With the success of Ship of Theseus, The Lunchbox and Shahid, Bollywood’s image underwent a massive overhaul in 2013. The lines between commercial, indie, offbeat and arthouse were blurred, and 2014 promises an even bigger assortment of interesting films.

With the success of Ship of Theseus, The Lunchbox and Shahid, Bollywood’s image underwent a massive overhaul in 2013. The lines between commercial, indie, offbeat and arthouse were blurred, and 2014 promises an even bigger assortment of interesting films.

Miss Lovely

Starring Nawazuddin and Anil George as brothers producing scummy D-grade horror movies in the 80’s, Ashim Ahluwalia’s debut film after competing in Cannes is finally expected to release in India in January 2014. The censor board demanded an insane 157 cuts from the film. It took a year for Ahluwalia to appease the CBFC and get Miss Lovely an Indian release.

PK

The tag team of Rajkumar Hirani and Aamir Khan’s follow up to 3 Idiots promises a religious/political satire of sorts. It’s got Sushant Singh Rajput and Anushka Sharma in supporting roles, with Ram Sampath’s music to boot.

Queen

Everything about this movie looks interesting. I’d heard about how good the script was while it was filming. Then I heard about how good the film turned out to be. And now the trailer is out and it’s wonderful. Kangana Ranaut has been getting some respect for her interviews, but this could be the film that would make you take her seriously as a good actress.

City Lights

Hansal Mehta’s follow up Shahid is a remake of UK’s 2013 Oscar entry, Metro Manila, and it’s got the highly underrated Rajkummar Rao in the starring role.

Finding Fanny Fernandes

After five consecutive big hits, two of which had genuinely good performances, Deepika Padukone is teaming up again with her Cocktail director, Homi Adjania, for a dysfunctional family road trip comedy. If the genre doesn’t interest you, the supporting cast of Pankaj Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, Dimple and Arjun Kapoor certainly will.

Haider

It’s hard not to be pumped for Vishal Bharadwaj’s adaptation of Hamlet. With (a hopefully controlled) Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor and Maqbool co-stars Tabu and Irrfan, Haider might just be the film that renders Bharadwaj his much deserved box office success.

NH 10

Navdeep Singh, the director of Manorama Six Feet Under, had a tough time when his potentially awesome projects Basra and the Punju wedding zombie comedy were canned. His latest is a fiery horror thriller about a couple’s road trip gone awry. It’s going to be a pretty dark and awesome film, with a potentially cult classic female character in the lead.

Ugly

The biggest disappointment of 2013 was the non-release of Anurag Kashyap’s Ugly. I was lucky enough to catch a screening and can confirm that Kashyap is at the top of his game in this film. It’s perhaps the best thing he has made since Paanch and hopefully we’ll get to see it if the anti-smoking banner-peddling panjandrums from the health ministry are appeased.

Katiyabaaz

A docu on the power crisis in Kanpur, Deepti Kakkar and Fahad Mustafa’s Katiyabaaz is a comedy, an exposé, a satire, a tale of a vigilante, and one of the most enjoyable films I saw in 2013. If the movie gods do exist, and producers do possess some sense, this will see a nation-wide release in 2014.

Qissa

Anup Singh’s film made waves at the 2013 Toronto International Film festival and the Mumbai Film Festival. The film is an excellent, deeply sensitive, bold and yet subtle film that goes into the question of identity and gender in a way that’s unusual. Plus, it’s got terrific performances from Irrfan Khan, Tilottama Shome and Rasika Duggal.

Tumbad

The next from Anand Gandhi’s production house, Recyclewala Films, is an interesting little period thriller with elements of horror and fantasy in a story about a mysterious haunted well. It’s directed by debutant Rahi Anil Barve, who made the ultra-dark short film Manjha.

Sulemani Keeda

Director Amit Masurkar’s Versova Indie premiered at the Mumbai Film Festival. It takes us into the topsy turvy world of struggling screenwriters, star writers and the manic circus that is Bollywood.

Detective Byomkesh Bakshi

Dibakar Bannerjee is making a Byomkesh Bakshi thriller. With Yash Raj productions. With Sushant Singh Rajput in the title role. Set in 1940s’ Kolkata. Sold.

Bombay Velvet

The long gestating period noir epic from Anurag Kashyap is bound to be a massive film.Ranbir Kapoor playing a boxer; Karan Johar will be seen in an “antagonistic” role; jazz-based music by Amit Trivedi; the fact that Kashyap is making a big budget film — it’s impossible to not be excited about this.

Titli

For me, this is the most anticipated Hindi film of the year, and one which is guaranteed to make the international festival buzz in 2014. Kanu Behl’s Titli got tremendous acclaim at Goa Film Bazaar recently. The film stars Ranvir Shorey and is a drama-thriller that delves into patriarchy, freedom from roots, and human cost of aspirations of a new India as seen through the eyes of a family of car robbers.