Bollywood has a lot to offer this year — from ten sequels and three remakes to several blockbusters and youth-oriented dramas, observes Rajiv Vijayakar
It is 2012 that has ended and not the world as per doomsday predictions. Our predictions last year, same time, did come true though: we had said that by the time 2012 ends, Salman Khan will be still bigger, Sonakshi Sinha will be in the top three, and Himesh Reshammiya and Sajid-Wajid will reach the A-list echelons.
And with Dabangg 2 getting a historic start and a theatrical run and collections that will extend into 2013, the stage is not only set, but also strobe-lit, for the magic of the movies to dazzle unabated.
As always, the films in the New Year will be the usual mix of blockbusters, new-age films, youth-oriented dramas, high- concept medium-budget movies and obviously A-grade to C-grade trash. Dark horses and damp squibs to mix metaphors will continue to make their way in.
Star trends being what they are, the elite league will continue to charge heftier remunerations while budgets, the number of prints, and shows for big films, collections and hype will all spiral.
Corporates will continue to dominate, and as usual, again, the biggest films will be seen in the more bountiful second half of the year.
2013 will be a decisive year for film music, where melodies filmed in the Indian cinema way will battle with new-age sensibility hooks and jingles. But with the lip-synch song becoming a must even in new-age films, the stage seems to be set for melody to have a clear edge.
Craze for sequels and remakes Sequels continue to be the craze. Ten (!) sequels are scheduled to make it to the marquee this year, starting with Race 2 and ending with Dhoom 3 and Krrish 3. While Race 2, a blockbuster brand from Tips and Abbas-Mustan (a dark thriller with intrigue and chartbusting music), hits the screens on January 25, Dhoom 3 and Krrish 3 are already two instalments old and come from two of our biggest independent banners, Yash Raj Films and Filmkraft Productions, the banner of Hrithik Roshan's father Rakesh Roshan. While Krrish 3 might hit the marquee in Diwali 2013, the other biggie, top-lined by Aamir Khan as an ace villain, will arrive as a Christmas package, continuing the tradition of Christmas blockbusters.
Each of these actioners promise more spectacular thrills and exciting content than their predecessors. Pritam's music in Race 2 is already making digital waves. The Bhatts (Mukesh and Mahesh) have been having a special yen for sequels because of an apparent creative plateau and will spring Aashiqui 2 (with the unappetising combo of multiple music directors and wannabes Shradha Kapoor, Aditya Roy Kapoor and Shaad Randhawaa) and Murder 3, sans Emraan Hashmi, but with the latest Bhatt pet Randeep Hooda, co-starring with Aditi Rao Hydari and Pakistani siren Mona Laizza. While the Murder brand loses out on its ace actor, it gains a new ace — composer Pritam again, who always reserves something special for the Bhatts.
Tigmanshu Dhulia returns with his mix of grit and drama in Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns, and Milan Luthria's and Ekta Kapoor's Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Again has the cast getting bigger than ever with Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha, Imran Khan and Sonali Bendre — but the plot is supposed to be placed in an earlier period than the original.
Another film that seems like a sequel but is actually set in an earlier timeframe is Shootout At Wadala, which sees Sanjay Gupta back as director after a long hiatus. Ekta Kapoor also will present another follow-up to her 2011 hit, Ragini MMS. The upcoming sequel of this horror drama has already made news because Sunny Leone has been signed to do bare-all scenes again.
And last but not the least, Indra Kumar returns with Grand Masti, the sequel to his 2004 comedy Masti, and the Deols — Dharmendra, Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol — have a blast together again in the just-completed Yamla Pagla Deewana 2.
We will also have three remakes of the 1981 flop but now cult film Chashme Buddoor, which will be a make-or-break film for the flop-ridden David Dhawan, Sajid Khan's remake of the 1983 madcap masala movie Himmatwala (with Ajay Devgn and South's Tamannah) and Apoorva Lakhia's daring re-creation of Zanjeer with South actor Charan Raj in Amitabh Bachchan's iconic role.
Big-ticket Bonanza
While Aamir Khan will surface only next Christmas in Dhoom 3, Shah Rukh Khan's co-production Chennai Express (once again with Deepika Padukone) will release in the second half of the year. This will be yet another action-packed movie (after Main Hoon Na, Don and Don2) for the actor and his first with Rohit Shetty. For Shetty, it will be his first without Ajay Devgn in nine films.
As for the biggest of them all, Salman Khan, there's an element of uncertainty over which project will take off next, and Sohail Khan's Sher Khan, as of now, seems to have the edge over Sajid Nadiadwala's Kick and a South remake. However, for the fifth consecutive year, Eid is expected to be locked as a date for Salman Khan.
Akshay Kumar gets into high-concept mode again after OMG - Oh My God! for Neeraj Pandey's A Wednesday! and heist drama Special Chhabis produced by Viacom 18, again minus a heroine. Apart from Once Upon…, he will also release the action-packed Naam Hai Boss with Anthony D'Souza, who helmed Akshay's flop Blue back in the game. Those wanting to chortle in a Akshay comedy will have to wait a while — 2013 will see serious action from the khiladi.
Ajay Devgn will balance the whacky Himmatwala with the intense Satyagrah — Democracy Under Fire, his return to Prakash Jha after the filmmaker's success streak with him — Jha's luck seemed to have deserted him after Ajay's absence from his last two issue-based films. Now that the 'lucky mascot' is back, along with Kareena Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan as well, and with an apt August 15 release, Jha may be back in the hit bracket.
The latest addition to the 100 crore league, Ranbir Kapoor, will be seen in Reliance's Besharam, that reportedly has him cast with parents Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh in a comedy helmed by Abhinav Sigh Kashyap, the director of Dabangg. And summer will see him reunite with Deepika Padukone and Wake Up Sid! director Ayan Mukerji in a romantic comedy for Karan Johar.
New-age cinema & the rest As movie makers get more adventurous with corporate (read public) funding, and ironically, the same public as theatre audiences becoming relatively less important for investment returns, thanks to sales of multiple rights and other revenue streams, all kinds of experimental cinema is being tried out at public expense — literally as well. Obviously here, for every Vicky Donor and Chillar Party, there will be messes like Shanghai, Aiyya! and the likes.
Among the daring films this year that show more promise than the rest are Viacom 18's and Vikas (Chillar Party) Bahl's Queen, which has Kangana Ranaut as a Delhi girl going alone on her honeymoon, T-Series and Rohan Sippy's Nautanki Saala with Ayushmann Vicky Donor Khurrana and Kunaal Delhi Belly Roy Kapur, Vikramaditya Udaan Motwane's Lootera starring Sonakshi Sinha with her first young hero, Ranveer Singh, and three young films from the Yash Raj banner, Mere Dad Ki Maruti (a madcap comedy set in Delhi), Gunday (a stylised mafia film with Arjun Kapoor, Ranveer Singh and Priyanka Chopra) and Aurangzeb starring Arjun Kapoor in a dual role.
Leading this list in interest quotient, if things do not go deviant, are Vishal Bhardwaj's Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola (opening in January itself) featuring Imran Khan, Anushka Sharma and Pankaj Kapur respectively as Matru, Bijlee and Mandola, and Rajkumar Gupta's Ghanchakkar that stars The Dirty Picture duo of Vidya Balan and Emraan Hashmi.
Among the 'critic'al delights that will come will be Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's bio-pic starring Farhan Akhtar, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, the edgy Farhan Akhtar production Fukrey without stars, Madhuri Dixit's comeback film Gulab Gang, also starring Juhi Chawla, Bejoy Nambiar's arty David (a story of three characters of that name), and Sudhir Mishra's expose of sexual harassment at work, Inkaar, starring Arjun Rampal.
Of course, the smaller and possibly cost-effective mainstream films will also arrive, a list led by Tips' Ramaiya Vastavaiyya introducing Kumar Taurani's son Girish, but helmed by proven whizkid Prabhudheva and Remo's ABCD - Anybody Can Dance, which has Prabhudheva in the lead. Divya Khosla Kumar, T-series honcho Bhushan Kumar's wife and ex-actor, turns director with the April release, Yaariyaan¸ starring newcomers Himansh Kohli and Rakul Preet Singh.
As we close, it is prediction time again: watch out this time for the commercial return of Pritam, who spread his creative wings but lost out to Himesh Reshammiya and Sajid-Wajid on the 2012 charts in this transition phase; for Himesh Reshammiya to spring more aces among quickie biggies as yet unannounced; for Neeraj Pandey to excel again in Special Chhabis, and for most films that rock the box-office to be 'sequel'ed.