Second Acts

Leading the 2013 encore gang is director Ayan Mukherjee whose Wake up Sid was an amazingly fresh take on a young man’s coming of age. Starring the charming, talented, youthful Ranbir Kapoor with brilliant Konkona Sen Sharma, Wake up Sid served notice about the entry of a fine, exciting, young directorial talent who explored the theme of youth in a novel and entertaining way. End May, Mukherjee’s second project Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani hit the screen. Starring Ranbir once again with old flame Deepika Padukone — the promos were awesome, their chemistry, sizzling — the romantic comedy was awaited with bated breath by fans of the deadly duo. Would the mobs become deewani? As this goes into print, the answer has to be a thumping yes, because the film has turned out to be a record breaker, hitting the Rs. 100 crore ($20 million) mark within a week.

Next up is Abhinav Kashyap whose debut film, the spectacular trail-blazing Salman Khan-starrer Dabangg needs no introduction. A clash with the Khan brothers saw him exit the Chulbul Pandey property, only to trigger his second project Besharam. Due for an October release, this film stars Ranbir as a bindaas tapori, with newbie Pallavi Sharada as love interest with Mom-Dad Neetu Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor in important roles. Sone pe sohaga, hai na?

Punit Malhotra follows. Before you ask Punit who, he directed his maiden effort I Hate Love Stories with not too much success. Hoping to be second time lucky, the young director has leapt on to his new movie, Gori Tere Pyar Mein, starring Kareena Kapoor and Imran Khan. Perhaps his newest project will find a little more love than the earlier dud.

The next dude is truly something else. Saket Chaudhary made a superb entry in 2006 with his amazing, original, Woody-Allenish comedy Pyaar ke Side Effects. The Rahul Bose-Mallika Sherawat starrer remains one of Pritish Nandy Communications’ prized offerings. Thereafter, the guy evaporated into thin air. Now, seven years on, Chaudhary returns with Shaadi ke Side Effects, co-starring Farhan Akhtar and Vidya Balan. Can he recreate the early, bizarre, crazy magic one more time? December will tell.

The small screen also features in this narrative and the young director of the hugely acclaimed Udaan, Vikramaditya Motwane, was the face of the film. The one-time assistant to mentor Anurag Kashyap and Sanjay Bansali, is adapting an O. Henry short story The Last Leaf into Lootera. The Ranveer Singh-Sonakshi Sinha romance is all set to sizzle.

Sure Vijay Krishna Acharya’s Tashan, next up, had to be peeled off the ceiling a few years ago, but the Yash Raj honchos had faith in the director and brought him in again to direct a real whopper: the big budget, multi-starrer Dhoom 3. The Aamir Khan-Katrina Khan starrer should zoom him to another level. 

Rensil D’Silva is a bit of a ding-dong case. He wrote the soul-uplifting, Rang De Basanti, directed the Saif Ali Khan-Kareena Kapoor terrorist drama dud Qurbaan and is back with a Karan Johar project entitled Ungli. An Emraan Hashmi-Kangana Ranaut-Randeep Hooda starrer, here’s hoping that the audiences flashes him the right ungli. The Go Goa Gone director duo returns after their quirky flop 99. Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. however redeemed themselves with Shor in the City. This Saif Ali Khan headliner grabbed eyeballs as India’s first zombie comedy and fared moderately well for a bold take on a new genre.

So that’s the score card guys. Here’s hoping that the once-more-with-feeling gang strike target and celebrate this auspicious centenary year in a rewarding fashion.