By JYOTHI VENKATESH, With Ghajini proving to be the biggest blockbuster of the decade grossing over 1000 millions, 2009 seems to be bright as far as the prospects of films at the box office is concerned.
The Khans- Salman Khan, who had a hat trick of flops recently with Hello, God Tussi Great Ho, Yuvvraaj etc, Aamir Khan, who is basking in the glory of Ghajini and Shah Rukh Khan, who had a rocking hit in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi are all set for an encore in 2009.
Aamir Khan is all set to appear in 2009 in his wife Kiran Rao's maiden venture as a director Dhobi Ghat. Though Prateik Babbar plays the title role of the dhobi in her film, the loving husband that Aamir is, is playing the character of a painter who lives and works from a tiny studio apartment in the noisy and congested Bhendi Bazar. The film is Mumbai-centric and revolves around the les of four different characters with Mohammad Ali Road, Marine Drive and the famous dhobi ghat of Malahalakshi as its backdrops. Aamir Khan will be seen romancing Kareena Kapoor for the first time in 2009 with Rajkumar Hirani's Three Idiots, in which Sharman Joshi and R. Madhavan are his co-stars.
Besides Three Idiots, Sharman Joshi will also be seen opposite newbie Uvika Chaudhary in Toh Baat Pakki, in which Tabu plays Uvika's caring elder sister. Toh Baat Pakki will mark the debut of the popular Marathi film director Kedar Shinde and will be a romantic comedy produced by Tips. Toh Baat Pakki is expected to be a sensible entertainer on the lines of Hrishikesh Mukherji's brand of cinema. After her debut in Om Shanti Om followed by her second release Summer 2007, Uvika Chaudhary has now got a jumpstart in Bollywood in a big way with Toh Baat Pakki which is a soft romantic comedy. The pace with which she is bagging big films, Uvika is surely an actress to look forward to.
After Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi in 2008, the Shah Rukh frenzy will take over again as he plays himself – a super star in Priyadarshan's Billoo Barber, produced by him. The film is the remake of the Malayalam hit Katha Parayumbol, which is turn proved to be a flop when it was remake in Tamil with Rajanikant, as Kuselan in 2008. The film features critically acclaimed actor Irrfan Khan in the lead, with Lara Dutta. While Billoo Barber is slated for release on February 14, Shah Rukh Khan will hopefully end the year with Karan Johar's My Name is Khan in which he is playing an autistic person and teams up with Kajol.
Salman Khan is hoping for a hit with his Vipul Shah directed London Dreams in which his co-stars are Ajay Devgan and Asin. The bachelor boy of Bollywood has huge money ( read over Rs 150 crores) riding on him with films like Wanted Dead Or Alive and his own home productions like Mr & Mrs Khanna and Veer under his belt, besides Wanted Dead or Alive which by the way is the remake of the Tamil hit Pokkiri
Akshay Kumar who proved that he is indeed the king at the box office with Singh Is Kinng breaking the box office records in 2009 is all set to kick-start the New Year with his Chandni Chowk to China, slated for release on January 16. It wil be followed bus his other releases in the New Year like Priyadarshan's De Dhana Dhan, Blue, Kambakt Ishq and Eight By Ten. The actor has approximately around Rs 250 crores riding on him. Priyadarshan will follow up Billoo Barber and De Dhabna Dhan this year with one more film- Bum Bum Bole which has Atul Agnihotri and Rituparna Sengupta in the lead with the child prodigy fo Taare Zameen Par Darsheel Safary in the main leads. It is supposedly the remake of Majeed Majeedi's Iranian masterpiece film The Children of Heaven.
Hrithik Roshan is all set to set to take dirty dancing to yet another level with his papa Rakesh Roshan's International foray with Kites directed by Anurag Basu. The film is said to have a whopping budget of Rs 120 crores.
Abhishek Bachchan will bounce back hopefully in 2009 after Guru with Mani Ratnam's magnum opus tentatively titled Ravan with his wife Aishwarya Rai, Vikram and Ravi Kishen in the lead. Abhishek who had a lousy year in 2008 with Drona proving to be the worst debacle of his career has two films this year. They are Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra's Dilli 6, R. Balki's Pa in which he has been cast with his real life pa Amitabh Bachchan and Rajeev Menon's Dhun, in which Aishwarya Rai will be seen once again opposite him besides Ravan.
Papa Amitabh Bachchan also is not lagging behind. After a bad year in terms of his health, he is all set to bounce back with a line up of films like Ramgopal Varma's Rann, Shoojit Sircar's Johny Mastana where his co-star in Jimmy Sheirgill and R. Balki's Pa in which his son Abhishek Bachchan is his co-star.
John Abraham who tasted success after a long time with Dostana proving to be a blockbuster at the box office, in the company of Abhishek Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra will appear in 2009 in Aditya Chopra's Kabir Khan directed New York, with Neil Nitin Mukesh and Katrina Kaif as his co-stars, which insiders insist is similar to Karan Johar's My Name is Khan since both deal with the subject of international terrorism. Neil, who had impressed one and all with his debut with Johny Gaddar last year, will also be seen in Madhur Bhandarkar's Jail this year
Sanjay Dutt has films like the comedy caper Chatur Singh 2 C, the off-beat Rahul Dholakia directed Lamha, in which the sultry Bipasha Basu is his leading lady and Blue in which his co-stars are Akshay Kumar and Lara Dutta, while Ajay Devgan is no more keen on experimenting as a director after U, Me Aur Hum and is contented as an actor with the live animation film Toonpur Ka Sultan and London Dreams.
Emraan Hashmi who delivered hit film Jannat will be back on the scene in Bollywood with screen-scorcher Kangana Ranaut in Raaz - The Mystery Continues, in January. Some interesting small-budget films will also be unveiled around the same time. These include Horn Ok Pleass with Nana Patekar in the lead, the Konkana Sen Sharma-starrer The President is Coming, the Kumaar Sahil-Sneha Ullal starrer Kaashh… Mere Hote and NRI filmmaker Varun Khanna's foray in India with the Hindi film Bad Luck Govind withy which the popular VJ Gaurav Kapur makes his debut in a title role.
The year will also see the release of Nandita Das's maiden venture as a director- Firaaq and Hurman. S. Baweja's second attempt at wooing the audience after Love Story 2050 with Ajitpal Mangat's Victory, a film with cricket as the backdrop. After the phenomenal success of his maiden venture as a leading man-Rock On, filmmaker-cum-actor Farhan Akhtar will wear the grease paint again for his sister Zoya's directorial debut Luck by Chance, which is also slated for release in January. Hrithik Roshan will also be seen playing himself- a super star in Zoya Akhtar's Luck By Chance, like Shah Rukh Khan does in his film Billoo Barber.
Slumdog Millionaire, which has become the toast of the festival circuit overseas, is also all set to see the light of the day in India too.
Akshaye Khanna, who had a flop in Priyadarshan's Mere Baap Pehle Aap hops to resurrect his career with Anil Kapoor's Short Kut The Con is On a remake of the Malayalam hit Udayananu Tharam in which Amrita Rao is his leading lady. Suneil Shetty will be seen in his own production Mumbai Chaka Chak and Tum Milo To Sahi while after a long time Aftab Shivdasani will make you laugh with his comedy caper Aloo Chat with which the TV star Aamna Shareef is making her Bollywood debut this year. The film incidentally has been produced by TV actor Anuj Saxena.
Nikhil who was written off with My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves last year is making a come back with Khalbali Fun Unlimited which is an out and out comedy while Abhay Deol whose Oye Lucky Lucky Oye did not fare quiet well at the box office since it was released a day after Mumbai was struck by terror has a face saver in the comedy Dev D made by Anurag Kashyap.
Mithun Chakraborty's son Mimoh who was written off last year when Jimmy, his maiden venture as an actor flopped like nobody's business, is all set to try his luck once again with Murderers which incidentally has also been directed by the same director Raj.N. Sippy. Govinda will be seen in films like Run Bhola Run, Life Partner and My Cousin Vinny, whereas Shahid Kapur who has been lying low both personally as well as professionally will be seen romancing Ayesha Takia in Ahmed Khan's Paathshaala directed by Milind Ukey, an erstwhile assistant to Sanjay Leeela Bhansali.
There are other releases too in 2009 like Ketan Mehta's Rang Rasiya: Colors of Passion starring Randeep Hooda and Nandana Sen, Raftaar 24X 7, Dhoondthe Reh Jaaoge,Jugaad, Mere Khwaabonmein Jo Aaye, Fox, Straight and last but not the least Karma Aur Holi starring Randeep Hooda and Sushmita Sen with Deepal Shaw.
Let us wait and watch what Bollywood has actually in store in 2009.
--- SAMPURN
