Ravan And The Robot

What's on offer in the regional films basket? A preview...

Tamil

• Enthiran, The Robot: This Rajni-Ash action fantasy is '09's biggest Tamil film, and the costliest ever Indian one. Directed by Shankar, the music is by Rahman.
  
• Sultan-the Warrior: Rajni, animated, directed by daughter Soundarya
  
• Villu: Prabhudeva's film, starring Vijay, Nayanthara
  
• Padikkathavan: Sooraj's offering, with Dhanush and Tamanna
  
• Naan Kadavul: A Bala film, with Arya, Pooja and music by Ilayaraja

Multilinguals

• Ravan: Mani Ratnam's Tamil-Telugu-Hindi trilingual is a modern adaptation of Ramayana. Bachchan Jr is Ravan; wife Ash is Sita to South superstar Vikram's Ram.
  
• 13 B: A Tamil-Hindi bilingual supernatural thriller that stars Madhavan and Neetu Chandra

Bengali

• Shob Choritra Kalponik: A Rituparno Ghosh film, starring Prosenjit and Bipasha
  
• Abohomann: Also by Ghosh, with Dipankar De, Mamata Shankar
  
• Janala: A Buddhadeb Dasgupta film, with Indranil Sengupta, Sahana Sen

Marathi

• Samaantar: An Amol Palekar film, starring Sharmila Tagore, Samir Dharmadhikari, Kishore Kadam

Malayalam

• Kutty Srank: Shaji N. Karun's film, starring Mammooty, Meena Kumari, Padmapriya, Kamilini Mukherjee

Kannada

• Ijjodu: M.S. Sathyu's film, with Meera Jasmine, Anirudh

***

"Critics might rape you but the audience wants to go to bed with you." In his own words, this is the kind of film scriptwriter Sridhar Raghavan has striven for in his forthcoming Chandni Chowk to China. An unadulterated masala entertainer, it promises to open Bollywood's business with a big bang in 2009.

Directed by Nikhil Advani, this tale of a bumbling cook from old Delhi in search of his destiny in China is a tribute to the Manmohan Desai brand of energetic filmmaking. It also doffs its hat to Sholay, Seven Samurai (three outsiders coming to the rescue of a village) and Seeta Aur Geeta (with heroine Deepika Padukone in a double role). Well-known director Ramesh Sippy does the voice-over, and action star Gordon Liu steps in as the baddie.


Film: Enthiran, The Robot, Starring: Rajnikanth, Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan, Date of release: End-2009

CCTC's biggest selling point, of course, is its lead star: the new emperor of Bollywood, Akshay Kumar. Raghavan claims he wrote the film with Akshay in mind. He was looking for an actor who could do action, comedy, drama and some cooking as well! "A mix of Harold Lloyd and Jackie Chan and Stephen Chow and Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjeev Kapoor," he says.

CCTC is opening with a humungous 1,400 prints worldwide. Of these, 130 are for America alone, the highest ever for an Indian film. It will be premiered in four major cities of the West—LA, NY, Toronto and London. When it opens next week it would typify the spirit of Bollywood this year—upbeat and optimistic. Never mind the gargantuan global financial crisis, Bollywood promises to be bigger than ever, with every top director and every major star lining up a project—from SRK, Aamir, Hrithik and Salman to Rakeysh Mehra, Ashutosh Gowariker, Raj Kumar Hirani, Karan Johar and Vishal Bhardwaj.

However, nothing seems to get larger than life than good old Akki. He has another biggie, debutant Sabir Khan's Kambakht Ishq, where he plays a Hollywood stuntman in search of love. Guest appearances, for a change, come from the West, with Sly Stallone, Brandon Routh, Carmen Electra and Denise Richards making their desi debuts.


Film: Billu Barber, Starring: Irrfan, Shahrukh Khan, Lara Datta, Date of Release: February 13

Shahrukh Khan's home production, Priyadarshan's Billu Barber, has him in the most interesting pairing of his career—with Irrfan! Based on the Malayalam film Katha Parayumpol (also remade in Tamil as Kuselan), it plays on the Krishna-Sudama legend. Irrfan plays a modest barber in a small town. His run-down shop is on the verge of extinction in an increasingly competitive, liberalised world. Things take a turn and he suddenly becomes important in the eyes of the people when they get to know of his childhood buddy, superstar SRK. Lots of laughs followed by buckets of tears in the climax ensure a good time for all.

Vipul Shah's London Dreams is Salman Khan's big hope after a series of recent flops. It has him back together with Ajay Devgan after Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. The two, however, won't fight over Aishwarya here. The common object of their affections is Bollywood's new import from the South—Asin.

Film: Raaz—The Mystery Continues, Starring: Emraan Hashmi, Kangana Ranaut, Date of Release: January 23

The dark horse in the world of biggies may well turn out to be Vishesh Films' sequel to their 2002 horror hit, Raaz. Directed by Mohit Suri, Raaz—The Mystery Continues is being tipped as India's most expensive horror film with chilling special effects. It has Kangana Ranaut playing a model whose paintings by artist Emraan Hashmi get mysteriously disfigured—ominous predictions of trouble in her life.

 

Four mainstream filmmakers are presenting the most eagerly awaited films of 2009. Rakeysh Mehra's Delhi 6 is about the walled city of old Delhi—its people and their beliefs. Abhishek Bachchan plays Roshan, who travels back to India from the US to take a journey within and find himself.

Not much is known as yet about Three Idiots—Raj Kumar Hirani's return after Lage Raho Munnabhai—other than that it marks the coming together of Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor. The buzz is that it's not a faithful adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's Five Point Someone but more of an original script from Hirani.

After some serious, issue-oriented films, Ashutosh Gowariker turns to a light-hearted romantic comedy with What's Your Raashee? Based on Madhu Rye's Gujarati novel, Kimball Ravenswood, it stars Harman Baweja in the lead as a guy in a hurry to find his dream girl to save his family from ruin.

Like Ashutosh, Karan Johar too is changing, but for the serious. My Name Is Khan, his first film that does not begin with the letter "K" is about the demonisation of Muslims in the aftermath of 9/11, and stars his usual favourites—SRK and Kajol.

Three young directors are also promising the world. Imtiaz Ali does another romantic comedy, this time with Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone. Tentatively titled Aaj Kal, it has been shot across the globe and marks a transition from Imtiaz's innocent, intimate world to a grand scale and canvas. New York, Kabir Khan's sophomore effort after Kabul Express, is about three friends finding their lives altered in Manhattan in the face of current political realities. Anurag Basu returns after Life In A Metro with Kites, which shows Hrithik in a sensuous mode with Kangana Ranaut and Latin American actress Barbara Mori. Sriram Raghavan will showcase Agent Vinod, a desi Bond figure played by Saif, and Shimit Amin's next after Chak De India will also be screened later this year.

Then there are those with alternative dreams. Vishal Bhardwaj's is perhaps the most interestingly titled film—Kaminay. Set in Bombay, it has Shahid Kapoor playing twins—one stammers, the other lisps; one is nice, the other bad. Shahid's look in the film has been kept under wraps. Like Saif in Omkara, Shahid would hit the viewers with an unusual persona here and perhaps an unusually good performance too.

Bhardwaj's assistant Abhishek Chaubey comes up with Ishqiya, starring Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi as two petty criminals from Bhopal who are on the run and find shelter in Vidya Balan's house on the UP-Nepal border, only to start a wooing game with her.

Anurag Kashyap's Dev D is a modern-day adaptation of Devdas, expressing the spirit of today's youth caught between the East and the West. It reflects in the music too—from Punjabi ballads to rock. The track Emotional Atyachar must be the most inventive one heard recently.

The film world will see the return of the old-timers—Ketan Mehta with Rang Rasiya, Raj Kumar Santoshi with Ajab Prem Ki Gajab Kahani and Prakash Jha with Rajniti—and there will be many a debut too. The writer of Rang De Basanti, Rensil De Silva, is making his first film for Karan Johar with Saif and Kareena; Roshan Abbas is making Log In for SRK; Abhinav Deo is doing Delhi Belly for Aamir with Imran Khan in the lead; and Ayan Mukherji's Wake Up Sid for Karan Johar finds Konkona Sen getting together with Ranbir Kapoor.


Ladies Special Zoya Akhtar's Luck by Chance

But 2009 will go down in history for the many debuts by women filmmakers. Later this month Farhan's sister Zoya Akhtar takes a bow with Luck By Chance, about the reality, fantasy and contradictions inherent in Bollywood. A starlet and a struggler meet in this unpredictable world where desires, opportunities, fate and destiny come together in strange patterns.

Writer Sooni Taraporevala debuts with Little Zizou, which has practically every well-known Parsi in its cast and credits. A charming tale of a young boy's obsession with football star Zinedine Zidane, it deals with the contentious issues of faith and fundamentalism, hope and tolerance through the boy's perspective.


Nandita Das's Firaaq mark the debut of women directors

Nandita Das's thought-provoking first outing Firaaq examines the impact of communal violence on human relationships. The film does this by presenting five stories. Last but not the least there's Aamir's wife Kiran Rao at the helm of Dhobi Ghat, with Smita Patil's talented son Prateik Babbar in the lead.