With the festive season having begun, Bollywood is getting ready to release its big budget films of the year.
It has been a rough year for the Hindi film industry. The bitter face-off between Hindi film producers and multiplex owners in mid-2009 resulted in delays of films and monumental losses for the industry and exhibitors alike. Film releases were pushed back and losses worth Rs 300 crore were reported by trade experts.
The year began with sluggish box office returns anyway. Chandni Chowk to China, a Rs 100 crore venture, with a fresh pairing of Akshay Kumar and Deepika Padukone, flopped miserably at the box office. There were other big ventures like Delhi 6, Billu, Raaz-The Mystery Continues, to name a few, which despite mega budgets didn’t do well either. The winners, however, were films with fresh scripts like A Wednesday (which is being remade in Tamil and Telugu), Dev D, Little Zizou and Kaminey that managed to not only get critical acclaim but also succeed at the box office.
| COMING UP
Wake Up Sid! All the Best 3 Idiots London Dreams Blue |
With the festive season of 2009 upon us, Bollywood is once again gearing up for some mega releases to bring audiences flocking to cinema halls. What’s more, these are films that will offer some unusual pairings as well. Can you imagine Konkona Sen and Ranbir Kapoor together? Or, for that matter, Rahul Bose and Shefali Chhaya? Newcomer Asin, for instance, will be seen with not one but two seasoned actors like Salman Khan and Ajay Devgn (yes, he’s dropped the letter ‘a’ from his surname). Devgn’s own home production is bringing its mega-budget film All the Best to audiences during Diwali. His wife, Kajol, who is starring with Shahrukh Khan in My Name is Khan, will have a release in early 2010. My Name is Khan is Karan Johar’s ambitious project that revolves around terrorism and it will be interesting to note the shifting focus of Johar from candyfloss romances to another genre altogether.
One of Johar’s favourite actors, Rani Mukherji (thankfully, she promises not to be too teary-eyed in films anymore) was busy impressing the gods at Shirdi some months ago when her film, Dil Bole Hadippa, completed its post-production schedule. The film, released this Friday, is one of the mega films produced by Yash Raj Films. Made on a budget of Rs 60 crore, the film shows Mukherji essaying the role of a young woman who disguises herself as a man to lead an all-men cricket team. The film’s music has topped the charts. The film is very important for Mukherji’s shaky career. No doubt, she’s hoping that the first weekend collections at the box office shines the spotlight on her again.
If Mukherji’s role in Dil Bole Hadippa is touted as a defining one, in What’s Your Rashee? it is Priyanka Chopra who is gaining more precedence than her co-star Harman Baweja already. She’s also hoping for an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for essaying as many as 12 roles in one film. Siddharth Roy Kapur, CEO, UTV Motion Pictures, the production company that will release the film, says, “We are looking forward to the release of all our films, including A Wednesday remakes, Wake Up Sid!, Main aur Mrs Khanna and What’s Your Rashee? because they are brilliant scripts directed by very talented directors.”
While on the subject of women finding a stronger foothold in terms of stories in Bollywood, there’s Katrina Kaif who, as a politician clad in cotton sarees, will be seen in a hard-hitting, political drama called Rajneeti. Of course, she’ll fast change the look for a completely bohemian one in Blue, a film which, by the way, has Kylie Minogue dancing to Farah Khan’s choreography. Blue, made at a budget of Rs 130 crore reportedly has underwater stunts (you’d expect that with Akshay Kumar around), mean water machines imported specially from Germany and breathtaking shots of the gorgeous islands of the Bahamas. My gut instinct, however, says the film could bomb. The film, much like Kambakht Ishq, another dampener starring Kareena Kapoor and Kumar, seems to have all the necessary frills but no story. For the record, Kareena Kapoor’s next is UTV’s Main Aur Mrs Khanna that will star Salman Khan and brother Sohail Khan along with the Kapoor girl. Salman Khan, by the way, will be seen along with Asin and Devgn in Vipul Shah’s next film titled London Dreams. Releasing on October 30, 2009, the film comes after Shah’s immensely successful Singh is Kinng, a movie that was one of the biggest hits of 2008. His immensely talented wife Shefali Chhaya, by the way, will be seen opposite Rahul Bose in a light, romantic film called Kuch Love Jaisa. Made on a modest budget, this film, will be released sometime in November 2009 and should click with the critics if not the masses.
Coming back to Shah, his on-screen jodi of Kumar and Kaif has been considered very successful and the trio has delivered a string of hits including Namaste London and Singh is Kinng. De Dana Dan, directed by Priyadarshan, is slated to release on November 27, 2009 and will be a classic comic caper, and looks likely to succeed if you go by the director’s past track record.
I’m personally rooting for Wake up Sid! a film that’ll see Kapoor and Sen opposite each other. The film, releasing on October 2, 2009, is about Sid (Kapoor) being a rich, lazy lad who discovers a sense of purpose when he meets his housemate, a young woman, who wants to be a successful writer. The film cost Rs 60 crore and is produced by Johar’s Dharma Productions. It looks like a winner and its music, not surprisingly, is fast climbing the ladder on most charts.
There’s also Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani which will have Kaif and Kapoor in pivotal roles. In what’s seen as a completely new story — and a very challenging one — is R Balki’s Pa, a film that sees Amitabh Bachchan (Balki directed him in Cheeni Kum), Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan together. The story looks like the desi version of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button even though the filmmaker vehemently denies it. Prosthetics for the film — complete with makeup artistes from Hollywood — proved to be very expensive and going by the initial photographs of the film that did the rounds when the unit was shooting in Delhi, the look of Bachchan senior was declared an unmitigated flop. Hopefully, the plot of the film, considering Balki is a fantastic storyteller, should manage to garner interest in Pa. The film is supposed to release in November but it just might get pushed to early 2010.
Apart from Pa, Bachchan junior is also busy with the post production of Mani Ratnam’s Ravana, a film that will have him and his wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan portraying important roles in what Ratnam calls a modern-day Ramayana. It’s slated to release in November though the dates haven’t been finalised.
Get ready to sit back and munch some popcorn. You have a date with comedy, action, romance and more.
