What is in store this October from Hindi cinema

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With the mood being upbeat after the massive successes of Pathaan, The Kerala Story, Gadar 2 and Jawan and also the hits Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani and OMG2 and the average faring of Mrs. Chatterjee Vs. Norway and Zara Hatke Zara Bachke, film aficionados are now in for festive October. Even Satyaprem Ki Katha, Dream Girl 2 and Fukrey 3 are being touted as successes or hits.

The month takes off with Dono releasing on October 5. The latest film from the Rajshri Productions’ stable (the company made their first film in 1962!), the movie introduces Sunny Deol’s younger son, Rajveer Deol, and Paloma, Poonam Dhillon’s and producer Ashok Thakeria’s daughter in the leads, with Avnish S. Barjatya, Sooraj R. Barjatya’s son also launched as director. It is the Maine Pyar Kiya formula of a new lead pair and a new director and it remains to be seen if ot works again. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy score music. The banner last made the sleeper hit, Unnchai, in 2022.

The same day sees the OTT release of Khufiya, a thriller directed by Vishal Bhardwaj and featuring Tabu and Wamiqa Gabbi. However, the proper day for release—Friday—falls on October 6, and two more films are set to open that day: Thank You For Coming, which is an erotic comedy and ‘chick flick’ with a cast led by Bhumi Pednekar and Shehnaz Gill. The marks the directorial debut of Karan Boolani and the film is co-produced by Anil Kapoor and Rhea Kapoor with Shobha and Ektaa Kapoor.

Clashing directly with these two big-screen releases will be Mission Raniganj, starring the Kesari team of Akshay Kumar and Parineeti Chopra and directed by Tinu Suresh Desai, who last directed Akshay’s hit, Rustom, in 2016. This film is a biopic of Jaswant Singh Gill, a brave and diligent mining engineer from IIT Dhanbad, who rescued 65 miners trapped in the Raniganj Coalfields in 1989.

While October 13 will have four small releases that are unlikely to go anywhere— Guthlee Ladoo, Darran Chhoo, Dhak Dhak and Bhagwan Bharose (the first two titles spark no enthusiasm in cine-buffs, while the other two might have appealed as film names if there had been a star in the cast). The pre-Navratri season is anyway considered inauspicious commercially and this crop comes just two days before the festival begins.

October 20 will see a triangular clash between Ganapath, Tejas and Yaariyan 2. The first film is the second movie from Pooja Entertainment (Vashu Bhagnani, Jackky Bhagnani et al) in two months: Mission Raniganj is also produced by them. Vikas Bahl directs this Amitabh Bachchan,Tiger Shroff and Kriti action bonanza.

Tejas, directed by first-timer Sarvesh Mewara, features Kangana Ranaut as Indian Air Force pilot, Tejas Gill, who inspired her men extraordinarily to fight for the nation. This is again a biopic, again directed by a first-timer, and coincidentally, the second name of the real-life protagonist is again Gill.

Yaariyan 2 is the much-hyped sequel to the average grosser Yaariyan that was released in 2013 under the direction of Divya Khosla Kumar. This time, Divya is in front of the camera instead with many new or almost-new names (Meezan Jafferi, Yash Daasguptaa, Pearl V. Puri, Anaswara Rajan, Priya Prakash Varrier and Warina Hussain) while Radhika Rao and Vinay Sapru direct this sequel in spirit. The duo had last directed the average Lucky—No Time for Love in 2005 for producers Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar of T-Series Films and also their delayed I Love New Year a decade later.

Weirdly, on the following Monday, the once big-name Vidhu Vinod Choprta directs his star-less 12^th Fail, with a small cast led by Vikrant Massey. Chopra probably wants to cash in on the Dassera holiday of October 24!

The last release of October will be Aankh Micholi, a comedy directed by Umesh Shukla (OMG—Oh My God!, 102—Not Out). The film has an ensemble cast Abhimanyu Dassani, Mrunal Thakur, Paresh Rawal, Sharman Joshi, Divya Dutta, Abhishek Banerjee, Darshan Jariwala and Vijay Raaz. This film, as per my assessment, will be the month’s dark horse after another expected winner in Dono. For the rest of the movies, box-office reception will depend strictly on their merits.