Making a splash in style

Big-screen entertainment will remain an addiction, and variety the spice for audiences in 2020, writes Rajiv Vijayakar

Hopefully, we need not wish ourselves ‘Good Luck’! The paradigm changes set in motion in the previous decade — mainly from 2017— about which new kind of Hindi motion picture connects and resonates with the audience, will continue. As always, film-goers prefer diverse or even new genres, and now standards have gone up, with myriad factors responsible for this shift. Here then, is a look at the significant films we can expect in 2020.

The decade begins

The decade’s beginning will set the mood. The first release on January 3 is a comic triangle about a journalist, his love, and a (funny) don: Sab Kushal Mangal. This film introduces the first newcomers of the new decade: Priyaank Sharma, son to veteran actress Padmini Kolhapure and producer Tutu Sharma, and Riva Kishan, daughter of Ravi Kishan, with Akshaye Khanna returning to the comedy space as the don.
January 10 will give us the spectacular historical Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior, the first of Ajay’s planned productions on unsung Indian warriors. It co-stars his wife Kajol a good ten years after teaming up for Toonpur Ka Super Hero. Writer-director Om Raut has been researching this Maratha story for five years. Raazi director Meghna Gulzar strikes another biopic chord on the same day with acid attack victim Laxmi Agarwal’s story Chhapaak, which even inspired its heroine Deepika Padukone to turn producer.

January 24 will see a musical entertainer and a content-driven film vying for attention: Street Dancer 3D, a dance musical with Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor, and Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s Panga, featuring Kangana Ranaut in another women-centric movie that promises to outclass Ashwiny’s Nil Battey Sannata and Bareilly Ki Barfi. Street Dancer and Tanhaji are both 3D spectacles.

Superstars as movie drivers

Akshay Kumar begins 2020 with Sooryavanshi. Co-produced by Reliance Entertainment, Karan Johar and Akshay’s home banner Cape Of Good Films, this is Rohit Shetty’s most ambitious action drama that brings together his cult law-men Singham (Ajay Devgn) and Simmba (Ranveer Singh) with this new anti-terrorist cop played by Akshay. In short, it is India’s first cop universe.

Katrina Kaif is the heroine in what the trade calls a “surefire 300 crore earner”. Akshay’s Laxmmi Bomb, a horror comedy about a transgender, will also take on the next Salman Khan adventure, Radhe: India’s Most Wanted Bhai. The latter is an action drama featuring Disha Patani and directed by Prabhudeva (while the former is a remake of Kanchana, a hit Tamil film directed by Raghava Lawrence, who makes his Hindi debut here). Kiara Advani is the leading lady.

A period drama that will be made in record time is Yash Raj Films’ magnum opus Prithviraj that releases on November 13. Akshay’s last release will be Bachchan Pandey, an action drama loosely inspired by Veeram, again a Tamil hit. Kriti Sanon is back with him after Housefull 4 and so is that film’s director, Farhad Samji.

In this Christmas day release, Akshay’s film takes on the ambitious Indian remake of Forrest Gump — Aamir Khan-Kareena Kapoor Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha, which he also co-produces.

The latest addition to the superstar list, Ranveer Singh, is featuring in ’83, the saga of India’s first World Cup win in 1983. Ranveer plays Kapil Dev, and wife Deepika plays his wife for the first time in a contemporary story without a tragic end for them on reel. Kabir Khan directs this April 10 release.

Ajay Devgn will do two more films in Bhuj—The Pride Of India (August 14) and Maidaan (November 7). The first is a patriotic saga of 300 Indian women who rebuilt a crucial IAF airbase that helped India win the 1971 war and co-stars Sonakshi Sinha, Pranitha Subhash, Sanjay Dutt and Rana Dagubatti. It is directed by debutant Abhishek Dudhaiya. Maidaan is a sports biopic on football coach Syed Abdul Rahim and co-stars Keerthy Suresh. It is produced by Boney Kapoor.

Sequels

In the year when Amitabh Bachchan has been advised to curtail work and has even considered quitting, he will be, interestingly, seen twice in two weeks — on April 17 and April 24.After Shoojit Sircar’s family comedy Gulabo Sitaabo with Ayushmann Khurrana, he works with Emraan Hashmi in the Rumi Jaffrey thriller, Chehere.

John Abraham takes on Ajay’s Bhuj… with his home production, Attack, a patriotic action drama directed by Lakshya Raj Anand, and starring Jacqueline Fernandez and Rakul Preet Singh. On another patriotic date, October 2, he releases Satyameva Jayate 2, which competes for attention with Shoojit Sircar’s second directorial in 2020, Shaheed Udham Singh featuring Vicky Kaushal.

Kartik Aaryan, the latest actor to make a mark commercially, will be seen in two films: Imtiaz Ali’s next, which stars Sara Ali Khan, and the Anees Bazmee directed Bhool Bhulaiya 2 that co-stars Kiara Advani.

Satyameva Jayate 2 and Bhool Bhulaiya 2 are not the only sequels of 2020. Baaghi 3, reunites Tiger Shroff with Baaghi heroine Shraddha Kapoor and Baaghi 2 leading lady Disha Patani who makes a cameo. Hungama 2 will mark the return of Shilpa Shetty and director Priyadarshan after a long gap, with Paresh Rawal as the principal character. Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan features Ayushmann Khurrana as a gay, and is a sequel to the 2017 Shubh Mangal Saavdhan. Naturally it has no heroine, but co-stars Jitendra Kumar as Ayushmann’s love interest. Homi Adajania helms Angrezi Medium, the sequel to Hindi Medium that stars Kareena Kapoor Khan with Irrfan Khan — it is the latter’s comeback film.

Last but not the least, Mahesh Bhatt returns to direction with Sadak 2, a full 21 years after his last directorial Kartoos. The film sees him direct younger daughter Alia Bhatt for the first time, besides Sanjay Dutt and elder daughter Pooja Bhatt from the cast of the original 1991 hit.