Some big releases to watch out for

“These are big films and there are big hopes from them. On an average, there is more than Rs 250 crore riding on these movies now. Housefull has started the process on a good note and is doing well,” said trade analyst Komal Nahta.

Released Friday, Housefull has an ensemble cast of Deepika Padukone, Lara Dutta, Arjun Rampal, Riteish Deshmukh and Jiah Khan. Produced by Sajid Nadiadwala at over Rs 50 crore, the mindless comedy has grossed around Rs 64 crore in its opening weekend worldwide.

Badmaash Company has been made on a budget of about Rs 35 crore by Yash Raj Films (YRF) and is a sole property of theirs," said Nahta. “While Kites has a budget of over Rs 60 crore, Raavan has been made at Rs 45 crore. Raajneeti too has been made with almost the same budget at around Rs 45 crore and then there are miscellaneous expenses," he added.

Badmaash Company is actor Parmeet Sethi's directorial debut and he has teamed up with Shahid Kapoor and Anushka Sharma for it. Then there will be the Anurag Basu- directed international love story Kites that has garnered an unprecedented buzz, thanks to its lead pair – Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan and Mexican actress Barbara Mori, the involvement of Bret Ratner, who edited the English version of the film, and reported creative differences between producer Rakesh Roshan and the director. It will have a worldwide release May 21 in both Hindi and English.

Prakash Jha's racy, politics-centric thriller Raajneeti, which will release June 4, has a mixed cast that consists of experienced actors like Nana Patekar, Naseeruddin Shah, Ajay Devgn and Manoj Bajpai and new talents like Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif. It will see model-turned-actor Arjun Rampal in a completely different avatar.

Another much-awaited big movie is Raavan. After Guru, Mani Ratnam has once again teamed up with real life couple Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, but the two are now pitted against each other. Scheduled for a June 18 release, it has been co-produced by Reliance Big Pictures and Madras Talkies.

Raavan too will be released in two languages — Hindi and Tamil. Southern superstar Vikram will mark his Bollywood debut with the Hindi version where he will be seen as Aishwarya's husband. “These are the hugely awaited films of the year and we are hoping them to really do good. The coming months are going to stabilise the industry,” said trade analyst Atul Mohan.