Coming soon

In a few hours from now 2012 will be history, but many a story will carry Brand Bollywood forward into 2013. And it will be a special year with filmmakers pushing the envelope — with awesome technology, new faces and sequels.

Indeed, the year promises to be a technological delight. Take, for instance, Kamal Haasan’s Tamil-Hindi bilingual Vishwaroop/Vishwaroopam — to be simultaneously released with a dubbed Telugu version on January 11. This is the first Indian film, and only the second in the world, to use Auro 3D sounds that add to the “immersive” viewing experience.

“Sounds will be coming from all around and also above you,” explains Haasan. The actor-filmmaker is attempting to extend his film’s reach and revenue by releasing it on the DTH platform first, with viewers paying for a one-time screening, eight hours before it opens in the theatres.

There’s more. After Raaz 3’s state-of-the-art 3D effects getting a mention in a review in The New York Times, filmmaker Vikram Bhatt is getting ready to wow audiences with special effects in his film, 13th Floor. Bhatt plans to extend the 3D experience to the theatre so viewers feel they are actually on the haunted floor.

On February 8, choreographer-director Remo D’Souza will bring us India’s first 3D dance film, ABCD... Anybody Can Dance. The film features choreographer-directors Prabhu Deva and Ganesh Acharya, along with half-a-dozen debutants such as Salman Yusuff Khan, Dharmesh Yelande, Vrushali Chavan, Mayuresh Wadkar and Prince Gupta, stars of the reality dance show, Dance India Dance, and Lauren Gottlieb, the winner of So You Think You Can Dance.

There are many more new faces waiting to be unveiled, including tennis champ Leander Paes who turns actor with the year’s first release, the off-the-beaten-track Rajdhani Express.

Directors whose films wowed audiences in 2012 are coming up with new ventures. Sujoy Ghosh is now scripting a Kahaani sequel, along with the revenge drama, Badla. Tigmanshu Dhulia, who directed Paan Singh Tomar, is see-sawing between Sahib Biwi Aur Gangster Returns and Bullet Raja.

Anurag Basu of Barfi fame is developing a Kishore Kumar biopic for Ranbir Kapoor while simultaneously penning a story around the December 16 Delhi gang rape. Anurag Kashyap, after the five-hour-18-minute-long Gangs of Wasseypur series, is now experimenting as a director with Ugly and Bombay Velvet. He produces five other releases — including Shlok Sharma’s directorial debut Haraamkhor and Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox.

The realisation that content is king and the audience today is receptive to all kinds of innovations in theme and technique has prompted even A-listers such as Farhan Akhtar and John Abraham to find their muses in forgotten athlete Milkha Singh and Manya Surve, a gangster gunned down in a police encounter.

Sequels will rule in 2013. The first mainstream biggie of the New Year that unveils in the Republic Day weekend is Race 2. It comes with the promise of big star entertainment, special effect-enhanced action, song-and-dance in exotic locales and a saleable franchise.

Ramesh Taurani of Tips, the film’s producer, points out that at a time when publicity costs run into crores of rupees, it makes business sense to continue with a commercially viable, established brand that adds value to the product and aids promotion through its high recall connect.

“Sequels take the story forward, franchise the brand,” says Taurani, explaining the avalanche of franchises and sequels that will follow in the footsteps of Race 2, from the much-hyped Dhoom 3 and Krrish 3 to the medium budgeted Aashiqui 2 and Ragini MMS 2.

The trend of remixing cult classics, blockbusters and even debacles in the contemporary milieu continues with David Dhawan arriving on February 22 with a reboot of the Farooq Shaikh-Deepti Naval 1981 rom-com Chashme Buddoor, followed by Sajid Khan’s “rewrite” of the 1983 Jeetendra-Sridevi film Himmatwala that he admits to having watched 36 times since its release.

While Ali Zafar and Ajay Devgn, along with debutants Tapsee and Tamanna, are the stars of the rewinds, Sanjay Dutt plays the iconic Sher Khan in Apoorva Lakhia’s new version of Zanjeer (1973) and also features as the inspector hero in another cop caper, the Hindi remake of Saamy (2003). “The Tamil original was a super hit and that boosts our confidence because we started out with the advantage of knowing the film’s fate,” says T.P. Aggarwal whose Star Entertainment Worldwide Pvt. Ltd is producing the remake.

Though not all remakes work, the commercial success of Agneepath in 2012 — the year’s first film to storm the Rs 100 crore club — has instilled hope in its actor Hrithik Roshan. “It reaffirmed my belief in the power of a good script and a director’s vision, while nullifying my reservations about remakes,” asserts Roshan, who has now given the nod to Siddharth Anand’s remake of Tom Cruise’s Hollywood hit Knight And Day (2010), with Katrina Kaif doing a desi Cameron Diaz.

Come 2013, and Hindi cinema’s bid to redefine age-old formulae promises to take us on a journey through the dark underbelly of Mumbai into the darkness of the human soul (Aatma). Bollywood will take viewers on a Bharat darshan with Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola and Madhuri Dixit’s Gulab Gang and for a trot around the globe with Prague.

Ashish Shukla, the director of the psychological thriller Prague, filmed for 25 days in the Czech city, says, “The idea is to take Hindi cinema into the world and bring the world into Hindi cinema.” Touche!

REMAKES COMING UP

Himmatwala

Chashme Buddoor

Thuppaki

Saamy

Zanjeer

Ramaiya Vasta Vaiya

Khubsoorat

Ramana

Naam Hai Boss

Mere Apne

NEWBIES TO WATCH OUT FOR