Bollywood's top offers in 2012

Prowl with the tiger or growl with Rathore. Fly with the spy or laugh out loud with Bachchan. Bollywood has a lot to offer in 2012. TOI picks the 10 hot favourites


AGNEEPATH
DIRECTOR: Karan Malhotra CAST: Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Sanjay Dutt, Rishi Kapoor EXPECTED RELEASE: January 26 The raw, pulsating aggro of Vijay Dinanath Chauhan - portrayed by none other than Amitabh Bachchan in the 1990 classic - will be brought alive on screen by Hrithik Roshan. For visual relief from the all-out action is the leggy Katrina Kaif as the fetching Chikni Chameli. WATCH OUT FOR: Sanjay Dutt as the bald baddie Kancha Cheena.

EK THA TIGER
DIRECTOR: Kabir Khan CAST: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif EXPECTED RELEASE: August Salman turns tiger for this one, his prowl - sorry, pay - was a whopping 32 crore. Filmed in five countries including Ireland and Turkey, the crew faced some tense moments when an earthquake hit Turkey. It's touted as a romantic thriller, but will it romance the BO? Let's wait and watch the tiger. WATCH OUT FOR: Kat sizzling opposite her ex.

BARFEE
DIRECTOR: Anurag Basu CAST: Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Ileana D'Cruz EXPECTED RELEASE: July Bolly heartthrob Ranbir Kapoor in a non-star avatar, as happy-go-lucky deaf-mute man, Murphy, while Piggy Chops plays autistic girl Jhilmil. A murder mystery with a fair share of thrills and chills, "B" has been the buzzword in tinseltown ever since it hit the floors. WATCH OUT FOR: South siren Ileana D'Cruz, who's the narrator of the story.

HEROINE
DIRECTOR: Madhur Bhandarkar CAST: Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Shahana Goswami, Randeep Hooda EXPECTED RELEASE: September Heroine ho aur nakhre na ho? Madhur had a taste of this Bollywood adage as his first heroine, Ash, became pregnant and dropped out. Madhur went back to his 'first choice' Kareena Kapoor. The film captures the insecurities of a once-famous heroine whose career is on the decline. WATCH OUT FOR: Echoes of Madhubala and Marilyn's lives.

ROWDY RATHORE
DIRECTOR: Prabhu Deva CAST: Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha EXPECTED RELEASE: June 15 Akshay returns to full-on action with this remake of the Telugu bumper hit "Vikramarkudu" - and that too in a double role, as a dhaansu police officer and a thief. Akshay is learnt to be finetuning his martial art skills for this role. Kickass, eh? WATCH OUT FOR: All eyes will be on Sonakshi. This will be her next release after "Dabangg". And, of course, Pradhu Deva as director.

TALAASH
DIRECTOR: Reema Kagti CAST: Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Rani Mukerji EXPECTED RELEASE: June 1 Another cop movie, with Aamir donning khaki for the first time since "Sarfarosh" (1999). Being an Aamir film, the buzz over it is a given. And Aamir being Aamir, he's making sure that the plot isn't leaked. Fans posted 'inspired' posters online (above), forcing producer Farhan Akhtar to clear the air on Twitter. WATCH OUT FOR: Kolkata boy Subrat Dutt's performance.

BOL BACHCHAN
DIRECTOR: Rohit Shetty CAST: Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Bachchan, Asin Thottumkal and Prachi Desai EXPECTED RELEASE: July 6 Rohit Shetty had a hit with "Golmaal 3", but instead of another sequel, he announced "Bol Bachchan", which, we now hear, is a tribute to the 1979 "Golmaal", a Hrishikesh Mukherjee classic. Abhishek is Ram Prasad (Amol Palekar in the original) and Devgn plays Bhawani Shankar (Utpal Dutt). WATCH OUT FOR: LOL lines every minute.

AGENT VINOD
DIRECTOR: Sriram Raghavan CAST: Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor EXPECTED RELEASE: March The director has said that it's not a remake of the 1977 film, but it's not every day that you get to see the Nawab of Pataudi romance his would-be begum on screen, right? The only 'wrong' is that the release of the much-hyped film has been delayed a number of times. Pull up your socks Agent Vinod, you have to save the film! WATCH OUT FOR: Thrills, thrills and more thrills.

SHANGHAI
DIRECTOR: Dibakar Banerjee CAST: Abhay Deol, Emraan Hashmi, Kalki Koechlin, Prosenjit Chatterjee EXPECTED RELEASE: April/ May A take on the anti-corruption movement. The hatke political thriller focusses on the revenge of the common man and has been inspired by Greek writer and diplomat Vassilis Vassilikos's book, Z. Dibakar has raised the bar with films like "Khosla Ka Ghosla" and "Love, Sex Aur Dhoka". We're waiting for more! WATCH OUT FOR: Prosenjit Chatterjee's return to Bollywood.

HOUSEFULL 2
Akshay Kumar is all set to tickle your funnybone in 'Housefull 2'
DIRECTOR: Sajid Khan CAST: Akshay Kumar, Asin, John Abraham, Jacqueline Fernandez, Riteish Deshmukh, Shreyas Talpade and Shazahn Padamsee EXPECTED RELEASE: April 5 "Housefull" had a house full run at the BO. Idea! Why not repeat the success with a sequel? That's how "Housefull 2" happened. Akshay Kumar's character, Aarush, is supposed to be a comic take on James Bond. Will Sajid get the comic formula right and laugh all the way to the bank? We'll have our eyes glued. WATCH OUT FOR: Performances by Mithun Chakraborty, Rishi Kapoor and even Big B.