Batti Gul Meter Chalu

 21^st Sept

Brief: Shree Narayan Singh from Toilet-Ek Prem Katha fame from last year brings us his latest outing, said to be based around the small electricity liability and the overpriced electricity bills given to small businesses in small towns of Indian . Shahid Kapoor plays a small time electricity thief paired opposite Shraddha Kapoor and Yami Gautam plays a lawyer.

Est Budget: 35-40 Crore

Daftest Rumour: In the stages was titled Battiya Bhuja Doh

Believable Trivia: Katrina Kaif, Ileana D’Cruz and Sonakshi Sinha were all approached by the role which was later taken by Shraddha Kapoor

Predicted Box Office Verdict:

• 7-9 Crore (Opening Weekend)
• 40 Crore (Total Collection)

Manto

21^ST Sept

Brief: Nandita Das’s biopic on the famous Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui set India’s post-independence period, discovers the writer’s life between the years 1946-1950. Selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival

Est Budget: 30-35 Crore

Daftest Rumour: The film was rejected by BJP supporters during the shoot for Manto’s move to Pakistan

Believable Trivia: Nawazuddin only charged Rs.1 as his charge fee

Predicated Box Office Verdict:

• 2-3 Crore (Opening Weekend)
• 10 Crore (Total Collection)

Sui Dhaaga

28^th Sept

Brief: Sharat Katariya from Dum Laga Ke Haisa fame returns with another drama with Varun Dhawan and Anushka Sharma. Based in Bhopal, aimed at promoting the country’s indigenous textile industries tangled with a love story between a tailor and an embroiderer played by Dhawan and Sharma.

Est Budget: 25-30 Crore

Daftest Rumour: Anushka Sharma is said to be playing a mother of three children in the film

Believable Trivia: Both the actors had apparently spend days to learn how to sew and embroil, and also operate the sewing machine.

Predicted Box Office Verdict:

• 8- 10 Crore (Opening Weekend)
• 50- 55 Crore(Total Collection)

Pataakha

28^th Sept

Brief: Vishal Bharadaj’s take on Charan Singh Pathik’s short story, Do Behnein, revolves around two sisters, Badki and Chhutki who grow up in a small village in Rajasthan and are constantly at war but when marriage separates them, they realise they can’t seem to live with or without each other.

Est Budget: 15-20 Crore

Daftest Rumour: Sanya Malhotra was casted only because of her fight attitude in Dangal

Believable Trivia: Was a planned project years ago with Priyanka Chopra and Parineeti Chopra

Predicated Box Office Verdict:

• 2-3 Crore (Opening Weekend)
• 20 Crore (Total Collection)

AndhaDhun

5^th Oct

Brief: Ayushmann Khurrana plays a blind piano teacher while on a lesson falls into the wrong scenario when a murder occurs which eventually leads to the question of his sight

Est Budget: 20-25 Crore

Daftest Rumour: Said to have some similarities with Kaabil

Believable Trivia:

• Originally titled ‘Shoot the Piano Player’
• Was planned with Neil Nitin Mukesh post Johnny Gaddar

Predicated Box Office Verdict:

• 6-7 Crore (Opening Weekend)
• 30-35 Crore (Total Collection)

Loveyatri

5^th Oct

Brief: Salman Khan launches his brother-in-law Aayush Sharma about a fun loving story on love blooming during the days of Navarati. Shot extensively in Gujrat and London, Ram Kapoor and Ronit Roy also star. Arbaaz and Sohail Khan also make cameos.

Est Budget: 25 – 28 Crore

Daftest Rumour: Shooting had stopped several times during the London schedule due to Aayush’s unprofessional attitude

Believable Trivia:

• Salman was impressed with Abhiraj Minawala, Ali Abbas Zafar’s assistant that he offered him to direct this film
• Said to renamed due the objections against using Navarati to the title LoveRatri

Predicted Box Office Verdict:

• 7 – 8 Crore (Opening Weekend)
• 20 – 25 Crore(Total Collection

Helicopter Eela

12^th Oct

Brief: Kajol is back with this urban comedy about an over-protective single mother who goes back to complete her education at college only to find out she is in the same class as her son played by Chauranga fame Riddhi Sen. This tounge-in-cheek comedy deals with unfulfilled ambitions and self-discovery. Directed by the Mardaani Pradeep Sarkar.

Est Budget: 10-15 Crore

Daftest Rumour: It was rejected by Rani Mukerjee as she didn’t want to do this film in the same year as Hitchki

Believable Trivia: Based on the Gujarati play Beta, Kaagdo

Predicted Box Office Verdict:

• 5-7 Crore (Opening Weekend)
• 15-17 Crore (Total Collection)

Badhaai Ho

19^th Oct

Brief: Dealing with the subject of Geriatric Pregnancy in an orthodox Indian suburban family, Ayushmann Khurrana, the new ‘people’s man’ plays the characters where his mother is pregnant when his own marriage is being arranged

Est Budget: 20-25 Crore

Daftest Rumour: During the shoot, locals had pretested about his ill thought of the film

Believable Trivia: Shot in a record time of 30 days

Predicted Box Office Verdict:

• 7-10 Crore (Opening Weekend)
• 40-45 Crore (Total Collection)

Namastey England

19^th Oct

Brief: Vipul Amrutlal Shah returns to the director seat after years with his sequel to his 2007 hit Namastey London. This time with the fresh pairing of Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra, keeping the flavour of the prequel alive the film has been shot around Punjab, Brussells, Paris and London.

Est Budget: 35-37 Crore

Daftest Rumour: Originally planned as Namastey Canada, due to permissions not being allotted for Canada, the script was changed to England.

Believable Trivia: The film touches on the sensitive issue of illegal immigration.

Predicted Box Office Verdict:

• 5-7 Crore (Opening Weekend)
• 35 – 37 Crore(Total Collection)

Bhaiyyaji Superhit

19^th Oct

Brief: Been in the making for years, this Sunny Deol starrer is finally making its way to the screens. Started in 2011, the film had drawbacks due over budgeting, financial issues, date issues and of course artist conflicts. The film is about a gangster and his attempt of becoming a movie star. Sunny Deol for the first time in his career plays a double role for the first time

Est Budget: 40-45 Crore

Daftest Rumour: The producer was thinking of replacing actresses Ameesha Patel and Priety Zinta during the making because their dead-out market

Believable Trivia:

• Preity Zinta, Arshad Warsi, Shreyas Talpade and Ameesha Patel have all not received their final payment and have refused to promote the film
• Sunny Deol has said to give the backing of his production house, Vijeta Films, as distributors for the film

Predicted Box Office Verdict:

• 3-5 Crore (Opening Weekend)
• 10 Crore (Total Collection)

5 Weddings

26^th Oct

Brief: Nargis Fakhri plays an American journalist who travels to India for a magazine feature on the multiple Indian wedding ceremonies. Film deals with weddings but also the community of transgender people called a Hijra who dance at these Indian weddings.

Est Budget: 25-30 Crore

Daftest Rumour: Rajkummar’s notion to saying yes was a big cheque

Believable Trivia: The film was initially set to be filmed in 2008 with the director  Namrata Singh Gujral and Harbhajan Mann in the lead

Predicted Box Office Verdict:

• 7-9 Crore (Opening Weekend)
• 20 Crore (Total Collection)

Bazaar (yet to be confirmed)

26^th Oct

Brief: Nikhil Advani writes and produces a dark take on a stock market clash in which deals with greed, politics and business. Film introduces ventran Vinod Mehra’s son Rohan Mehra

Est Budget: 35-40 Crore

Daftest Rumour: A take on Oliver Stone’s Wall Street

Believable Trivia: The film was ready and completed a little before Sacred Games had taken off

Predicted Box Office Verdict:

• 7-9 Crore (Opening Weekend)
• 30-35 Crore (Total Collection)

Thugs of Hindostan

8th Nov

Brief: This year’s mammoth Diwali release, Aamir Khan returns with Dhoom 3 Director – Vijay Krishna Acharya in this Yash Raj Production based on the novel Confessions of a Thug. About a gang of thugs who are posed by a challenge by the British Empire in India during the early 20^th Century. Aamir playing the gang leader, Amitabh Bachchan teams with Khan for the first time who plays his adoptive father. Katrina Kaif and Fatima Sana Sheikh are in the female leads.

Est Budget: 210-250 Crore

Daftest Rumour: Oddly, there were rumours that the film was a biopic on Aamir Khan

Believable Trivia:

• Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone initially had rejected the lead roles
• There were news of Katrina and Fatima clashing over the extension of their role
• Security was complete tight on set so no pictures of the characters were leaked

Predicted Box Office Verdict:

• 155 – 175 Crore (5 Day Weekend)
• 350 – 375 Crore (Total Collection)

2.0

 

29th Nov

Brief: Sequel to the 2010 hit Enthiran aka Robot, Shankar continues the episodes of Dr Vaseegaran and his robot Chitti. Akshay Kumar is said to be playing the role of scientist in the film and the main antagonist, Amy Jackson also joins the cast opposite Rajnikanth. The film has been shot entirely in 3D and said to be Shankar’s most expensive film yet.  The film has already changed its release date twice due to its issues in post-production.

Est Budget: 450-500 Crore

Daftest Rumour: Akshay is said to be playing the role of a pigeon in the form of a human

Believable Trivia:

• Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kamal Haasan, Aamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Vikram Chiyaan were considered the for the role that was later given to Akshay Kumar
• Akshay Kumar is said to have 12 different looks in the film
• Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan have cameos in the film

Predicted Box Office Verdict:

• 15-20 Crore (Hindi Version) (Opening Weekend)
• 115-120 Crore (Hindi Version) (Total Collection)

Kedarnath

30^th Nov

Brief: Abhishek Kapoor after his last disastrous outing Fitoor is back with his favourite hero Sushant Singh Rajput, this time Kapoor launches the daughter of Saif Ali Khan-Amrita Singh, Sara Ali Khan. The film is about the 2013 Kedarnath flood problem in which Rajput plays the role of a person who carries pilgrims to the shrine for money while Sara Ali plays a pilgrim who is stuck in the flood, getting through with the help of Rajput which sparks a romance.

Est Budget: 60-65 Crore

Daftest Rumour: Sushant Singh Rajput is said to be ghost producer of the film

Believable Trivia:

• A set built to recreate Kedarnath was built in Film City, Mumbai. Which alone cost 7 Crore said to be one of the biggest sets of recent times
• Sara Ali Khan signed Simmba when the shoot halted for this film which resulted to a controversy over dates had threaten to take Sara to court
• The film at a stage was to be shelved due going over-budget

Predicted Box Office Verdict:

• 10-12 Crore (Opening Weekend)
• 60-70 Crore (Total Collection)

Total Dhamaal

7^th Dec

Brief: Indra Kumar returns with the third instalment to the Dhamaal series. The original leads Ritiesh Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi, Javed Jafferi (Minus Ashish Chowdhury) return to the series they are also joined with Ajay Devgan, Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit. Indra Kumar promises it to be thrice the fun as the last two films as well as it being family friendly unlike his Masti series.

Est Budget: 80-90 Crore

Daftest Rumour: Story is said to be a piece of rework from Indra Kumar’s Shelved film Happily Divorced

Believable Trivia:

• Sanjay Dutt rejected returning to the series after his disappointment with Double Dhamaal
• Ajay Devgan was original to do a cameo but his role was later extended
• Said to be getting a release in 3D
• Ashish Chowdhury could not do the film due to his commitment with his TV Show Dev

Predicted Box Office Verdict:

• 15-20 Crore (Opening Weekend)
• 80-90 crore (Total Collection)

Zero

21^st Dec

Brief: The most talked about film this year, Aanand L Rai of Tanu Weds Manu fame teams up with Shah Rukh Khan playing the role of a dwarf.  The film is about Khan playing a guy of short stature, who falls in love with a superstar played by Katrina Kaif. Anushka Sharma portrays the character of a girl with intellectual disability who becomes his friend during his journey.

Est Budget: 150 Crore

Daftest Rumour: Shah Rukh Khan is playing a double role and the other role is called ‘number one’

Believable Trivia:

• The last film appearance of Sridevi who appears in a cameo
• Salman Khan, Deepika Padukone, Kajol, Rani Mukerjee, Juhi Chawla, Alia Bhatt, Karishma Kapoor and R.Madhavan also play cameos in the film.
• The lead role was offered to Salman Khan in 2012 but wasn’t keen on playing a dwarf
• After Kamal Haasan, Shah Rukh Khan is the first lead hero in a commercial film in India to play a dwarf

Predicted Box Office Verdict:

• 85-100 Crore (5 day Weekend)
• 200-225 Crore (Total Collection)

Simmba

28th Dec

Brief: Rohit Shetty, Karan Johar and Ranveer Singh come together for this massy action entertainer about a corrupt cop Sangram Balerao played by Ranveer Singh, set in a remote area in Maharashtra who after a mistake attempts to become a sincere cop. An official remake of Puri Jagannath’s Temper. The film also stars Sara Ali Khan who is making her debut 4 weeks before the release of Simmba.

Est Budget: 60-65 Crore

Daftest Rumour: The climax brings in Ajay Devgan as Bajirao Singham who comes to the help of Sangram Balerao which then leads to the next instalment of the Singham series.

Believable Trivia:

• The song ‘Aankh Mare Ladki Aankh Mare’ from Tere Mere Sapne has said to be recreated
• Suresh Oberoi is making a comeback with the film
• R Madhavan was originally to do the main antagonist but due to his back problem he was replaced by Sonu Sood

Predicted Box Office Verdict:

• 60 – 80 Crore (5 day Weekend)
• 150 – 180 Crore (Total Collection)