Bollywood’s outlook for the first quarter of 2022 looked promising until the third wave of coronavirus hit the country. While the world could possibly be reeling under the fourth wave of Covid-19 variants, India is at the door of it’s third one. Some big films are ready to release if theatres are opened while others are hitting OTT. The January to March period is now expected to start with Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi and Ananya Panday-featured ‘Gehraiyaan’, which is directed by Shakun Batra and produced by Dharma Productions, Viacom18 Studios, Amazon Prime Video. ‘The Kashmir Files’ directed by Vivek Agnihotri will also release soon. While John Abraham, Jacqueline Fernandez and Rakul Preet Singh will sharpen their ‘Attack’, Rajkummar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar will make audience laugh with ‘Badhaai Do’, a sequel to ‘Badhaai Ho’. Taapsee Pannu is ready with Viacom 18 Studios’ production ‘Shabaash Mithu’. Sanjay Leela Bhansali is waiting in the wings to bring Alia Bhatt’s story of ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ on screen since long. Apart from Gehraiyaan, all theatrical release date remain in limbo until the covid situation improves.
Other big films in the latter part of the quarter include ‘Jayeshbhai Jordaar’ starring Ranveer Singh, and ‘Bachchan Pandey’ featuring Akshay Kumar, Kriti Sanon, Jacqueline Fernandez, Arshad Warsi and Pankaj Tripathi. Ranbir Kapoor, Vaani Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt are ready with ‘Shamshera’ to hit the screens. Kartik Aaryan was in the news for being allegedly dropped from some films, but his ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ is complete and is looking for a good date. Last but not the least, Ayushmann Khurrana’s ‘Anek’ is also scheduled to release soon.
