It’s that time of the year again – listicles, contemplation and anticipation. If you’re a desi movie buff it’s time to get excited about the platter of films ready to be served to you in the coming year. Following are ten of the Hindi films we’re most excited to watch:
Udta Punjab
With Ishqiya director Abhishek Chaubey showed some promise, but with last year’s beautifully layered Dedh Ishqiya, Chaubey handily demonstrated that he’s a truly unique voice in modern Indian cinema. This time Chaubey delves into the hazy and trippy world of drug fueled North India seen through the eyes of a fascinating cast of Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor and Diljit Dosanjh. If you enjoyed Dedh Ishqiya’s Mexican standoff interrupted by a school bell, or the sight of Manoj Pahwa storming out of a train in slow motion holding a shotgun, Udta Punjab might just be your cinema fix.
Raman Raghav 2.0
The world couldn’t stop taking pot shots at Anurag Kashyap after Bombay Velvet but the filmmaker simply shrugged away the criticism and launched head first into a new film. His Wasseypur discovery Nawazuddin stars in a mysterious new film that alludes in some way to Raman Raghav, a serial killer from the 60’s.
Dangal
Aamir Khan is the only A-lister in Bollywood to take huge breaks between films and still stay in the A-list. Dangal, his follow up to PK comes after two whole years on his favourite release slot of the Christmas weekend. The film follows the real life journey of wrestlers Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari who under the tutelage of their father Mahavir (played by Khan) conquered the Commonwealth Games of 2010. The first poster of Aamir’s face in mud set some tongues wagging but his commitment to the role is hard to dismiss.
Rangoon
Two years after directing the severely awesome Haider and one year after the writing masterclass that was Talvar, Vishal Bhardwaj re-teams with Shahid Kapoor for a period drama set in World War 2, which also stars Saif Ali Khan and Kangana Ranaut. Details on the film are scarce, what is known however is that Kapoor plays an Army officer. Expect Gulzar and Rekha Bhardwaj to return as well.
Fan
By far the most interesting looking Shah Rukh Khan film in years, Fan seems to mine the insanity of his star power into a meta film. It serves two helpings of the actor, one of which is a huge film star and the other is a fan whose face is digitally morphed to mildly resemble the star. Director Maneesh Sharma subverted a few clichés of rom coms in the surprisingly strong Shudh Desi Romance a couple of years ago, hopefully the magic will carry over to Fan.
Fitoor
A couple of
years ago director Abhishek Kapoor pretty much did the impossible – he turned
one of the worst Chetan Bhagat books into an extremely good film. Kapoor found subtlety
in the melodrama, heart in the contrivance and poetry in the clichés – we
certainly hope that he would apply all these parameters to a desi adaptation of
Great Expectations. The film stars
Aditya Roy Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Aditi Rao Hydari, Tabu, Lara Dutta and Rahul
Bhatt who was last seen as the father in Ugly.
Jagga Jasoos
After Barfi Anurag Basu’s reteaming effort
with Ranbir Kapoor has been a rough ride. The film’s been delayed quite a few
times already, but if there’s one thing delayed films exude, it’s ambition.
Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
Karan Johar returns to the director’s chair with a huge cast of Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Aishwarya Rai, Fawad Khan and a host of other biggies in surprise extended cameos. The film is purported to be a romantic drama rife with intertwining relationships and a tragedy at its center.
Baahubali 2
Let’s be honest here – no other Hindi film of 2015 was as entertaining as the Hindi dub of SS Rajamoulis’ Baahubali. Regardless of the infamous ‘undressing’ scene, Baahubali delivered an epic scale never before seen in desi cinema, and the box office receipts indicated people came back to watch it twice. The first film ended on a tantalizing note which spiraled into a hilarious internet meme of ‘Why did Katappa kill Baahubali’ – in 2016 we’ll finally get to know why. The buzzword is that the film would open the same day as one of the films mentioned in this list – the box office collectors of the other film would surely be worried.
Bonus:
Tera Suroor 2
We may not get a third installment of MSG, but there’s still reason to cheer because Himesh Reshammiya and his permanently glued to scalp cap are back. How the sequel to Aap Ka Suroor is titled Tera Suroor 2 is a mystery that can only be answered by the people who made Krissh and then Krissh 3, but Reshammiya is now joined by the likes of Naseeruddin Shah, Shekhar Kapur, Monica Dogra, Kabir Bedi and Shernaz Patel. Naturally there’s little else to say to get you more excited for the film.
(Mihir Fadnavis is not only a film critic and journalist but also a certified film geek who has consumed more movies than meals.)
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