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Fascinating films based on true stories you might want to catch this year.
Films based on reality are art at its expressive best.
Whether it’s recreating a bygone era, showcasing the unseen facets of an iconic figure, busting the myths of a scandal or setting up a scene for debate around a contentious issue, nothing invites attention like a subject based on actual events.
Already quite such stories have caused a stir in the past, here’s looking at some of the MOST fascinating films based on a true story or entity to look forward to in 2015.
MS Dhoni: The Untold Story
If the response to Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and Mary Kom is any indication, athlete biopics are here to stay.
Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni may have retired from Test cricket but his popularity and legacy attempts to make celluloid history with Neeraj Pandey’s imminent, M S Dhoni: The Untold Story.
Featuring Sushant Singh Rajput as the star player, we’re most curious to witness the ‘untold’ aspects of the tale.
His senior and former captain of the Indian cricket team Mohammad Azharuddin and his many controversies will also become the subject of Ekta Kapoor’s untitled project starring Emraan Hashmi, Prachi Desai and yet-to-confirm Kareena Kapoor.
Nyodaa
The shocking revelation of Aarushi Talwar’s murder grabbed headlines for years and continues to trigger an instant debate even after her parents’ conviction.
The investigations leading up to the same form the potent premise of Meghna Gulzar’s upcoming drama, Nyodaa, a play on the setting of crime -- Noida, written by Vishal Bhardwaj and starring powerhouses like Irrfan Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Neeraj Kabi, Sohum Shah and Tabu in a special appearance.
Hawaizaada
Many years before The Wright Brothers pioneered the airplane, it is believed Indian scientist Shivkar Bapuji Talpade invented one of his own.
Ayushmann Khurrana plays this visionary under Vibhu Puri’s direction in his soon-to-release fantasy, Hawaizaada.
Court
A senior citizen, singer and social activist is accused of provoking a sewage worker to take his own life, the courtroom drama that follows lays bare the absurd, argumentative workings of India’s outdated legal system.
After winning accolades over the festival circuit, Chaitanya Tamhane’s explosive Marathi film, Court is likely to enjoy a wide release in the first quarter of 2015.
The indie takes inspiration from the real life events around Jharkhand-based cultural activist Jiten Marandi.
Main Aur Charles
After showing his range in Highway, Kick and Rang Rasiya last year, Randeep Hooda escapes Tihar jail among many other transgressions for director Prawaal Raman’s Main Aur Charles.
The actor plays notorious serial killer Charles Sobhraj in the movie previously titled Bad.
Bajirao Mastani
After Ashutosh Gowariker’s Jodhaa Akbar, it is showman Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s turn to dig another opulent slice of history with his long-cherished project, Bajirao Mastani.
Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone portray this dramatised account of the romance between a Maratha Peshwa and his partly Muslim wife, Mastani and the furor it created.
Rahasya
Like Nyodaa, Manish Gupta’s Rahasya starring Kay Kay Menon, Ashish Vidyarthi and Tisca Chopra also concerns itself with the inquiry on the Aarushi Talwar murder case.
Its controversial contents caused the film’s incessant delay and trouble on the legal front but Rahasya, produced by Viacom 18, hopes to unfold soon.
The Sanjay Dutt Story
Drugs, divorce, failure, TADA, jail -- few people can claim to have led a life as crazy as Sanjay Dutt. From glory to disgrace, the star son has seen it all.
No wonder friend and filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani wants to tell his complicated story with one of Bollywood’s finest actors for the part, Ranbir Kapoor.
Whether Hirani’s account will be brutally honest or justify the man’s actions, only time will tell.