From Infidelity To Lavender Marriage: What Cinema Is Offering Us This Weekend

As cases of COVID-19 continue to decline, the audience is itching to get back to the theatres and watch films as they are meant to- on the big screen. However, this doesn't mean the filmmakers have entirely ditched the option of the direct digital release. This week, we have a mixed bag of releases from Bollywood, wherein two commercial films will be having a theatrical premiere while another will come straight to the OTT.

However, these aren't the only two big releases that we are looking forward to. There is a cinematic adaptation of a much-loved Agatha Christie novel coming our way too, powered by a stellar star cast.

So here are the three big February film releases of this week:

Gehraiyaan 

One of the most awaited film of the year is scheduled to premiere on February 11, 2022. Gehraiyaan has been directed by Shakun Batra who has also written the script with Sumit Roy, Ayesha Devitre, and Yash Sahai. The film is also jointly produced by Dharma Productions, Viacom18 Studios, and Jouska Films. It stars Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, Dhairya Karwa in lead roles, along with Naseeruddin Shah, and Rajat Kapoor in supporting roles. The film revolves around an ambitious 30-year-old woman, Alisha Khanna (played by Deepika Padukone) who is in an unhappy relationship.

Her relationship of six years has grown monotonous and she is also struggling in her career. But her life suddenly changed by the arrival of her cousin, Tia (played by Ananya Pandey), and her fiance, Zain (Siddhant Chaturvedi), with whom she finds reasons to bond over a troubled past and a similar wish to break free from their stifling relationships. 

Suggested Reading: Gangubai Kathiawadi To RRR, Big-Budget Bollywood Releases To Look Forward In 2022

Badhaai Do

Badhaai Do, starring Rajkumar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar, is a film about two people in lavender marriage. The film is being marketed as coming from the Badhaai Ho franchise, a 2018 social comedy on middle-age pregnancies which starred Ayushmann Khurrana and Neena Gupta. The film has been written by Suman Adhikary and Akshat Ghildial, and directed by Harshavardhan Kulkarni, and is scheduled for theatrical release on February 11.

Badhaai Do is said to be a quirky social comedy and a wholesome family drama, just as the first film in the franchise. The film follows a police officer and a physical education teacher who arrange to get married to deflect the pressure to tie the knot from their respective families. While Pednekar's Suman is in a relationship with another woman, we learn that Rao's character is interested in men and thus theirs is a marriage of convenience.

Death on The Nile

Actor-director Kenneth Branagh's ambitious adaptation of author Agatha Christie' bestseller by the same name is finally seeing a release day after multiple delays due to the pandemic. The film features Branagh as sleuth Hercule Poirot and has an impressive cast led by Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Emma Mackey, Dawn French and our very own Ali Fazal. This film will have a theatrical release on February 11.

Looop Lapeta-

The comedy action thriller casts Taapsee Pannu and Tahir Raj Bhasin in the main role. The story is about a girlfriend trying to save the life of her boyfriend after he is threatened with his life by losing money to mobsters. The movie by Aakash Bhatia will be released on Netflix on February 4, 2022, and will mark its debut in the category of feature films.

Looop Lapeta’s story is adapted from a German movie by the name Run Lola Run. The movie produced by Sony Pictures Films India and Ellipsis Entertainment will be available for the Indian audience from 1.30 PM IST on the OTT platform.

Rocket Boys-

The series has been dedicated to the life of eminent Indian scientists Homi Jehangir Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai. It carves out the personalities of two physicists of India who helped India leap towards bright scientific embarkments. The period drama features Jim Sarbh, Ishwak Singh, Regina Cassandra among the main roles. Jim Sarbh plays the Bhabha who is considered the father of nuclear physics in India, while Ishwak Singh plays Vikram Sarabhai, who played a crucial role in the formation of the Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO).