There is a film industry superstition that films that release in the first week of January don’t do well. So the year starts with small films that won’t be able to get a theatre once the biggies start rolling.
Just in the first quarter, there are some films that have attracted pre-release attention, even though the real blockbusters like Chennai Express, Dhoom 3, Krrish 3, and anything Salman Khan is doing, are still a few months away.
The promos of Vishal Bhardwaj’s Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola, have got viewers interested, even though the director’s last film Saat Khoon Maaf was a turkey. Imran Khan, Anushka Sharma and Pankaj Kapur play rustic characters in what promises to be an outrageous comedy. Kamal Haasan releases his action thriller Vishwaroopam the same day, but the Southern star’s fate in Mumbai has always been iffy.
Sudhir Mishra’s Inkaar, starring Arjun Rampal and Chitragada Singh, picks a topical story of sexual harassment at workplace, and it so happens that the exploitation of women is the issue du jour.
Abbas Mustan’s Race 2, will be racy at least, plus stylish, steamy and splashy, with Saif Ali Khan, Anil Kapoor, John Abraham and Deepika Padukone heading the cast.
Neeraj Pandey, the director of the sleeper hit A Wednesday, directs his second Special 26, starring Akshay Kumar and Manoj Bajpayee, a thriller based on the sensation real-life heist at a famous jewellers’ in Mumbai, by a conman posing as an income tax official — the still unsolved case was the perfect crime.
Choreographer Remo D’Souza teams up with dazzling dancer Prabhudeva for ABCD — Any Body Can Dance; a bunch of new dancers, stomp it up in 3D with Prabhudeva playing mentor.
The third film in the killer franchise, Murder 3, has been directed by Vishesh Bhatt, replaces Emraan Hashmi with Randeep Hooda and adds Aditi Rao Hydari and Mona Lizza to the smoldering cauldron. A film that’s gathering a good buzz is Kai Po Che, directed by Abhishek Kapoor, based on the Chetan Bhagar bestseller Three Mistakes Of My Life, and featuring a new cast — Sushant Singh Rajput, Amit Sadh and Rajkumar Yadav.
The Attacks of 26/11 by Ram Gopal Varma, the film with the self-explanatory title, is reported to be the film that will bring the beleagured RGV back into the running.
The subject does have emotional appeal for Mumbai.
Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster was enough of a success to merit a sequel. Soha Ali Khan joins the original cast, Jimmy Shergill, Randeep Hooda and Mahie Gill.
And closing the first quarter of what seems to be fairly exciting time at the movies, is Sajid Khan’s remake of the 80s blockbuster Himmatwala, with Ajay Devgan and Tamannaah playing the Jeetendra-Sridevi parts.
To sate the appetite for the offbeat, are Bejoy Nambiar’s David and Avinash Kumar Singh’s Listen Amaya. After March, we’ll see what Bollywood has in store.