The World Cup is over, back to the movies, folks! Fridays of the third quarter of 2018 promise to be exciting with a bouquet of offerings lined up till September.
While Soorma took a decent start at the box office, one of the most awaited films ahead is Dharma Productions’ Dhadak — the launchpad for Sridevi’s daughter Janhvi Kapoor. The PR machinery has gone into overdrive with newcomers Janhvi and Ishaan Khatter travelling across the country to promote their film.
Exhibitor Akshaye Rathi said: “It is going to be a very exciting quarter with Dhadak, Mission Impossible, Gold and Satyamev Jayate, which looks like a complete mass entertainer, catering to the single screen audiences. Gold looks more universal to me.”
Incidentally, both Gold and Satyamev Jayate release on Independence Day and both leads Akshay Kumar and John Abraham have claimed there is place for two films on the same day.
Three franchises are also releasing this quarter — Vishwaroop, Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se and Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan returns with Fanney Khan, and Varun Dhawan’s next after October is Sui Dhaga.
Rathi said: “Going ahead, we are looking at good content films — big, small and mid size — with the promise of first week to keep the ball rolling. Also the subjects cater to all social sections. Seems like a good follow-up to the first two quarter of 2018.”
Dhadak
Release: July 20
Starring Ishaan Khatter, Janhvi Kapoor
Makers: Shashank Khaitan; Dharma Productions and Zee Studio (producers)
Remake of the Marathi superhit Sairat based on honour killing. The film marks the debut of Sridevi’s daughter Janhvi and is also the second outing for Shahid Kapoor’s brother Ishaan after Beyond the Clouds. The young actor’s first release — directed by the Iranian Majid Majidi — failed to impress at the box office.
Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3
Release: July 27
Starring Sanjay Dutt, Jimmy Shergill, Chitrangda Singh and Mahie Gill
Makers: Tigmanshu Dhulia; Rahul Mitra and Raju Chaddha (producers)
Third instalment in the franchise with Sanjay Dutt playing the gangster this time. The franchise that started in 2011 has two more new entrants in Chitrangda and Soha. Jimmy and Mahie remain “Saheb” and “Biwi”.
Fanney Khan
Release: August 3
Starring Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao and Divya Dutta
Makers: Atul Manjrekar; Anil Kapoor, T-Series, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Virendra Arora and Nishant Pitti (producers)
The musical comedy is an adaptation of the English film Everybody’s Famous! The film sees the return of Taal pair Anil and Aishwarya, though we may get to see Rajkummar romancing the beauty queen. It is also being looked as an ode to Lata Mangeshkar.
Mulk
Release: August 3
Starring Rishi Kapoor, Taapsee Pannu, Prateik Babbar, Ashuotsh Rana and Manoj Pahwa
Makers: Anubhav Sinha; Anubhav Sinha, and Deepak Mukut (producer)
Story of a Muslim family trying to reclaim its lost honour. Rishi plays the lead with Prateik playing his son and Taapsee his lawyer. The film is inspired by true events.
Vishwaroop II
Release: August 10
Starring Kamal Haasan, Pooja Kumar, Waheeda Rehman, Shekhar Kapur, Jaideep Alhawat and Rahul Bose
Makers: Kamal Haasan; Kamal Haasan and Vishwanth Ravichandran (producers)
A spy thriller and sequel to the 2013 film. It was shot during the making of the first part of the film.
Gold
Release: August 15
Starring Akshay Kumar, Mouni Roy, Amit Sadh, Sunny Kaushal, Kunal Kapoor and Vineet Singh
Makers: Reema Kagti; Excel Entertainment (producer)
Historical sports drama inspired by India’s first Olympic gold medal. The film traces the “golden era” of Indian hockey through the journey of Tapan Das (Akshay), a young assistant manager in 1936, who dreams of playing for an independent nation
Satyamev Jayate
Release: August 15
Starring John Abraham, Manoj Bajpayee, Amruta Khanvilkar and Aisha Sharma
Makers: Milap Jhaveri; Nikhil Advani and T-Series (producer)
Manoj Bajpayee plays a cop in this vigilante action thriller, in which he is given the job to arrest the man behind a cop killing.
Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se
Release: August 31
Starring Dharmendra, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Kriti Kharbanda and Johnny Lever
Makers: Navnait Singh; Pen Films (producer)
Sequel to Yamla Pagla Deewana 2 made in 2013. The action comedy will have a guest appearance from Salman Khan.
Batti Gul Meter Chalu
Release: September 14
Starring Shahid Kapoor, Yami Gautam, Shraddha Kapoor and Varun Sharma
Makers: Shree Narayan Singh; Shree Narayan Singh and T-Series (producer)
Social drama on the struggles of the common man. The story is on the fight against power distribution companies over exorbitant electricity bills.
Manmarziyan
Release: September 7
Starring Abhishek Bachchan, Vicky Kaushal and Taapsee Pannu
Makers: Anurag Kashyap; Aanand L. Rai (producer)
Love story set in Punjab with Taapsee playing a Punjabi girl who owns a sports shop. Abhishek is the Punjabi munda in the film that has Vicky Kaushal as the third angle in the love story. The film has been shot in Punjab and Kashmir.
Sui Dhaaga
Release: September 28
Starring Varun Dhawan, Anushka Sharma and Govind Pandey
Makers: Sharat Kataria; Maneesh Sharma and Yash Raj Films (producer)
Heart-warming story of pride and self-reliance rooted in the heart of India. Anushka and Varun go de-glam for their roles.
Pataakha
Starring Sanya Malhotra, Radhika Madan, Sunil Grover and Vijay Raaz
Makers: Vishal Bhardwaj; Vishal Bhardwaj and Ajay Kapoor (producer)
Based on Charan Singh Pathik’s short story Do Behnein, the film is about two sisters Badki and Chhutki. They grow up in a small village in Rajasthan and are constantly at war but when marriage separates them, they realise they can’t seem to live with or without each other.
Also...
The next few months will see the return of Kajol and veteran filmmakers Anil Sharma, JP Dutta and Mukesh & Mahesh Bhatt
Dutta returns with Paltan on Sept. 7
Anil Sharma of Gadar fame returns with Genius on August 24. It will mark the debut of his son Utkarsh
The Bhatts’ Vishesh Films introduces two newcomers in Jalebi (Aug. 31) — Digangana Suryavanshi and Varun Mitra
Punjabi filmmaker Rohit Jugraj directs Hindi film Arjun Patiala (Sept. 13)
Leena Yadav returns to make a mainstream comedy Rajma Chawal (Aug. 31) with Rishi Kapoor after Parched in 2015
Kajol’s Helicopter Eela releases on Sept. 14
