosh Sivan won the best director award for Urumi, Deepti Naval was named best actress for Memories in March and Salim Kumar won the best actor award for Adaminte Makan Abu.
The award for best music went to Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy for their score in Zindagi Naa Milegi Dobara.
The 11th edition of Imagineindia International Film Festival was held in Madrid from May 17-31.
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.
