Between Reviews: Flash Forward: Bollywood 2009
FLASH FORWARD: BOLLYWOOD 2009
JAN 4, 2009 – 1. 3 Idiots: The Bridges of Madison County made an unexpectedly velvety transition from sneered-upon bestseller to critically acclaimed blockbuster, so history is certainly on the side of Rajkumar Hirani’s adaptation of Chetan Bhagat’s Five Point Someone. And it certainly can’t hurt that the cast includes Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Madhavan, Sharman Joshi and the always interesting Boman Irani.
2. Aashayein, Eight By Ten: Nagesh Kukunoor returns with two films, with two of the last actors you’d expect to see in a Nagesh Kukunoor film. Aashayein stars John Abraham as a gambling addict, while Akshay Kumar plays a “psychological superhero” in Eight By Ten. At least one of them had better be good, if we’re to forgive Kukunoor for Bombay to Bangkok.
3. Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani: We know Rajkumar Santoshi as the artist who dips his brush in testosterone to paint epic canvases of male angst, so it will be interesting to see him helm his first love story since… well, never, because the closest he came was with the thorny Pukar. Ranbir Kapoor and the ubiquitous Katrina Kaif play the young lovers.
4. Aladdin and the Mystery of the Lamp: Sujoy Ghosh oversees this contemporary story of Riteish Deshmukh rubbing a lamp and summoning up a genie with the physiognomy of Amitabh Bachchan. The last time a member of the Bachchan clan tried to pull off a fantasy, the ground shuddered at the impact of the debacle, so let’s hope they know what they’re doing this time around.
5. Blue: Akshay Kumar and Sanjay Dutt are fishermen from the Bahamas, who go deep-sea diving for sunken treasure in what is supposedly Bollywood’s most expensive production ever. We’re being asked to watch out for the underwater action sequences, possibly as a diversion from dry land, where Katrina Kaif awaits with her accent.
6. Chandni Chowk to China: Irresistibly labelled “the first ever Bollywood kung fu comedy,” Nikhil Advani’s film of a lowly cook who’s taken to be the reincarnation of an ancient Chinese warlord appears to be the latest instance of Bollywood’s fascination with winking at itself (and everything else). Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone and Mithun Chakraborty hunker down for the hijinks.
7. Dev D, Devdas: Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s tragic hero will be reincarnated twice this year, first through the eyes of Abhay Deol and Anurag Kashyap, and then Shiney Ahuja and Sudhir Mishra. While Kashyap’s take is a distinctly yuppie vision of the story, Mishra apparently wants to conflate Chattopadhyay’s hero with another rich boy who just couldn’t make up his mind, someone named Hamlet.
8. Dilli 6: In his follow-up to the zeitgeist-defining Rang De Basanti – and in the second film of the year to reference Chandni Chowk – Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra takes an amble down the lanes of the Old Delhi neighbourhood he grew up in. The element of nostalgia seeps through to the cast, with Amitabh Bachchan’s son and Anil Kapoor’s daughter.
9. Firaaq: Nandita Das makes her bow as director with this look at the aftermath of the communal riots in Gujarat. The film has been racking up awards left, right and centre – and its cast is to die for (Naseeruddin Shah, Paresh Rawal, Deepti Naval, Shahana Goswami) – but the real point of interest will lie in what Das has to say about a subject that’s been on screen a lot lately.
10. Hisss: Jennifer Lynch, daughter of the great David, making a Hindi movie? With Mallika Sherawat? About a snake woman, the kind you’d find in the trashy potboilers of the seventies? With Irrfan Khan also tucked in there somewhere? What on earth were they thinking? Will this become the year’s biggest goof-up or the year’s most delicious guilty pleasure?
11. Kameenay: Also known as the film for which Shahid Kapoor underwent house arrest, so his top-secret look wouldn’t find its way to the papers. And the film that stars Amole Gupte. (Yes, that Amole Gupte!) And the film for which Priyanka Chopra is boning up on Marathi. And the film that Vishal Bhardwaj has finally gotten around to making after dusting off the accolades for Omkara.
12. Kites: The last time an actor drew so much print about steamy scenes in an Anurag Basu film, her name was Mallika Sherawat. Now, his name is Hrithik Roshan – and he’s part of a threesome comprising Latin actress Barbara Mori and Kangana Ranaut. In his previous release, Hrithik had to wait till the end to consummate his relationship, so perhaps this time around, he took no chances with the material.
13. Luck By Chance: Zoya Akhtar directs her superstar brother in this insider story about the film industry, peopled by Konkona Sen Sharma, Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Juhi Chawla and even Hrithik Roshan. Here’s hoping that film lives up to its trailer, which, in its three minutes, fizzed over with more entertainment than most features manage these days.
14. My Name is Khan: Shah Rukh Khan is back with Kajol. He’s also back with Karan Johar in what is being touted as the latter’s most unflinching film yet, dealing with the dark cloud of terrorism that looms over the present-day Muslim. And in case you’re still sniggering about the seriousness of his intent, Johar has gone ahead and signed – wait for this! – Shabana Azmi.
15. Raavan: Where Thalapathi updated an episode of the Mahabharata, Mani Ratnam’s new film looks towards the Ramayana. And where that earlier film painted a sympathetic picture of Karna, this one reportedly does the same for Ravana. The myth is brought to the modern-day by a huge case – Abhishek Bachchan, Vikram, Aishwarya Rai, Prithviraj, Govinda, Karthik, Prabhu – spread out over two versions, in Hindi and Tamil.
16. Rajniti: More inspiration from the epics, this time for Prakash Jha, who will counterpoint current-day politics with chapters from the Mahabharata. Ajay Devgan plays Karna, Nana Patekar is Krishna, and Ranbir Kapoor will portray Arjuna as a white knight with shades of Rajiv Gandhi. And Draupadi? Why, Katrina Kaif, of course!
17. Rang Rasiya: After taking on the life of a nineteenth century soldier, Ketan Mehta moves on to the life of a nineteenth century painter. Randeep Hooda plays Raja Ravi Varma, whose creativity, among other things, is aroused by the voluptuous Nandana Sen. It’s been a while since Mehta was in full-gear, but maybe this time, one artist found a muse in another?
18. Rann: Considering what a sorry figure he made of himself in front of the media after 26/11, Ram Gopal Varma sure has chutzpah in announcing this film based on… the media. Added real-life resonances come from the presence of Riteish Deshmukh, the exit of whose father’s sarkar was expedited by Varma.
19. Shoebite: Amitabh Bachchan stars as a sixtysomething bookstore owner, whose wife (Sarika) falls into a coma. He then decides to do something extraordinary, something which involves traversing the length and breadth of the country. It all sounds a little too touchy-feely, but let’s not forget that Shoojit Sircar is the man behind Yahaan, which transcended mere touchy-feeliness and became a moving elegy of love and loss.
20. What’s Your Rashee?: Ashutosh Gowariker has apparently had enough of ennobling us. He’s also had enough of the past. And thus he casts are-they-aren’t-they lovers Harman Baweja and Priyanka Chopra in a contemporary romance. Whatever the fate of the film, Gowariker’s bravery is no longer in doubt, at least for casting these two after the evidence of Love Story 2050.
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Boman Irani pulling off yet another mr.Weatherbee I can imagine but Aamir and Madhavan as college kids? well….
PS: what didja think of the book?
Ashutosh Gowarikar and Harman Baweja? The mind boggles.
All in all that’s a formidable line-up for 2009. My mouth is watering already
I had heard that the film adaptation of ‘The Hungry Tide’ was to be released in 2009 . Any idea about that?
Hmm..Interesting movies.But I am back to my pet lament- why are so many bad star actors being lapped up by directors? It seems that they can get adventurous in terms of the subject matter but never in the choice of actors.Katrina Kaif and Ranbir Kapoor would refuse to go away.Lets see what Vishal can make out of Shahid Kapoor. I would look forward to watching Madhavan ,Randeep Hooda and Sonam Kapoor though.
Arun: Haven’t read the book. I too couldn’t see this cast as students, unless they’ve radically tinkered around with the plot.
Shuchi: No idea about Hungry Tide. This is the first I’m hearing of an adaptation.
Rahul: Yeah, imagine if the Katrina Kaif roles went to someone like Shahana Goswami or Konkona Sen Sharma (though latter *is* doing something with Ranbir Kapoor called Wake Up Sid).
Hi Baradwaj,
I believe Rajkumar Hirani has clarified that his movie “3 Idiots” is not based on the Chetan Bhagat nove, it’s his own script. The last time someone made a movie out of a Chetan Bhagat novel (’Hello’) it turned out to be a turkey. Good that he is relying on his own script.
Karan Johar doing a movie on terrorism and SRK trying to prove he’s an actor by playing a mentally challenged guy (i call it the Oscar syndrome) … Shabana Azmi or not i’m still worried
. Like a lot of people said, i think there’s no need to talk about 9/11 in 2008 when India have been subjected to 10 bomb attacks or so. How is it relevant for the public today to make the film in Los Angeles !? And i’ve read an itw of SRK where he says that he wants to prove he can act. I’m a big fan of his, but he should read these words again and realise how ridiculous they look (i want to prove i can act so i’ll play a guy with Asperger syndrome… WTF ?!!!)
For 3 Idiots, yes the cast was good in DCH (including Aamir of course). Yes 5 years later he was still able to play the college kid. But now !? Maybe they will do somethink like “Le Péril Jeune” (a french movie about 3 friends remembering their High School days in the 70’s…) I hope the director does, ’cause after watching Dawson’s Creek for so long and seeing 30 year old guys playing “too-smart-to-be-real-adolescents”; i can’t stand it anymore
!
This year, i want to see Lucky by Chance, Dilli 6, Kites ( just for Barabara Mori, i’m big fan of her since the telenovela Rubi
) , 3 idiots, CCTC of course and My Name is Khan for curiousity.
The last time a member of the Bachchan clan tried to pull off a fantasy, the ground shuddered at the impact of the debacle…
And if you cast your gaze even further into the past, you get… Ajooba? I guess you have to hand it to them for their persistence. Let’s hope this one works.
~ramsu
Surely Imtiaz Ali’s next deserves a mention.. though you’ve probably missed it coz its still not got a name
All in all a fairly good summary of what to look fwd to in 2009.
The poster of 2 Idiots reminds me of Good Will Hunting. Do I find a parallel or an ‘inspiration’ here?
I can’t wait for Dev D after listening to that whacky ‘Emotional Atyachar’ song on the telly. ‘Luck By Chance’ is on my list too.
“Rahul: Yeah, imagine if the Katrina Kaif roles went to someone like Shahana Goswami or Konkona Sen Sharma (though latter *is* doing something with Ranbir Kapoor called Wake Up Sid).
”
Is it hard to find someone who can match Kaif in looks and can actually act – well, not necessary to act but can make a decent fist of speaking her lines? Is Kaif a stunner in the first place? Cant see what the fuss is all about her?
Was Rock On the only movie S.Goswami did or have you watched her more? Or you are aware of an awesome background in theatre and have watched that first hand? How does she get bracketed with Konkona and Nandita, for instance?
Rahul get used to Ranbir Kapoor. Not only that, twenty years hence, prepare for him being called a ‘natural’, ‘at ease’, ‘fluent’ actor, just like his father has gained an undeserving reputation today. English cricket fans lament about how Michael Vaughan seems to get a better player with every test he doesnt play(meaning the current team is so awful that Vaughan gets added credit in retrospect). Rishi Kapoor’s case is worse – even Anil Kapoor(*with a snigger*) who followed him is a better actor and there have been much better actors before, during his time and since but this man enjoys that thoroughly undeserved reputation.
Seems like an interesting year, hope we find some sense of cinema to in there.
Raj
IMO Nandita Das is overrated. I have seen a few films of her, does the same thing in all of them. She has got this reputation because of the kind of film she chooses. Konkana is far ahead of her..even Tabu, Kareena and Tabu are ahead of her. Her directorial debut will definitely be leftist crap passing off as great cinema.
Baradwaj, many newspapers ran articles in 2006 about the planned film adaptation of The Hungry Tide. Here’s one – http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1959826.cms. Didn’t hear anything about this film after that.
Forget the likes of Konkona, who has got her own niche and is respectably appreciated in the film industry.
Even if you consider people like the friends in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na… (I thought Genelia was the worst actress of the entire lot, and the most affected) or the girl who plays Dolly in OLLO (there I go again, the one-woman army championing the film) you’ll gnash your teeth at these directors who cast Katrina and Deepika in every second film.
From the promos of Dilli 6, Sonam seems more like it. She’s got a certain zaniness, don’t you think?
Shrabonti: One of these days, I will get around to OLLO, I swear
About Sonam, I thought she was used well in Saawariya (even if her giggle got on my nerves), but I’m not sure it was a “peformance” as such. It’ll be interesting to see how she does in Dilli 6.
I think Sudhir Mishra’s version is called “Aur Devdas”
Do one flash forward for kollywood also anna.
The Normal Guy: The Tamil film critic already did one, thambi
But for what it’s worth, I’m looking forward to Nandalala, Naan Kadavul, Asokavanam and Chennayil Oru Mazhakaalam. Am I forgetting anything?
That quite sums up what we’ve in the offing, Baradwaj. Though (needless to say) I’d not quite include ‘chennaiyil oru mazhaikkAlam’ in the same list. But I’ve to say I find Gautham much more interesting when he’s doing films set in milieus that are closer to him than those in which he gleefully takes on Hollywood stock material.
And, oh, there’s also Selvaraghavan’s ‘Ayiraththil oruvan’ which I guess should be reasonably interesting at the least. It looks like an adventure film to me. (Is it?)
Yes. J K Ritish’s Thillu Mullu conveniently . I dunno are you anti-DMK or something ?
And which site is Tamil film critic ?
Zero: Oh, yeah, Aayirathil Oruvan sounds like fun. Plus, whatever’s next on Kamal’s plate. Guess he’s adapting A Wednesday. I’d love to see him in Naseer’s role
The Normal Guy: Thillu Mullu? And the Tamil film critic for the paper is Malini Mannath.
And you forgot Kadhal 2 Kalyanam too. Conveniently !
Is that a rom com with more of rom or more of com ?
Isn’t Kiran Rao’s directorial debut, “Dhobi Ghat” slated to release this year as well?
Should be interesting to see how Aamir, cinema’s-true-job-is-to-entertain, Khan will perform in wifey’s decidedly “art” film.:-)
The Normal Guy: Oh crap!
Right, K2K as well…
Kamal is remaking ‘A Wednesday’, Oh My God!
Expect the following:
1. Kamal to play 3 roles (minimum) – Naseer, Anupam Kher and Jimmy Shergill
2. 3 leading ladies for Kamal – 2 songs with each of them
3. 7 songs – including one ‘koothu’ number
4. A chase sequence at the end – the police guys chase the common man across the city
5. Running time to be atleast 3 hours – each of the 3 characters that Kamal plays to get atleast one hour screen time
God please save the tamil audience from this egomaniac
All of these are mouth-watering stuff, man! The most interesting of them being Whats your Raashee and 3 Idiots (I wanna see how have they adapted the novel and yet manage to be different)
Great take, Rangan sir. Which movies do u find most interesting ??
Raj Balakrishna, nee engeyo poyitte pa. Dheivampa neeyi.Surrender!
(sorry about the singular address – this wouldnt have sounded as I intended it to if I had used respectful neenga ponga address)
Seriously, I like the idea of Kamal remaking Wednesday though I am not sure if it has the same emotional impact on the tamil audience. I mean that spin at the end, at some level it needs the collective hate for a certain type of criminal/terrorist from the audience. In North India and Mumbai etc, this is readily available. In the absence of that, one can only enjoy it at baradwaj rangan intellectual levels, which surely cannot be found among common vijay-saar-movie-watching audience. No this is not to say that common sarukh-khan, atchaykumar watching audience has that ability – just that that audience has the emotional connect to compensate for the lack.
But is this news seriously true? if so, who for Kher? Mohan Lal would do nice though I do think that he will not make it through – even if he starts shooting, creative differences will emerge mid-way because thats the way Kamal is, and he will drop out. I guess we should brace for Nasser(not Shah, the avatharam nasser) – whose only possible flaw is that he will be too sincere for that role.
I’m cynical if this will materialise but I guess we can have some fun thinking about who will do the roles in tamil – say Kamal for Shah, Lal to start and Nasser to take over for Kher – only because I dont believe Lal will make it through 2 schedules with Kamal, Surya(!) for Shergill – no actually thats just wishful thinking so at best, infact I cant think of anyone in Tamil for this though if some one can tempt Mahesh Babu to do this bit role in Tamil, considering that he is not a superstar here anyway that would be nice; who for that other inspector – cant think of anyone again…
@raj
haha.. The police chasing the common man across the city bit was funny . But , the comparison with dasavatharam was not. I am guessing it makes more sense to compare it to Kurudhipunal . When you thought Om puri’s potrayal in Drohkaal couldn’t get any better , Kamal Haasan pulled it off a leetle bit better.
@brangan
You didnt answer my second q.
The Normal Guy: But that’s not for me to talk about. What to talk about and when – all this is in the director’s hands
Raj,
Nandri thalaivaa! Seriously Kamal should not remake ‘A Wednesday’ – his ego will prevent him from appearing on screen for only about 20 minutes like Shah. He will end up messing a fine plot.
Normal Guy,
Drohkaal was different. Om Puri had a bigger role than Shah in Wednesday. For Kamal (and for most other South Indian stars) it is all about screen time.
Normal Guy, I would go with Om Puri for Drohkaal Vs Kurudhipunal…
BR, will you review it though?
raj: I won’t get to review it, as it’s in Tamil. But it being a Kamal film, I’m sure they won’t mind my sneaking a quasi-review into a column
Hey! Nice round up! I wish i got to watch trailers of all of them. I only saw Luck By Chance and Akshay Kumar in China so far. One of the downsides of not living in the ‘Des’
I agree with you about the Luck By Chance trailer
HISSSS??!!!!!! Jennifer Lynch??!!
Im intrigued!!!!!! where did u get this info rangan saab??
DPac: See here.
BR, I meant will you review K2K! And evaluate whether “thought’s gone into writing”?
raj – The Normal Guy: In fact Kamal should not even play Shah’s role; there will not be any twist then. If some one like Sathyaraj plays it, it will be quite effective; or even someone like Pasupathy (remember Bhuvana Oru Kelvikuri, when Rajni was given a positive role)!
raj: Absolutely not. Besides, it’s not as if I personally sat down before a blank screen and wrote the whole thing from my head. Milind was very specific about what he wanted every step of the way, so in a way, if it’s good, it’s entirely his vision. I knew, from an abstract POV, that films are a director’s medium, but now I truly know that’s true
Seriously though, the one thing that was toughest about writing K2K was learning to swallow my ego and follow someone else’s lead (which I don’t have to do at all for my other writing, for the paper). In the sense that you may think this is the best way to write or shape a character, but he’d have a (very valid) point about commercial viability – that sort of thing. Maybe I’ll write someday about all the fights we had when we came close to killing each other
oh! please do write about that. We are all ears. So it is not much of your baby then?
raj: Well, it is, in a way. What I mean is, it’s not as if I came up with a bound script that Milind loved and wanted to make. He had what is called a “knot,” (a story idea, comrpising a beginning and an end). And it was like I was driving the car that would lead him to his destination, which means he was always in the back seat, saying, “Go this way, Turn that way, make a left.” So yes, there are parts of it (character quirks, dialogue, events) that are all mine, but the macro-picture is completely Milind’s. And I guess that is how it should be — for left to my own devices, I’d have probably written something that only Sathyam and INOX goers would have liked, but now (hopefully) it has broader appeal (even if I still would have liked to have seen that Sathyam-INOX movie being made).
Blue sound very similar to into the blue
brangan : So did you write the dialogues or screenplay for Kadhal 2 Kaamam ?
anand : I perfectly agree. Looks like Kamal is going to play the hacker who catches the common man . He is going on a weight loss programme, says a kollywood news website.
The Normal Guy: Both. And dude, it’s not “kaamam.” Just what kind of twisted soul do you think I am?
It’s “Kaadhal 2 Kalyaanam”
Sorry . I was merely suggesting a way to get your movie beyond Sathyam and INOX .