Movies entering 2008

2007 comes to an end and its time to look forward to 2008. Like every year, 2008 too, will come up with its wide range of films in the world of Bollywood. From around over a 200 films that are under making currently, what should one look forward to? Gaurav Malani makes your search easier listing the 30 films to look forward to in 2008.

Disclaimer : All that glitters is not gold. So we just claim these movies to be ‘promising’ ones. ‘Good’ or ‘Bad’ only time will tell....

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1) Aladin and the Mystery of the Lamp

Director: Sujoy Ghosh
Banner: Eros International
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Ritesh Deshmukh, Jacqueline Fernandez and Juhi Chawla

The film has unique roles for all the big names in the film industry with Amitabh Bachchan to essay the role of Genius, the genie and Ritesh Deshmukh set to play Aladin. And in all probability Sanjay Dutt will mostly be playing the role of a villain. Apart from Juhi Chawla and Sameera Reddy the movie will also witness the debut of the Sri Lankan beauty queen Jacqueline Fernandez. This fairy tale story will be given a modern treatment with loads of special effects. Director Sujoy Ghosh must be looking forward to repeating the success story of his earlier film Jhankaar Beats .

Trivia:
- Ayesha Takia was the original choice for the role of Jasmin but director Sujoy Ghosh later felt that he needed a new face. So Jacqueline was roped in.
- Amitabh Bachchan has sung two songs for the film on tunes composed by Vishal-Shekhar.
- Shah Rukh Khan came on the sets of Aladin to visit Amitabh Bachchan putting a rest to the much-hyped stories on the Big B-SRK cold war.
- The film was to be originally produced by Ramesh and Rohan Sippy in association with Adlabs but they backed out at the last moment. That’s when Eros came into picture.


2) Bhootnath

Director: Vivek Sharma
Banner: B R Films
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla
Release Date: April 2008

Big B is set to play the role of a person who after his death enters the lives of a household wherein the members of the family cannot see him. Shah Rukh and Juhi play the young couple who come to live in that particular household along with their son Banku who happens to be the grandson of the ghost.

Trivia:
- After almost 2 decades an outside director will be directing a movie for the banner of B R Films.
- Bhootnath seems like a role-reversal of Paheli. Shah Rukh was a ghost in Paheli while Amitabh was human. Also Amitabh had a special appearance in Paheli while SRK has a cameo in Bhootnath . Both the films have a rural setting.


3) Dilli 6

Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Banner: UTV
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Atul Kulakarni, Divya Dutta, Om Puri

After the roaring success story of Rang De Basanti , director Rakeysh Mehra’s next film Dilli 6 is said to be about his days that he spent as part of his growing up years in Delhi’s Chandi Chowk area. And the title Delhi 6 is apparently the postal pin code for his hometown. After repeated changes in the cast Abhishek Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor are now finalized for the film.

Trivia:
- Initially Hrithik Roshan, Akshay Kumar, Siddharth and Ranbir Kapoor were considered for the male lead of the film. Also, Abhishek Bachchan who was considered and re-considered for the role was finalized at last.
- Though the film is based in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk area, it’s being shot in a place called Sambhar in Rajasthan where a set resembling Chandni Chowk has been constructed. This is to avoid the public hysteria while shooting in the crowded by lanes of Delhi.
- To film a scene of the film showing the morning festivities of Eid at Chandni Chowk, the film’s crew actually shot at Chandni Chowk last Eid to capture the real essence of the celebrations.


4) Drona

Director: Goldie Behl
Cast: Abhshek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Kay Kay Menon, Jaya Bachchan

Abhishek Bachchan plays a guy with supernatural powers while Priyanka Chopra will be playing his bodyguard in Drona which is purported to be Goldie Behl’s answer to Hrithik Roshan’s Krrish in terms of the special effects that it promises. Kay Kay Menon plays the villain in the film and Abhisehk has apparently learnt horse riding and sword fighting for his warrior like role.

Trivia:
- The shooting of the film came to a standstill for a long time intermittently when the local community in Rajasthan was offended over the death of a horse during the shooting of this film.
- Reportedly Aishwarya Rai was approached for a cameo in the film but she refused considering it was an item number.