The beginning of the new year is always time to look forward at what is potentially exciting among the films to come in 2017.
1) Shah Rukh Khan has been promoting Rahul Dholakia's Raees for over a year now, and it’s about to release now, and presents the star in a very different light. He has played a Don before, but not a desi one. Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays the cop who makes it a mission in life to being down the gangster and Mahira Khan is the love interest.
2) After the disastrous Mohenjo Daro, Hrithik Roshan needs a hit, and Sanjay Gupta’s Kaabil, stars him as a blind man, who does not let his lack of sight come in the way of his fighting skills. Yami Gautam plays his blind wife and Ronit Roy the villain.
3) Akshay Kumar, looking for more performance-oriented roles, stars as a lawyer in Subhash Kapoor’s Jolly LLB 2, a sequel to his surprise hit with Arshad Warsi. Annu Kapoor and Huma Qureshi form the supporting cast.
4) After Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania, Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt star in the next installment of the franchise, titled Badrinath Ki Dulhaniya, directed by Shashank Khaitan.
5) Rangoon, Vishal Bharadwaj’s romantic drama set during World War II, stars Saif Ali Khan, Kangana Ranaut and Shahid Kapoor, and the glimpse of the films seen so far are intriguing.
6) Anurag Basu and Ranbir Kapoor team up for Jagga Jasoos, which looks like a madcap adventure. It got the kind of publicity it didn’t need when the leading lady Katrina Kaif had a break-up with Ranbir, and the film was completed with the pair barely civil to each other.
7) Sanjay Leela Bhansali knows the value of marketing, so his Padmavati is supposedly secret, but small nuggets are being judiciously leaked to whet the audience’s interest, Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Shahid Kapoor star as characters from history.
8) Kabir Khan’s Tubelight, stars Salman Khan and Chinese actor Zhu Zhu, is reportedly set during in in lead roles and is said to be set during the Sino-Indian conflict of 1962. The war drama that is co-produced by the filmmaker and his male lead will be the actor’s signature Eid release for next year.
9) S S Rajamouli’s Baahubali 2, starring Prabhas and Tamannah Bhatia, will cause some ripples, since the first film was such a hit, and a National Award winner.
10) David Dhawan’s 1997 hit Judwa gets a remake, same director, the star is obviously Varun Dhawan, with Jacqueline Fernandez and Taapsee Pannu. Will the Dhawan style work two decades later?