Movies to look forward to...

The 3 odd months of 2009 have been anything but good to the movie markets that I follow closely. Malayalam Cinema was at its worst. The only movie that could gross decent collections from theatres was "Magante Achan". The situation was not very different across the border- all you had was a "Vennilla Kabadi Kuzhu" that could attract audience to theatres. There have not been any massive hits in Bollywood either- Raaz 2, Dev D and Luck by Chance made some money and thats it!

But, looking at what is lined up for the rest of 2009, I am still quite hopeful of the industries doing a turn around. Here is a quick peek at some of the movies that I am really looking forward to during the rest of the year:

Malayalam:

1. 2 Harihar Nagar has already released and is running to packed houses. This one figures right on top of my list since I have not yet seen it. I should in all probabilities be posting my review of the movie right here next week :-)
2. Bhagyadevatha- This could well be Jayaram's next turning point. Jayaram- Sathyan Anthicaud pairing has rarely gone wrong. This time around we have Kanihaa and Narain apart from Sathyan regulars like KPAC Lalitha, Innocent and Mammukkoya. This could well be Jayaram's worthy follow up to the success of "Veruthe oru Bharya". Come 23 April and we will know...
3. Bodyguard- Siddique helped Mammootty out of a string of flops when he directed "Chronic Bachelor" a good 6 years back. He could well be the saviour for Dilip whose films have not been doing well these days. Bodyguard also has the numero uno actress of the South- Nayanthara- making a comeback to Malayalam Cinema after 4 years. Enough reasons for this one to figure on my list...
4. Ee Pattanathil Bhootham- Mammootty and Kavya Madhavan do not sound like a great combination- but this fantasy about a bike rider in a circus camp and a friendly ghost could well prove to be that child puller we have been waiting for this season. "Thuruppugulan" was the last time Jhony Antony teamed up with Mammootty and a cartoon strip based on the movie is well onto its 3rd year. Need I say more?
5. Pazhassiraaja- Hariharan- MT- Mammootty came together last time for "Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha" and made Kerala proud! They are back after 20 years with the story of Kerala Simham Pazhassi Raaja, another historical with Kanihaa, Padmapriya, Suman and Sharath Kumar forming part of a mammoth cast. Gokulam Gopalan's 10 crore extravaganza has been in the making for more than 2 years now and is expected to hit theatres on Independence Day 2009
6. Kutty Shraanku- Shaji N Karun wields the megaphone and brings laurels to Malayalam Cinema at international level whenever he does so. Piravi, Swaham, Vaanaprastham...Kutty Shranku joins this elite list. This is Mammootty's first association with Shaji and he has Padmapriya and Kamalinee Mukherji for company. This period drama that spans over 3 lands in 3 different seasons could well be that refreshing change Malayalam Cinema has so long been looking at...
7. Robinhood- This one marks Joshiy's return after that cleverly directed "Twenty/20" and stars Prithviraj as a technologically accomplished thief who steals money from ATM's and also heroine Bhavan's heart in between. Sachi- Sethu's last script was also for Prithviraaj and the "Chocolate" was quite a money spinner
8. Cassanova- Rosshan Andrews will start shooting "Cassanova" in Vienna soon. With Mohanlal, Jayasuriya, Arya, Priyanka Nair, Lakshmi Rai and Bhavana in this multi crore mega movie produced by the Confident Group, scriptwriter Bobby- Sanjay duo write their first superstar script after showing a lot of promise with "Ente Veedu Appoontem" and "Notebook"
9. Ivar Vivahitharayaal- This could well be the underdog. With an interesting storyline and a successful television director (Saji Surendran) making his debut in feature films, Ivar Vivahitharayaal with a fresh cast of Jayasuriya, Bhama, Navya Nair and Samvrutha Sunil may also set the cash registers ringing, you never know...
10. Calendar- Actor Mahesh makes his debut as a director in this flick being shot at CMS College, Kottayam with Nedumudi Venu and Zarina Wahab in the lead (almost 3 decades after Chamaram). Prithviraaj and Navya Nair play the young couple in love. The 2 pairs could attract audiences from 2 different generations!

Let us see how many of these I manage to watch and how many of these actually set the cash registers ringing. I could have also missed out on some of the movies announced or in progress. The bottom line is that I am still hopeful of 2009 at the movies...