BOLLYWOOD IN 2018
In 2017, the question that troubled audiences was ‘why Katappa killed Baahubali’. In 2018, it’s ‘will Padmavati enjoy a hasslefree release’? Unperturbed, Akshay Kumar’s off to a flying start for the year. After Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, his next public service initiative is menstrual hygiene as he stars in Padman (Jan. 26)—a film inspired by activistinventor Arunachalam Muruganantham who has made lowcost sanitary towels. On Apr. 27, Kumar battles Rajinikanth in the long delayed and highly anticipated scifi epic 2.0. Come Aug. 15, and Kumar reprises his patriot act as the hockey player leading newlyindependent India to Olympic glory in Gold.
If boxoffice numbers show Kumar knows what the public wants, so do Rajkumar Hirani and Abhijat Joshi, whose fourth collaboration is their first biopic—on troubled actor Sanjay Dutt (Mar. 30). Dutt may be hard to root for but that won’t be the case with Super 30 (Nov. 23), in which Hrithik Roshan sets out to convince viewers that he shares an uncanny resemblance to Bihari mathematician Anand Kumar. (No actual math test was administered during the filming.) Meanwhile, filmmaker Nandita Das and actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui team up to remind audiences of the joys and seductive powers of Saadat Hasan Manto’s prose.
Deepika Padukone teams up with her Piku costar Irrfan Khan in Vishal Bhardwaj’s untitled next. And the answer to Deepika’s Padmavati is Kangana Ranaut’s Manikarnika (Apr. 27), based on Rani Laxmibai.
The superstar Khans, of course, will make their requisite appearances. Thugs of Hindostan (Nov. 7) is massive not just for its fantastical scale but because it’s the first time Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan act together on the big screen. Aanand L. Rai turns the megastar Shah Rukh Khan into a smallsized man in Dwarf (Dec. 21).
Janhvi Kapoor and Ishaan Khatter star in Karan Joharproduced Dhadak (Jul. 6) a remake of the criticallyacclaimed Marathi film Sairat. If caste is a hindrance in their love story, nature is the obstacle in Sara Ali Khan’s debut Kedarnath (Dec. 21), set against the 2013 flash floods.
Vikramaditya Motwane gives the superhero genre a spin in Bhavesh Joshi (May 25). Even when filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee is not in topnotch form (Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!), he stands out for his daredevilry and ingenious storytelling. Be ready for Sandeep aur Pinky Faraar (Aug. 3).
—Suhani Singh