This Friday it'll be Madhuri all the way

After a gap of seven years, Bollywood diva Madhuri Dixit is back to woo moviegoers with "Dedh Ishqiya". Coming out Friday, the film, not a regular masala film, has loads of entertaining elements, including the actress' never-seen-before avatar. The weekend also has another love story, "Yaariyan", hitting the screens.

Even though the film is a sequel to 2010 "Ishqiya", it is apparently different in its treatment and subject.

Although director Abhishek Chaubey dropped Vidya Balan, seen in the original, he has retained Arshad Warsi and Naseeruddin for the part two. Huma Qureshi joins them in the cast.

Naseeruddin and Arshad will reprise their roles of Khalujaan and Babban respectively from the original.

Made on a budget of approximately Rs.15 crore, the women-centric hinterland drama has been jointly produced by Raman Maroo of Shemaroo Entertainment and Vishal Bharadwaj, who has also co-scripted the film.

For those looking for teenage, candyfloss romance, debutante director Divya Khosla's "Yaariyan" may satiate their appetite.

"Yaariyan" features Miss India 2011 Rakul Preet Singh, TV show "Humse Hai Life" actor Himansh Kohli, Miss Earth 2010 Nicole Faria and Serah Singh. Produced by T-Series, the music for the film has been composed by Pritam, Mithoon, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Arko Pravo Mukherjee and Anupam Amod.

Khosla, who is married to producer Bhushan Kumar, has also choreographed five songs for the college-based romantic drama. The songs are "Baarish", "Meri maa", "Love me thoda aur", "Allah waariyan" and "Zor lagake haishaa".

The film fraternity has supported "Yaariyan" in different forms.

For instance, "Yaariyan" title was registered with Saif Ali Khan's company but he gave it to Kumar for free. Another well-known filmmaker, Mahesh Bhatt, launched the trailer of the film.

The film was earlier expected to release Jan 31, but Kumar decided to advanced this after an encouraging response to the film's first song "ABCD", which got one million views on video-sharing website YouTube within just two days of its release.

While "Dedh Ishqiya" is known for its star cast, "Yaariyan" has been in the news for its music.

"Both the films are equal. 'Dedh Ishqiya' has Madhuri, but the music of 'Yaariyan' has been appreciated. Both the films will manage well," Rajesh Thadani of Multimedia Combines told IANS.

Even "Yaariyan" is a Rs.15 crore film.

While both the films have had minimal promotions, each will hit approximately 1,200-1,500 screens.