Details: Starring Rani Mukerji, Vidya Balan; Directed by Rajkumar Gupta.
USP: A hard-hitting real-life expose on a high-profile murder done with style and swagger (the expose, not the murder), the film's director earlier helmed the well-received Aamir.
Downers: Two ladies no matter how talented and no matter how dramatic, the context of the gender-domination still add up to a chick flick. And these seldom do well in our country
Dhobi Ghat
Details: Starring Aamir Khan, Prateik; Directed by Kiran Rao
USP: An Aamir Khan production. Need we say any more? This one is extra-special because Mrs Aamir Khan has directed it and because Aamir plays a stellar role in it. He won't be seen in any film for at least one year now. Go for it.
Downers: The trailers look strained and pretentious. They are cut in a very European way. Even the music is resonant of European influences. Also, episodic films don't do well in India.
Details: Starring Akshay Kumar, Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Anushka Sharma; Directed by Nikhil Advani
USP: A cross-generation saga of a Punjabi family in UK, Patiala House features Akshay in a rare non-comic role. It also brings together the Bobby pair - Rishi and Dimple. Cricket and international cricketers form a part of the backdrop. Lagaan used the same formula to great success. Films with a Sikh backdrop Singh Is Kinng and Love Aaj Kal have succeeded.
Downers: Nikhil Advani and Akshay Kumar delivered a super-dud called Chandni Chowk To China in the past.
Details: Starring Priyanka Chopra, Naseeruddin Shah, Irrfan Khan, John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Anu Kapoor, Aleksandr Dyachenko; Directed by Vishal Bhardwaj
USP: Quite incontestably, Priyanka Chopra is the most complete actress today. To watch her play a woman who murders seven husbands (none of whom look like Gerard Butler) would be a fascinating experience. Director Bhardwaj has a proven track record with and without Priyanka in the lead.
Downers: Again a woman's picture and therefore ranks under 'Endangered Species'. Also the concept of a woman marrying 7 times is bizarre
Details: Starring Shahid Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor; Directed by Pankaj Kapoor
USP: Pankaj Kapoor's directorial debut is an intense love story. Shahid-Sonam pair never seen before. The film has been shot lavishly in different parts of the world.
Downer: Do we really want to see Shahid with Sonam?
Rock Star
Details: Starring Ranbir Kapoor, Nargis Fakhri; Directed by Imtiaz Ali
USP: Ranbir Kapoor is always an exciting actor to watch. To watch him play a rock performer jiving to A R Rahman's songs is a tempting idea. Ranbir says Imtiaz is the best director he has worked with. We can take his word for it
Downers: Films about musicians and music don't always work. For every Rock On there's London Dreams
Details: Starring Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Katrina Kaif, Abhay Deol, Kalki Koechlin; Directed by Zoya Akhtar
USP: Great Spanish locations, zany road movie with the never-tried pair of Hrithik and Katrina. What more do we need? Except the guarantee that Zoya is up to the task
Downers: Does anyone remember Zoya's first film Luck By Chance, by any chance? And Farhan's Karthik Calling Karthik? And Hrithik's two box-office thuds Kites and Guzaarish?
Ra.One
Details: Starring Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal; Directed by Anubhav Sinha
USP: SRK's home production, said to be the most expensive special-effects film in Hindi. SRK playing a super-hero is always a pleasant if not a jolting thought.
Downer: We've already seen all the hi-tech stuff in Shankar's Robot. And can Anubhav Sinha's whose earlier credits include Tum Bin, Dus and Luck, handle it?
Details: Starring Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta; Directed by Farhan Akhtar
USP: Don ko pakadna mushqil hi nahin naa-mumkin hai. It will be fun watching Farhan Akhtar's efforts to pin the original story down to a sequel
Downer: Frankly, the first part of Don was not a great motion picture achievement.
Details: Starring Abhishek Bachchan, Prateik, Bipasha Basu, Rana Daggubatti
USP: Said to be a stylized, docu-drama on the drug racket in Goa with slick action, Abhishek's no-nonsense cop act encores his Dad's Zanjeer style of score settlement
Downer: Rohan Sippy's track record isn't impressive enough to make us hold our breath
Pati Patni Aur Panga
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