Box office offers horror, drama, and comedy; take your pick

Highlights

• A Marathi woman hunting for her dream man, a young girl's fixation for an imaginary friend and a period drama where 64 teenagers fight against the British Raj in Chittagong -- movie buffs have a platter full of films to watch out for this Friday.
• Two of Anurag Kashyap's production ventures Aiyyaa and Chittagong are set to clash at the box-office. While Aiyya is a romantic comedy, Chittagong is a period drama.
• Directed by Sachin Kundalkar, Aiyyaa revolves around a Marathi girl named Meenakshi Deshpande (Rani), whose parents are looking for a groom for her. She falls in love with a Tamil artist Surya (Prithviraj). She desires him as he smells good.
• A quirky love story with the backdrop of a Marathi-Tamil cultural clash, Rani is shown to be a huge Bollywood fan. In the movie, she has imitated screen divas Madhuri Dixit, Sridevi and Juhi Chawla. Aiyyaa marks the return of Rani after a year-long gap.
• Prithviraj and Rani in still from Aiyyaa
• The actress has left no stone unturned to give her best shot in the film. She is seen grooving to three different styles -- lavani, belly dancing and southern-style dance. Rani says Aiyyaa is the film which every girl will relate to.
• The film also marks the Bollywood debut of southern superstar Prithviraj Sukumaran. The actor had to work hard to get that chiselled look in the film.
• Next up for release is NASA scientist-turned-filmmaker Bedabrata Pain's Chittagong. The film is based on little known incident in the 1930s British occupied India, where a handful of untrained teenage boys and girls, led by a school teacher, gave the British their first military defeat. The film is told from the point of view of a 14-year-old boy Jhunku Roy, who was part of the movement.
• Produced by Anurag Kashyap, the film features Manoj Bajpayee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Raj Kumar Yadav and the role of 14-year-old boy is played by Delzad Hiwale. The director had to go through a lot of budget constraints. It was shot in just 42 days as, according to the director, they didn't have any money for the 43rd day.
• Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Manoj Bajpyee in a still from Chittagong
• The film is finally seeing the light of the day after a delay of four years.
• "I started working on the film from 2006 and at that time there were many producers interested in the film. But in 2008 because of the recession, everyone backed out... We had budget constraints. We shot the film in just 42 days because we did not even have the money for the 43rd day," Mr Pain said.
• For those who like to be scared, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma brings Bhoot Returns for them.
• It talks about Tarun, an architect, who moves in with his family to a luxurious bungalow that he has acquired on a rather cheap rent. His wife Namrata's curiosity over the seemingly low rent is quashed by their children 10-year-old Taman and six-year-old Nimmi, who readily approve of the new house.
• Poster of Ram Gopal Varma's Bhoot Returns
• While Taman spends his time on videogames and TV, the curious Nimmi spends her time exploring the various spaces in the house.
• During one such exploration, Nimmi finds a cute looking doll. Soon after the discovery of the doll, Nimmi starts including 'Shabbu' in all her activities. The family mistakes Nimmi's new doll to be Shabbu. But they are left gob-smacked when Nimmi introduces the doll as 'Dolly' and points at an empty space and introduces her invisible friend as Shabbu.
• The film is the sequel to 2003's highly successful film Bhoot. It marks the return of actress Manisha Koirala on the big screen after long gap alongside southern actor J.D. Chakravarthy.