The New Year has dawned with a promise of more entertaining and thought-provoking cinema from Bollywood. Will new milestones be reached in 2009? Here’s a look.If 2008 ended on a promising note, 2009 begins with a bang, with some big banner movies set to hog the marquee. The Bhatt camp’s Raaz - The Mystery Continues and the Sippys’ Chandni Chowk To China with Akshay Kumar at the helm would be the two scene stealers of January, which will also witness the release of Zoya Akhtar’s dark comedy on Bollywood, Luck By Chance , due for January 30 release along with Harman Baweja ’s second film Victory . Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire , a Golden Globe nominee and an Oscar hopeful, might get released in January after its successful run at overseas box office.
The month of February would see the release of movies like Priyadarshan’s Billu Barber and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra ’s Dilli 6.
This year will see directors like Anurag Basu and Imtiaz Ali returning after a break of one year. While the Rakesh Roshan produced Kites can hit the theatres any time around mid year as the movie is still in the making and its major chunk is still to be shot, Imtiaz Ali will comeback with yet another love story, untitled yet, starring Deepika Padukone and Saif Ali Khan .
Rajkumar Hirani will not give any Munnabhai jhappi, but will return with a thought-provoking film that takes a dig at our education system in 3 Idiots which is based on bestseller novel ‘Five Point Someone’ and has Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor in the lead roles. Most likely, ‘3 Idiots’ would close 2009.
Lavishly budgeted movies in this period of recession may appear absurd but they would be one too many in 2009. London Dreams by Vipul Shah, Kambakkth Ishq by Sajid Nadiadwala , and the Salman Khan -written historical drama ‘Veer’ are some of the celluloid mammoths that would roar in 2009. ‘Kambakkth Ishq’ is particularly special as it has some Hollywood biggies in cameos for the first time in an Indian masala movie.
On the contrary, industry giants like Yashraj and Dharma Productions have few movies lined up this year. There is no news as to when Karan Johar’s much anticipated My Name Is Khan with Kajol and Shahrukh Khan is going to release. Possibly, by this year end. Yashraj will begin this year with New York directed by Kabir Khan and starring John Abraham , Neil Nitin Mukesh and Katrina Kaif . Katrina would also be seen in a love story Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani with Ranbir Kapoor .
Himesh Reshammiya will be back with a movie named A Love Issshtory , again paired opposite two beautiful ladies. You can also watch some off-beat parallel cinema like Dev. D , Aur Devdas , Tera Kya Hoga Johnny , Wake Up Sid , Delhi Belly , Lamha , Teen Patti , Johnny Mastana which has Amitabh Bachchan in the lead, Nagesh Kukunoor’s Eight By Ten or the Bipasha Basu starrer Pankh or Mallika Sherawat ’s nagin act in Hisss .
Some serious directors would dabble in comedy for the first time. Ashutosh Gowarikar is trying some rib-tickling humour in What's Your Raashi with Priyanka Chopra and Harman Baweja. And Vishal Bharadwaj will return with Kaminay which stars Shahid Kapur and Priyanka in the lead.
And not to forget, Sanjay Leela Bhansali is returning back to what he does best and directing a movie with Hrithik and Aishwarya Rai . Ash would also be seen in Mani Ratnam’s next with hubby Abhishek Bachchan .
From the look of it, 2009 holds out a promising spread.
This is the time when we filmmakers need to be fearless and experiment with themes. Fearlessness is my biggest asset as a filmmaker. I will continue to make films that come from deep within me.
Why don't you clarify the misconceptions when they occur?
Aishwarya is very special to me. She suits the role in my new film to perfection. When she read the script she was deeply moved. Of course true friend that she is, she told me she would've agreed to work with me even if I didn't send her the script. But it's important for an actor to be convinced of what he or she is doing.
Why was this copyright issue brought up at the last time?
Surya, the actor who was in the original Tamil version of the film Ghajini. He has done a fantastic job. After watching the film, I was a bit hesitant whether to do the film or not. I was in two minds. Surya convinced me and said that I was the only one who could do justice to the character. He pushed me to do Ghajini.
How true is it that yourself and Salman are forming a team or a camp against SRK?
The committee liked the film a lot and the concerned person called me to congratulate me on how good Taare Zameen Par was. That doesn't mean that we are nominated because I am sure he liked other films too. But the fact that he has taken the effort to call was touching and I am very happy about it.
Sajid Nadiadwala has signed Deepika Padukone opposite Akshay Kumar for his next Houseful to be directed by Sajid Khan.
The terrible 26/11 Mumbai attacks have changed a lot things for Ayesha Takia as well, just like many others. 
Anushka Sharma who was kept under wraps by the Yash Raj team is finally out in the open. The actress who has signed a three film contract with Aditya Chopra including Ra Ne Bana Di Jodi has not signed any other film as she is bound by the contract.
