There are Bollywood movies and there are Bollywood movies you just can’t miss. It’s something industry insiders know all too well. The trade has its own lists of definitely-maybes and some sureshots. We asked around and here’s what they had to share...
TARAN ADARSH,
Trade Analyst
Baby
WHY IT WILL WORK: Because Neeraj Pandey is directing it and because it stars Akshay Kumar. The film has a great subject and audiences will be able to connect with it because it is about an international problem: terrorism. Also, it is the first film of the year with a big star. My money is on it.
Dil Dhadakne Do
WHY IT WILL WORK: Zoya Akhtar has made a name for herself with her kind of cinema. Her approach is fresh and unique. Also, she has an interesting star-cast: Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma, Priyanka Chopra.
Fan
WHY IT WILL WORK: Shah Rukh Khan will work with Band Baaja Baaraat director Maneesh Sharma for the first time. Moreover, It is a YRF film. And YRF and SRK have always made magic. SRK plays a double role in the film. One as himself and the other as a lookalike fan. Makes for a fantastic story.
Prem Ratan Dhan Payo
WHY IT WILL WORK: Because Sooraj Barjatya is returning to direction after nine years. And he returns with Salman Khan, in a double role, no less! It will be a wholesome family film, the kind the Rajshri brand is known for and which has its own audience.
Bajirao MastanI
WHY IT WILL WORK: It is Sanjay Bhansali’s dream project. He has waited a decade to make it. He will put his heart and soul in it. Lead pair Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone will bring to screen the same burning chemistry they had in Ram-Leela. Priyanka Chopra is in it as well. It promises to be grand on every level.
KOMAL NAHTA,
Trade Analyst
Prem Ratan Dhan Payo
WHY IT WILL WORK: Grapevine has it that this film has such a fine script that it would probably be the first film to break PK’s record. Sooraj Barjatya and Salman Khan coming together after 16 years is itself an exciting proposition. What’s more, all their previous films — Maine Pyar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Koun and Hum Saath Saath Hain proved winners at the B-O.
Rohit Shetty’s untitled film
WHY IT WILL WORK: The two gave each other their biggest blockbuster: Chennai Express. How can there not be sky-high expectations from their next film. The film has no title yet, nobody knows who the heroine is, the trade is unaware about there being more heroes or heroines, but do all these things really matter? Doesn’t seem so.
Bajrangi Bhaijaan
WHY IT WILL WORK: The moment I heard the title of this Kabir Khan film, a Salman-Kareena starrer, I have maintained, the ‘Hindu-Muslim’ title is itself worth `100 crore. In other words, if the merits of this film are worth `150 crore, it would end up collecting `250 crore all-India. Jokes apart, if Salman-Kabir’s last, Ek Tha Tiger could ‘roar’ so loudly, one can assume Bajrangi Bhaijaan will do more.
Fan
WHY IT WILL WORK: Every star has millions of fans. The bigger the star, the more the fans. But no big star worth his stardom has ever played a fan. Shah Rukh Khan does that in YRF’s Fan. The sheer novelty of the subject is enough to raise expectations of millions of his fans. Every fan, for sure, would be eager to see if Khan’s portrayal somewhere or somehow matches their own feelings for their idol.
Bajirao Mastani
WHY IT WILL WORK: Sanjay Leela Bhansali literally gives the audience grandeur of the kind never before seen on screen. For their sheer opulence, his films are worth waiting for. This film will be yet another spectacle. That it repeats the winning team of Ram-Leela (this time PC has a full-fledged role), will be an added bonus.
AMUL MOHAN,
Editor, Super Cinema
Tamasha
WHY IT WILL WORK: For two different reasons: Imtiaz Ali and Ranbir Kapoor coming together after Rockstar. And because of the Ranbir-Deepika Padukone jodi coming together after Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. Audiences obviously want more of that chemistry. One of the most anticipated films this year.
Jagga Jasoos
WHY IT WILL WORK: RK after Barfi! with Anurag Basu, a great storyteller. These two always come together with quirky stuff. They push the envelope and their movies, especially Anurag’s movies are known for good music. I really look forward to his soundtracks with Pritam. This time, there’s some 20 songs or something. Also, Ranbir-Katrina have not been seen in too many films together in the recent past.
Bajrangi Bhaijaan
WHY IT WILL WORK: Bajrangi Bhaijaan is coming on Eid. Salman on Eid is a a very different atmosphere, a different high for audiences and for the trade. People just look out for that date now. It’s synonymous now — Salman and Eid. And because the director (Kabir Khan) and the actor gave a blockbuster on Eid a couple of years ago — Ek Tha Tiger.
Fan
WHY IT WILL WORK: SRK and YRF always do good movies. And Maneesh turns producer with YRF for the first time. And by whatever we’ve heard in the trade, the concept looks really mad. It’s a double role where SRK also plays his own fan as a lookalike, that itself is very intriguing for a layman. Maneesh has a very different sensibility as a director and is possibly the youngest of the lot Khan will work with.
Brothers
WHY IT WILL WORK: It’s the remake of this very good, underrated Hollywood film called Warriors. It has a very unique storyline. It’s just the idea of two great-looking men (Akshay Kumar and SIdharth Malhotra) fighting it out and going at it like a full, mad action film; not elaborate action, but in-the-ring action. That’s something that people don’t see in Bollywood anymore.
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