Bollywood in 2018: 5 trends to watch out for
Year of Ranveer
With Padmavati’s release postponed to 2018 (hopefully!) and films with Zoya Akhtar and Rohit Shetty also lined up in the same year, Ranveer Singh has the highest odds of being the performer of the year. It will be the second time that Singh joins hands with Akhtar and Shetty in two starkly different projects. In Gully Boy, Akhtar’s next after Dil Dhadakne Do, Singh will get to showcase his vocal chords as he plays a rapper from Mumbai slums. If the first look of Shetty’s Simmba is anything to go by, Singh looks to recreate the craziness of the Ching’s short film/commercial the duo earlier worked on.
The versatile Khan
Irrfan Khan had a memorable 2017, thanks to the success of Hindi Medium and critical acclaim for Qarib Qarib Singlle, a romantic comedy that deserved better at the box office. In 2018, the acclaimed actor has a strong roster of releases beginning with the Abhinay Deo directed black comedy Blackmail, followed by Vishal Bhardwaj’s untitled project with Deepika Padukone. However, the one that we are most excited about is Ronnie Screwvala-produced Karwan, which marks the Bollywood debut of Malayalam cinema’s heartthrob Dulquer Salman and the directorial debut of theatre director-actor Akarsh Khurana.
Real-life heroes
To say that this year the spotlight will be on stories based on real-life heroes is as redundant to say that there will be sequels. It starts with Padman (Akshay Kumar plays a character based on Arunachalam Muruganantham); then there’s Rajkumar Hirani’s film on Sanjay Dutt; Sony’s Soorma has Diljit Dosanjh play hockey player Sandeep Singh who made a remarkable comeback after a shocking accident; Super 30 sees Hrithik Roshan as mathematician Anand Kumar; Nawazuddin Siddiqui gets into the shoes of both Manto and Thackeray and Gully Boy (Akhtar’s next is inspired by the success of rappers like Divine and Naezy). On the female front, Deepika Padukone’s film is said to be based on mafia queen Sapna Didi and Kangana Ranaut is Rani of Jhansi in Manikarnika.
Battle of the Khans
There’s no Baahubali this year so the battle royal will be between the three Khans. There is YRF’s Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Thugs of Hindostan which will hope to break the records set by the banner’s own Tiger Zinda Hai. The success of the latter demonstrates one can never underestimate the might of Bhai, who will be seen in the ensemble action thriller Race 3. Shah Rukh Khan’s clout on box office may have suffered lately but his next, directed by Aanand L Rai and starring Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma, shouldn’t be overlooked.
Growing girl power
Bollywood may not be adding to the #MeToo narrative but thankfully it’s not ignoring the talent of its actresses. Alia Bhatt is on national duty as the Kashmiri spy married to a Pakistani in Raazi. Sonam Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Swara Bhaskar are girls who just want to have fun, albeit dressed in bridal wear, in Veere Di Wedding. Apart from Padukone and Ranaut, Anushka Sharma continues to make a case for why she is one of the most exciting producers with Pari, billed as a mysterious love story. Radhika Apte features in Ghoul, Phantom’s first collaboration with a Hollywood production house, Blumhouse, and Tabu in Sriram Raghavan’s thriller makes for an enticing prospect.
(Courtesy of Mail Today.)