Tamil
Lingaa
Star cast: Rajinikanth, Sonakshi Sinha and Anushka Shetty
Director: K S Ravikumar
The story is spread across two generations and will see Rajini playing a district collector in the present day and someone lowly in the earlier part of the story. Sonakshi’s role takes her back to the 1940s, while Anushka plays his present-day love.
Release date: December 12, 2014 (tentative)
Purampokku
Star cast: Arya, Sethupati, Karthika, Shaam
Director: S Jananathan
A political thriller, Purampokku means a piece of land common to all. Arya plays a financial analyst and Sethupati a railway worker, and their characters meet at some point in the story. Solo heroine Karthika role is an action-packed one.
Release date: January 2015
I
Star cast: Vikram, Amy Jackson
and Upen
Director: Shankar
Only Shankar can blend modelling, sports, love and ambition along with an experiment gone wrong and come up with a plausible storyline. Some great toned bods will be flaunted (Vikram vs Upen) and teamed up with Yuen Woo-ping’s spectacular cinematography.
Release date: January 9, 2015
Yatchan
Star cast: Arya, Kreshna, Deepa Sannidhi and Swati Reddy
Director: Vishnu Vardhan
Penned by writer duo Subha (Suresh and Balakrishnan) who love writing detective stories, there’s good reason to suppose there’s some sleuthing and action in this action thriller. Elementary, my dear Watson.
Release date: January 14, 2015
Vishwaroopam II
Star cast: Kamal Haasan, Andrea, Pooja, Shekhar Kapur
Director: Kamal Haasan
From the US to India is a big enough leap, at least for a sequel. In Vishwaroopam II, Kamal’s spy thriller, the location shifts to India. Much of the lead characters reprise their roles.
Release date: January 2015
Yennai Arindhaal
Star cast: Ajith, Anushka Shetty and Trisha Krishnan
Director: Gautam Vasudev Menon
A simple movie, as close to real life as it comes, it depicts as-handsome-as-ever Thala Ajith during different stages of his life from 12 to 40, giving him scope to woo two ladies.
Release date: February 2015
Jeyikkira Kuthira
Star cast: Jeevan, Dimple Chopade, Ambika Soni and Shravya
Director: Sakthi Chidambaram
Seems like Gemini Ganesan might have to relinquish his Kadhal Mannan (King of Romance) crown to Jeevan as the latter has been romancing (and duping) a bunch of heroines film after film, from Thiruttu Payale to Naan Avanillai and Naan Avanillai 2. In Jeyikkira Kuthira too, he is paired opposite three leading ladies. Let the games begin.
Release date: August 14, 2015
Malayalam
Double Barrel
Star cast: Prithviraj Sukumaran, Indrajith Sukumaran, Arya, Swathi Reddy and Isha Sharvani
Director: Lijo Jose Pellissery
The film’s title might hint at a bit of menace, but Double Barrel is apparently a fun gangster film, set in Goa. It’s enough to make us nervous. Remember Pulp Fiction?
Release date: Jan/Feb 2015
Maryadharaman
Star cast: Dileep
Director: Suresh Diwakar
A remake of the 1923 Buster Keaton film Our Hospitality, which was remade by SS Rajamouli as Maryada Ramanna, and also saw Kannada, Bengali and Hindi versions (as Son of Sardaar), the film has got ‘blue chip’ written all over it. Hopefully this story of a man who finds himself in a pickle and comes out alive will get thumbs-up from the audience this time too.
Release date: December 2014
Premam
Star cast: Nivin Pauly and a host of new faces
Director: Alphonse Puthren
Prem, pyaar, priti, premam—all express a universal emotion love, which occupies centre stage in this film. Lending more shine to it is current heartthrob Nivin who romances three heroines (all new faces). The same team that made superhit Neram (and made Nivin a star) is behind this film too.
Release date: Jan/Feb 2015
Lailaa O Lailaa
Star cast: Mohanlal, Amala Paul, Sathyaraj and Joy Mathew
Director: Joshiy
LOL. That’s just the abbreviated form of the movie touted to be an action-comedy thriller. Kahaani fame writer Suresh Nair gives us great hope as does the second-time pairing of director Joshiy, Lal and Amala Paul who had gave us the hit Run Babby Run.
Release date: March/April 2015
Telugu
Rudramadevi
Star cast: Anushka Shetty, Allu Arjun, Rana Daggubati, Nithya Menon and Prakash Raj
Director: Gunasekhar
What’s the need for a plot when profiling the life and times of the revered 13th century queen Rudrama Devi of the Kakatiya dynasty? In ‘India’s first 3D historic film’, Anushka plays Rudrama Devi with Rana as Prince Chalukya Veerbhadra who marries her.
Release date: December 2014
Gopala Gopala
Star cast: Daggubati Venkatesh, Pawan Kalyan, Shriya Saran and Nayanthara
Director: Kishore Kumar Pardasany
A remake of Hindi film OMG: Oh My God!, which itself was inspired from a Gujarati play, it’s about an atheist who sues God (played by Pawan).
Release Date: January 2015
Temper
Cast: NTR Jr and Kajal Aggarwal Director: Puri Jagannadh
After the debacle of their 2004 film Andhrawala, Puri Jagannath and NTR Jr have joined hands again for Temper, a cop drama with NTR Jr playing an eccentric police officer—with a crew cut to complete the image.
Release date: January 9, 2015
Baahubali
Star cast: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty and Tamannah Bhatia
Director: S S Rajamouli
Coming from the director of Magadheera, Baahubali is a story of conflict between two warrior brothers, and interspersed with warring sequences, it justifies why Prabhas, Anushka and Rana, the antagonist, had to learn sword fighting and martial arts. The film will be simultaneously released in Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi and a few other foreign languages as Mahabali.
Release date: April 17, 2015
Gabbar Singh 2
Star cast: Pawan Kalyan and Anisha Ambrose
Director: K S Ravindra (Bobby)
Except for the title, Gabbar Singh 2 shares nothing with the original Gabbar Singh. It’s being put together as an independent film, a love story, with tons of action and humour.
Release Date: May 2015
Kannada
Mr and Mrs Ramachari
Star cast: Yash, Radhika Pandit and Achyuth Kumar
Director: Santhosh Ananddaram
The only clue to the plot is the hero’s characterisation, based on a popular cinema character aka Ramachari (played by Vishnuvardhan) in Nagarahavu. Like Ramachari, the hero here too is a rebel, and a big fan of the Ramachari character. Wonder how far that will sustain the storyline unless Mrs Ramachari provides a twist.
Release date: December 2014
Ranna
Star cast: Sudeep, Rachita Ram, Hariprriya and Prakash Rai
Director: Nanda Kishore
It’s a remake of Telugu romcom family drama hit Attarintiki Daredi, much of which rested on the superb acting of Pawan Kalyan. Guess it’s Sudeep’s turn to return the favour.
Release date: TBA
Rana Vikrama
Star cast: Puneeth Rajkumar, Anjali, Adah Sharma, Vikram Singh and Girish Karnad
Director: Pavan Wadeyar
It’s raining cops in Sandalwood. In Rana Vikrama, Puneeth plays a powerful cop. Apparently, the film is being shot all over Karnataka and abroad as well.
Release date: TBA
Airavatha
Star cast: Darshan, Uravashi Rautella and Prakash Raj
Director: AP Arjun
The poster shows Challenging Star Darshan donning the khaki with great panache. We also know that Prakash will be acting with Darshan for the first time. Here’s hoping Airavatha will remain a white elephant in name (film’s title) only.
Release date: TBA
With inputs from Sunita Raghu, Samhati Mohapatra, Sharadha Srinidhi, Suhas Yellapantula and Chandrakanth Viswanath
(Release dates are subject to change)