Bollywood in 2006

Despite the price of movie tickets going through the roof, there are a few must-sees waiting to ambush us this year.

By Subhash Jha

What To See This Year? That's the question. With movie tickets becoming progressively prohibitive, that expectant wade through the traffic snarl to catch the latest Friday flick has waned. Still, there are films in 2006 for which one would shush the slush, brave the rains and defy the drivel that generally pours out of the screen. Here are the 10 films in 2006 I'd kill to see
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Saanvariya: A Sanjay Leela Bhansali creation is a joy forever. Having seen him build four Taj Mahals in a row , you naturally want to know what monument of love Bhansali intends to build this time round. Since Sony Pictures is investing greenbacks, the stakes are automatically higher. But Bhansali isn't bothered about the nature and immensity of the funds. Again, he will do exactly what he wants to. Saanvariya will be far more frothy, blithe and music-filled than Black. It will also feature a startling cast that will take the nation by storm. At a time when auteur cinema seems to be the rule, here's a mainstream creator who will make us drool.

Kabhi Alvidaa Na Kehna: Karan Johar-Shah Rukh Khan, Rani-Preity….plus the two Bachchans, Amitabh and Abhishek, together again…this time, the senior Bachchan is cast totally contrary to anything he has played so far. As Abhishek's adviser and guide Amitabh will emote in an urban elitist metropolis (the film is set in New York). Although Karan will go into a far more mature and scathing territory, audiences who loved the overweening sentimentality of K3G won't come away disappointed. Hey guys, relax! It won't be that different.

Umrao Jaan: So you thought the true-blue movie moghul JP Dutta was a guys' director? Think again! The magic he's currently creating in Jaipur as Aishwarya Rai transforms into the mystical Umrao Jaan Adaa, is going to be hard to equal by any other director who wishes to go back in time. Watching Ash perform a mujra before Abhishek Bachchan amidst a bevy of bustling beauties from Shabana Azmi to Divya Dutt , you feel you're transported to the world that Meena Kumari once inhabited in Pakeezah as Beena as Nadira and other ladies fussed over her.

Rang De Basanti: If with Aks, Rakeysh Mehra proved he was the emperor of the eerie, in his second film he'll take us into walloping world of youthful aspirations lit up by a truck-load of energetic actors as rangy as Aamir Khan and Madhavan, all creating for the camera a collage of colliding, conflicting contemporary emotions. Gut feeling: this one will be a trendsetter like Farhan Akhar's Dil Chahta Hai.

Mukhbir (The Informer): Mani Shankar, who has made some very unusual hi-tech thrillers (16 December, Tango Charlie), returns with a raw, real, gut-wrenching thriller about a government spy (Sammir Dattani, in a career-making role) who changes identity to infiltrate the world of terrorism and loses his way in the labyrinth of powerplay. With a strong supporting cast and a script that sings, dances and rocks, Hyderabad-based producer Sudhish Rambhotla has the formula right. "It's the different kind of mainstream cinema like Mukhbir that will make all the difference." Touché.
Don: This Farhan Akhtar remake of Chandra Barot's 1978 Bachchan actioner does away with all the looming leaps of believability to carve out a James Bond-meets-Mission Impossible thriller. Shah Rukh Khan, who had earlier played I-spy in Badshah, loves the idea of doing a cloak-and-dagger again, and not just because he's teamed with the hot-and-happening Priyanka Chopra. Watch out for Kareena Kapoor sizzling to Helen's Yeh Mera Dil.

Vivah: After messing up big-time with Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon, Sooraj Barjatya leaves behind Kareena to cast her beau Shahid Kapoor with the fragile Amrita Rao in a film that explores the sanctity of marriage, but in a tone that's freed of didacticism. Loads of songs, but not much dancing, loads of ideas but not much preaching, this could be the surprise success of 2006.

Sholay: From Ramgarh ka Sholay to Ram Gopal Varma ka Sholay….look what the ever-resourceful Ramu is all set to do! He casts the senior Bachchan as Gabbar Singh and Abhishek and Mohit Ahlawat as the two mercenaries who vanquish the Ravan of the ravines. Will the pair make the same impact as Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra? Will Ramu re-invent Ramesh Sippy's classic without losing out on the rugged adventurous spirit?

Corporate: Madhur Bhandarkar's follow-up to the resounding success of Page 3 casts Bipasha Basu as a hard-nosed entrepreneur who's caught in a cola war with her rivals. Once again, Madhur relies on a largely-untapped ensemble cast. Each actor from K K Menon to Sammir Dattani delivers a sixer.

Water: Only God and the distributor know when the last part of Deepa Mehta's trilogy will be released here. The film about widows languishing by the ghats of the Ganga is actually shot in the stunningly scenic Sri Lanka. But no sweat. If Prakash Jha can turn a remote corner of Maharashta into Bihar in Apaharan, why not Varanasi in Sri Lanka?