The Dharma Productions title Kapoor & Sons is the only major Hindi release of the week. Also opening are a few low-budget Hindi films and three from Hollywood.
Kapoor & Sons Shakun Batra’s second movie after 2012’s Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu is about a family that congregates for a celebration in Coonoor at the behest of the nonagenarian patriarch (Rishi Kapoor) but finds that it has little to celebrate. Sidharth Malhotra and Fawad Khan play warring brothers to anxious parents (Rajat Kapoor and Ratna Pathak Shah). Alia Bhatt is the blithe spirit who captures the hearts of the brothers.
Eye in the Sky Helen Mirren stars in a British drama about drone warfare directed by Gavin Hood (Tsotsi, X-Men Origins: Wolverine). Mirren’s military intelligence officer orders a drone strike on a terrorist hideout in Nairobi, but has to change her plans when she finds out that a nine-year-old girl has entered the area that going to be bombed. Aaron Paul, Barkhad Abdi and Alan Rickman, in one of his final roles, complete the cast.
Norm of the North A talking polar bear must prevent a wealthy businessman from converting the Arctic into a luxury housing complex. The voice cast of the animated film includes Rob Schneider as Norm, Heather Graham, Ken Jeong as the businessman, and Bill Nighy.
Bus 657 This Scott Mann production was released in America in November as Heist. Robert De Niro decides to raid a casino to fund the treatment of his ailing daughter, but his getaway is ruined when he is forced to hijack a bus. Also starring Dave Bautista, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kate Bosworth.
Cute Kameena Among the low-budget Hindi movies that is opening on March 18 is Cute Kameena, about Bunty, a lad from Bhopal who loses his heart to Avantika, a woman from affluent south Mumbai with whom he is paired in a movie. To quote from the official synopsis, “Here are two worlds colliding: one is of Avantika where using people and faking emotions is easy and convenient and the other is of Bunty who believes that ‘Ladki ne help maangi toh jaan bhi de denge’. Starring Nishant Singh, Kirti Kulhari, Piyush Mishra, Swanand Kirkire and Benjamin Gilani.