Films to watch out for in 2013

Ram Leela: Two years after the under-valued Guzaarish, Sanjay Leela Bhansali returns to his Gujarati roots for a Gujju rendering of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet with oodles of colours, vivacity and flamboyance. Bhansali admits for now he’s done with films about physically and emotionally disabled characters. Ram Leela is a happy, feisty and, ummmm, Read More">tastyRead More

Ram Leela: Two years after the under-valued Guzaarish, Sanjay Leela Bhansali returns to his Gujarati roots for a Gujju rendering of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet with oodles of colours, vivacity and flamboyance. Bhansali admits for now he's done with films about physically and emotionally disabled characters. Ram Leela is a happy, feisty and, ummmm, tasty take on a love tale that refuses to get wrinkled. Deepika Padukone as 'Leela' Juliet and Ranveer Singh as 'Ram' Romeo would take their promising careers to the next level with this eye-catching feast of music, dances and songs (composed by director Bhansali himself). The film also stars that supremely talented spunky siren Richa Chadha from Gangs Of Wasseypur and has been shot in Kutch. Expected to be released in July-August.

Kai Po Che: Abhishek Kapoor who gave us that eminently watchable rock-steady-stadia drama Rock On, returns with an adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's novel 3 Mistakes Of My Life about the dreams aspirations and hopes of three youngsters in Gujarat. The film features three super-talented actors Sushant Singh Rajput, Amit Sadh and Rajkumar Yadav in career-making performances. Rajput has already been signed by Yashraj Films as the lead for their next film. He is being perceived as the star of 2013.

Shootout At Wadala: We’ve seen innumerable dramas on gangsterism in Mumbai. This one promises to be the real thing with real gangsters without fictional names. Shot on actual locations, featuring stars who abandon their vanity to get into character and written with the ink of sweat blood tears and semen, Read More">Sanjay Gupta’s crime thriller recreatesRead More

Shootout At Wadala: We've seen innumerable dramas on gangsterism in Mumbai. This one promises to be the real thing with real gangsters without fictional names. Shot on actual locations, featuring stars who abandon their vanity to get into character and written with the ink of sweat blood tears and semen, Sanjay Gupta's crime thriller recreates the events and episodes from Manya Surve's 'encounter' killing on 1 November 1982. This one should do to the genre of gangsterism what Ram Gopal Varma's Satya did a decade ago.

Lootera: Vikram Aditya Motwane who gave us the striking Udaan two years ago returns with a love story based on an O'Henry short story about a leafy love-bond that refuses to fade with the seasons. One doesn't know how much passion Ranveer Singh and Sonakshi Sinha can whip up in the saga. But the producers are leaving no stone unturned to ensure this becomes Bollywood's answer to David Lean's Dr Zhivago.

Race 2: Abbas-Mustan’s 2008 thriller Race returns racier than before. As is the norm in sequels the male cast Saif Ali Khan and Anil Kapoor is repeated while the female actors from Race are replaced by Deepika Padukone Jacqueline Fernandez and Ameesha Patel in Race 2. Sorry, Read More">guys no Katrina or Bipasha this time. ButRead More

Race 2: Abbas-Mustan's 2008 thriller Race returns racier than before. As is the norm in sequels the male cast Saif Ali Khan and Anil Kapoor is repeated while the female actors from Race are replaced by Deepika Padukone Jacqueline Fernandez and Ameesha Patel in Race 2. Sorry, guys no Katrina or Bipasha this time. But there's John Abraham as a beefy bonus, if that's any consolation.

Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola: In Vishal Bhardwaj's latest quirky drama Imran Khan plays Matru. Anushka Sharma plays Bijlee and the fabulous rarely-seen actor Pankaj Kapoor plays Mandola. And yes, Shabana Azmi plays a politician who has the hots for Pankaj Kapoor. This one looks like something that Anurag Kashyap would love to do if only Vishal wasn't doing it before him.

Read More">Chennai Express: Shah Rukh Khan teams up with Ajay Devgn’s favourite director Rohit Shetty for the first time in a romantic drama set in a train. The film promises a change of image for both SRK and his leading lady Deepika Padukone and for the director who for too long has become associated with slapstickRead More

Chennai Express: Shah Rukh Khan teams up with Ajay Devgn's favourite director Rohit Shetty for the first time in a romantic drama set in a train. The film promises a change of image for both SRK and his leading lady Deepika Padukone and for the director who for too long has become associated with slapstick comedy.

Himmatwala: Remember Sridevi and Jeetendra cavorting amidst the pots and pans to the tune of Bappi Lahiri's 'Nainon Mein Sapna'? Sajid Khan recreates the 1983 potboiler. Hopefully the pot would be boiling this time in a different brew, what with Ajay Devgn and Southern glam-doll Tamannaah all set to give the tale a different spin.

Special Chabbis: A heist caper from Neeraj Pandey, the director of A Wednesday the gripping 2008 anti-terror drama Special Chabbis recreates, blow-by-blow, events connected with the dare devilish broad-daylight heist on 19 March 1987 when a bunch of men masquerading as income tax officials ‘raided’ a jewellery store in Mumbai. Sure, Read More">this one just mayRead More

Special Chabbis: A heist caper from Neeraj Pandey, the director of A Wednesday the gripping 2008 anti-terror drama Special Chabbis recreates, blow-by-blow, events connected with the dare devilish broad-daylight heist on 19 March 1987 when a bunch of men masquerading as income tax officials 'raided' a jewellery store in Mumbai. Sure, this one just may end up glorifying fraudulency. But what the hell! We live in morally subverted times. It should be fun watching Akshay Kumar and his gang of co-stars pull this one off.

Besharam: Post-Dabangg director Abhinav Kashyap refused to direct the sequel to Dabangg. Instead he chose this crime drama about a con-person from Delhi (Ranbir Kapoor) trying to escape the law with two Haryanvi cops (played by Ranbir's parents Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh) hot on his heels. Dunno about real life. But crime certainly pays on celluloid.