Saibal Chatterjee

An array of Bollywood biggies will vie for multiplex footfalls in the coming year. But that is anything but unusual for an industry that thrives on hype and hoopla. Every year, we watch potential blockbusters come and go, often without creating so much as a ripple. Expectations can be deceptive and a film, in any case, is a notoriously fickle thing.

It might, therefore, make much more sense to focus on elements of the bigger picture, and not just on the slate of big-budget films that are expected to taste box office success in the next 12 months. So keep your eyes open and ears strained for the special sights and sounds of some of those interesting ‘firsts’ that are likely to change things around a little in the Mumbai movie industry in the year 2006.

Big B-Vidhu Vinod Chopra combo: Eklavya is ready to roll. This is the first time that producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra, coming off the rousing successes of Munnabhai M.B.B.S. and Parineeta, will direct the one and only Amitabh Bachchan. The combination has the potential of delivering a Bollywood classic. In 2005, Sarkar demonstrated what a director with imagination could extract from the Big B. Vidhu Vinod Chopra might do much the same.

Chopra’s Eklavya, which is scheduled to hit the screens in the second half of 2006, could represent another major triumph for the actor in Amitabh, an entity that is rarely allowed to go the whole hog in the run-of-the-mill NRI romances, father-son dramas and unimaginative action flicks that the megastar is usually trapped in.

The return of Kajol: Also watch out for the return of the irrepressible Kajol. In her first film since K3G, Fanaah, produced by Yash Chopra and directed by Kunal Kohli, the talented actress will be seen opposite Aamir Khan, which is another first that could yield a surefire box office and creative winner.

Kajol, as the whole wide world knows, is a perfect natural, an actress who can add a spark to any film. The only worry that we might justifiably have pertains to the ability of a Kunal Kohli to extract the best from an actress of her quality and energy. But knowing Kajol’s abilities, expect something out of the ordinary.

Yashraj Films goes global: Yashraj Films is far and away the most successful Bollywood production company in the business today. But the quality of the films with which it has been hitting the box-office bull’s eye of late has been rather low-grade. In 2006, the outfit could break out of its mediocre mould and deliver a film of real merit.

One of its upcoming films, first-time director Kabir Khan’s realistic, textured Kabul Express, the first production to be completely outsourced by Yashraj Films, could end up giving the banner the sort of lustre and prestige that it hasn’t seen in recent years.