MEGA MOVIES OF 1998

Satya
Stars Urmila Matondkar in a demure saree opposite Telugu cinema’s Chakravarthy. Mahima was originally supposed to do the film but created news when she walked out of this Ram Gopal Varma flick. Varma, for his part, is convinced that Satya will be his piece de resistance. A story revolving around the underworld of Mumbai, it comes at a timely juncture.

Mela
This next offering from Dharmesh Darshan, the maker of Raja Hindustani, it stars Aamir Khan, his younger brother Faisal, and Twinkle Khanna in a love story with a suspense angle. Mela will be a significant film in Faisal’s career as it marks his comeback. He had been completely written off after the debacle of his debut film, Madhosh. Maybe Dharmesh is the person to put the zing back into Faisal’s career.

Duplicate
In Duplicate Shah Rukh fans will see him in a double role for the first time, opposite Sonali Bendre and Juhi Chawla. One of his characters is apparently so goody goody that he tends to be a bit of a nerd. A kind of Forrest Gump or Jerry Lewis character. The other is a bad guy who maims, rapes, kills, and, in Shah Rukh’s words, “is a bastard”. Of course, Shah Rukh has pulled off the good-bad duality before (Darr, Anjaam), but hopefully, director Mahesh Bhatt will be able to extract a performance with a difference this time. Yash Johar produces Duplicate.

Vinashak
A regular action thriller starring Sunil Shetty and Raveena. The fact that action director Ravi Dewan is turning director with this film, is the most interesting news about Vinashak. Oh yes, Viju Shah’s music is already quite popular.

Grahan
Jackie Shroff turns producer with this one. Directed by K. Shashilal Nair, the unusual story-line was the brain child of writer Sujeet Sen. Lawyer Jackie successfully defends a minister’s beta accused of raping Manisha Koirala, but later finds out that she was telling the truth. He goes in search of her but finds that she has lost her memory. Grahan stars Jackie and Manisha Koirala, supported by model Anupama Verma who makes her debut. The music is by Kartik Raja and bears an unmistakable Rahman hangover.

Quila
Dilip Kumar’s grand re-entry into films after Subhash Ghai’s Saudagar, comes in the form of a double role in Quila, a court room drama directed by Umesh Mehra. Interestingly, the thespian plays both a judge and a convict. Even more interesting is that he has been paired with Rekha again, after Aag Ka Darya, which is still to be released. Mukul Dev and Mamta Kulkarni also star in the film.

Takshak
Govind Nihalani directs Ajay Devgan and Tabu in Takshak. The film is about youngsters who are exploited by criminals who mislead them into doing wrong. Govind’s first foray into commercial cinema.

Chakra
Sanjay Dutt and Kumar Gaurav’s home production stars the Dutt opposite Sushmita Sen. The film will be directed by Dilip Shukla and to quote Dutt, will be a “very sensible” film. But no more has been said about the plot as things are still very hush hush.

Lal Badshah
KC Bokadia directs Manisha Koirala opposite the Big B. Shilpa Shetty also features. The other Shetty, Sunil, was supposed to be in the film but dropped out because of date problems! Amitabh teams up with Bokadia for the first time after Aaj Ka Arjun in what promises to be a regular masala extravaganza.

Jhoot Bole Kauwa Kaate
Hrishkesh Mukherjee makes a comeback after 12 long years with the final instalment of his trilogy which had begun with the delightful comedies Gol Maal and Naram Garam. Jhoot Bole... was originally planned with the same cast, but in the meantime Utpal Dutt passed away while Amol Palekar, says Hrishda, is now too old for the part. A new cast featuring Anil Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Juhi Chawla and Amrish Puri takes over, accompanied by a crow which has a major role. This film, like the two before it, also revolves around the hilarious consequences of lying.

Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan
This promises to be a typcial David Dhawan laugh riot with Amitabh and Govinda coming together for the first time after Hum. They are playing cops opposite Ramya and Raveena. BMCM has apparently been inspired by the Hollywood flick, Bad Boys.

Wajood
N. Chandra is banking heavily on this one to bring back the magic of Tezaab. In fact, it is the first time he is working with Madhuri after Tezaab, the film that made her an overnight sensation. But this time Madhuri plays not an ek do teen dancer, but a journalist. The film also stars Nana Patekar, Ramya and Mukul Dev. An interesting angle to the story is that Ramya plays a victim of the Latur earthquake who loses her parents and her memory. She falls in love with Nana who is in love with Madhuri who is in love with Mukul. So don’t mistake this for a love triangle. It’s a love quadrangle.

Haseena Maan Jayegi
This is a Smita Thackeray production, directed by David Dhawan. Apparently, it has nothing to do with the ’60s hit of the same name starring Shashi Kapoor and Babita. Govinda, Sanjay Dutt, Sonali Bendre and Pooja Batra star in this film. The music was originally to be composed by Nadeem-Shravan. But this is the first film from which the duo was replaced following Nadeem’s alleged involvement in Gulshan Kumar’s murder. Anu Malik has taken over.

China Gate
Directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, it is based on Akira Kurosawa’s classic Japanese film, Seven Samurai. It was dogged by controversy following Mamta Kulkarni’s exit and re-entry. No doubt, it caused sleepless nights for Santoshi as the entire drama happened after more than 80 per cent of the film was already complete. Anyway, now she’s back and stars opposite a veritable gallery of ten villains including Om Puri, Danny, Amrish Puri and Kulbhushan Kharbanda.

Prem Aggan
After the debacle of Yalgaar, Feroz Khan makes a comeback to launch his son Fardeen in a love story, directed and produced by papa himself. Fardeen appears opposite Meghna Kothari, the daughter of kathak dancer Rita Ganguly. Anu Malik scores music.

Jadh
Having walked out of Kamal Haasan’s Chachi 420, adman turned director Shantanu Sheorey was determined to push on in the world of movies. He has done it remarkably efficiently, and has already completed shooting major portions of Jadh starring Jackie Shroff, Arjun Ramphal, Smriti Mishra and Sonali Bendre. Leslie Lewis has composed the music for the film based on the famous Marathi play Thank You Mr Glaad, about a jailer (Shroff) and a prisoner (Ramphal).

Aa Ab Laut Chale
This film will be Rishi Kapoor’s directorial debut in an effort to keep the venerated RK banner flying high as usual. Nostalgia will feature large in the film’s attractions, with Rajesh Khanna making a comeback with this film. Big news was made earlier this year when Kapoor and Khanna buried years of rivalry to come together for this film. The lovebird is Aishwarya Rai who pairs up with Akshaye Khanna for this much awaited love story set in New York. A major shoot was recently completed in USA.

Main Solah Baras Ki
He’s 75 going on 16 and it’s for the sprightly Dev Anand that this sweet sixteen love story grabs attention. The Nivea boy, Jas Arora, and the Atlanta girl, Sabrina, come together on screen for the first time in this prem kahani with a difference.

Dus
Mukul Anand’s last film will now be completed by the Sholay maker Ramesh Sippy. Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan are part of a two-man army out to save Hindustan from a neighbouring enemy. Raveena and Shilpa Shetty are around not so much to add glamour but colour to this slice of history.

Major Saab
A film with an army backdrop, it marks Nafisa Ali’s comeback onto the silver screen. Ajay Devgan plays a cadet opposite Sonali Bendre. Tinnu Anand directs this film which will feature what will hopefully be an exciting face/off between Devgan and Bachchan and again hopefully, will contribute to erasing Mrityudaata from public consciousness.

Kamasutra
The censors willing, Mira Nair’s erotic extravaganza should make it to the theatres early this year. The star of this sexual odyssey is undoubtedly a ravishing Rekha. The film has been constantly in the news and should undoubtedly make headlines once the secrets of KS are out in the open.

Hindustan Ki Kasam
Veeru Devgan, father of Ajay Devgan and an action director held in awe by all the big stars for the last twenty years, makes his debut as a director. Action, naturally will be the highlight of the film. “But it will not be ordinary action. It will be grand. That’s all I can say,” he says. Son Ajay and Sushmita Sen play the leading roles. Amitabh Bachchan makes “a very special appearance” which makes the film special.

Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya
Salman Khan’s home production will be directed by young brother Sohail who will, no doubt, try his hardest to better his directorial debut Auzaar which didn’t do too well. Starring brothers Salman and Arbaaz opposite Kajol and Anjala Zaveri, the addition of Dharmendra to the cast list is an exciting feature of the production. The producers are Bunty Walia and Sohail Khan.

Aunty No. 1
Kamal Haasan’s Chachi 420 has raced ahead of Govinda’s inspired production of Mrs Doubtfire but Govinda as a saree-swathed aunty would still be a riot and pull in the anvils undoubtedly. Raveena took over from Rambha mid-way through the film as the aunty‘s lead one. Kirti Kumar directs this comic caper.

London
Sunny Deol’s home production London has been into controversies ever since its launch. London-based director Gurinder Chadha was originally directing both the English and Hindi versions of the film. But when Sunny saw the rushes of the Hindi version he was more than a little unhappy. Gurinder didn’t understand the semiotics of Hindi filmmaking, he thought, and called in Rahul Rawail as consultant. An irate Gurinder went to court insisting that she had been signed on to run the show of both versions. Now the matter has been sorted out. She is directing the English version and Sunny is directing the Hindi version. The film will be shot entirely in London. It stars Sunny and Bobby. Karisma might drop out of the film due to date hassles.