NYODDA
Produced
and written by Vishal Bharadwaj, and directed by Meghna Gulzar, Nyodda is the
fictional dramatization of the true life events revolving around the Aarushi
Talwar murder case investigation. The film boasts strong performances from
Neeraj Kabi as the father, Konkona Sen Sharma as the mother, and Irrfan as the
investigating officer. Tabu also makes a special appearance in the film. The film is produced by the new Junglee Pictures banner, and like
most of his films, the music has been scored by Bharadwaj himself, with lyrics by
Gulzar.
BADLAPUR
After
the disappointment of Agent Vinod it looks like Shriram Raghavan is back with
vengeance. Judging by the trailer Badlapur takes us back to the neo noir pulp
zone of Johnny Gaddar, something fans of the film sorely missed in his previous
outing. Plus there’s a bearded and a badass Varun Dhavan to boot.
DIL
DHADAKNE DO
Zoya
Akhtar returns to her comfort zone – a large ensemble cast, big budget and
foreign locations. While her previous film took us on a road trip, this time
it’s about a dysfunctional family on a cruise.
NH10
Navdeep
Singh, the director of Manorama Six Feet
Under had a tough time when his potentially awesome projects Basra and the Punju wedding zombie
comedy were canned. His latest is a fiery horror thriller about a couple’s road
trip gone awry. The film stars Anushka Sharma and is slated to be a pretty dark
film, with a layer of female empowerment folded in.
X
An interesting desi filmmaking experiment, X starring
Rajat Kapoor, is one story with eleven segments directed by eleven different
filmmakers – including film critics Sudhish Kamath, Raja Sen, Pratim Dasgupta,
and filmmakers Q, Nalan Kumaraswamy, Sandeep Mohan, Suparn Verma, Hemant Gaba,
Rajshree Ojha, Anu Menon and Abhinav Tiwari. It opened to good reviews at SAIFF
and is slated to arrive in theaters soon.
BOMBAY
VELVET
TAMASHA
After
delivering the refreshingly different and smaller scale Highway, Imtiaz Ali
returns to the big budget Tamasha, with two of the biggest stars in the
business – Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone.
LIAR’S
DICE
India’s
official entry to the Oscars, Liar’s Dice stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui and
Geetanjali Thapa as a tribal woman searching for her missing husband.
Writer-director Geetu Mohandas’ debut film made some buzz at Sundance and is
slated to release sometime this year.
UMRIKA
Delhi
in a Day director Prashant Nair’s Umrika scored the prestige of being selected
for Sundance 2015 for the World Cinema Dramatic Competition. The film stars
Life of Pi’s Suraj Sharma as a young village boy who discovers that his
brother, long believed to be in America, has gone missing, and begins to invent
letters on his behalf to save their mother from heartbreak. Liar’s Dice was
selected for the same section in the previous year’s Sundance.
TIGERS
Danis
Tanovic, the filmmaker behind the Oscar winning No Man’s Land directs Emraan
Hashmi in a true story about a pharma exec in Pakistan uncovering a major
scandal involving baby formula. The film is co produced by Anurag Kashyap and
scored decent reviews at Toronto International Film Festival in 2014.
TUMBAD
Ship
of Theseus director Anand Gandhi’s next is an interesting little period
thriller with elements of horror and fantasy and a mysterious haunted well.
It’s co-directed by debutant Rahi Anil Barve who made the ultra-dark short film
Manjha earlier. Kiran Rao was earlier
in talks to produce the film.
TITLI
Kanu
Behl’s film got tremendous acclaim at the festival circuit in 2014, and we’ll
finally get to see it this year. The film stars Ranvir Shorey and is a
drama-thriller that delves into patriarchal issues, freedom from roots, and
human cost of aspirations of a new India as seen through the eyes of a family
of car robbers.
DETECTIVE
BYOMKESH BAKSHI
Dibakar
Bannerjee making a Byomkesh Bakshi thriller. With Yash Raj productions. With
Sushant Singh Rajput in the title role. Set in 1940’s Kolkata. That has Chinese
gangsters. And death metal music. Sold.
KILLA
Avinash Arun’s Marathi film won a Crystal Bear
from the Children’s Jury and a Special Mention from the International Jury at
Berlin. It also received rave reviews when it screened at the Mumbai Film
Festival last year. The film chronicles a young boy trying to cope with moving
to a new home after the loss of his father, scrambling for the connection he
seems to have lost with his mother.
COURT
Chaitanya
Tamhane’s debut has been widely acclaimed in the international festival circuit
and was often referred to as the best film that screened at the 2014 Mumbai
Film Festival. The film makes a bitter statement against India’s justice
system, delving into the dicey themes of power and class, and the muck that
lies in between.
I
Shankar’s
latest doesn’t feature Rajinikanth but it does feature a ton of truly insane visuals, absolutely bonkers stuntwork and Vikram in a gazillion different
avatars.
Others:
a) Nikhil Mahajan, the director of the underrated offbeat gem Pune 52, has decided to go properly mainstream with Baji. Starring Shreyas Talpade as Marathi cinema’s first vigilante superhero.
b) Vikas Bahl's follow up to Queen, Abhishek Chaubey's 'Udta Punjab', and SS Rajamouli's 'Baahubali'.
Honorable Mention: MSG Messenger of God
Really don't need to explain anything here. The trailer pretty much speaks for itself.
Others:
a) Nikhil Mahajan, the director of the underrated offbeat gem Pune 52, has decided to go properly mainstream with Baji. Starring Shreyas Talpade as Marathi cinema’s first vigilante superhero.
b) Vikas Bahl's follow up to Queen, Abhishek Chaubey's 'Udta Punjab', and SS Rajamouli's 'Baahubali'.
Honorable Mention: MSG Messenger of God
Really don't need to explain anything here. The trailer pretty much speaks for itself.
(First published in Firstpost)
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