Abbas-Mastan’s action thriller “Race” has set the mood and Yash Raj Film’s first release of the year, “Tashan”, seems set to reap the dividends. Experts say that the most awaited film of the year will keep the audience on the edges of their seats.

“The highlights of the film are its star cast and the packaging. It is surely going to rock,” Saurabh Varma, chief marketing officer Reliance Entertainment, told IANS on phone from Mumbai.

The action thriller stars Saif Ali Khan, Akshay Kumar, Anil Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor and is directed by Krishna Acharya. The film will have its worldwide release Friday.

Vikas Mohan, editor of Mumbai-based trade magazine Supercinema, said: “This is a perfect time to release the film. The holidays are starting, so people will throng the cinema halls.”

After a long time Akshay has teamed up with Saif in a film. The duo had worked together in Yash Raj’s “Yeh Dillagi” for the first time in 1994 and later featured in the hit flick “Khiladi”.

With four hits under his belt in last year alone, Akshay is considered a bigger and more bankable name now and with his versatile performances Saif too has stronger box office prospects.

However, many feel Saif and Kareena pair would be the main highlight of the film, but Mohan differs: “People will certainly come to see Saif and Kareena. But don’t forget that the film also has Akshay, who is a bankable actor. He gave four hits last year.”

The audience, as well as the exhibitors, are eagerly awaiting the release of “Tashan”.

The film is expected to have a good start, said Mohan and added, “The initial earnings of the films are so good these days that most of the filmmakers recover their investments. Being a Yash Raj production, ‘Tashan’ will get good initials. It is a commercial film, so it will work in every centre.”

Just like “Race”, censor board has given U/A certificate to this film as well.

The story of the film goes like this:

Jimmy Cliff (Saif Ali Khan), a cool call centre executive, Bachchan Pande (Akshay Kumar), a desi-wannabe gangster and Pooja (Kareena Kapoor) are thrown together and embark on a journey to explore the spectacular India, a journey that alters the course of their lives.

And to top it all there is the evil eye of Bhaiyyaji (Anil Kapoor), a maverick gangster who enjoys killing people as much as he enjoys speaking English.

Keeping up with the Yash Raj tradition, the trailer of their next film “Bachna Ae Haseeno”, will also be unveiled with “Tashan”.

Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan was hurt on the sets of Sujoy Ghosh’s mega fantasy “Alladin” while doing an action sequence. He was rushed to a hospital. He is back in action now.

This is the superstar’s second injury on the sets of the film.

At first, the 65-year-old actor tried to brush off the incident but later admitted that he was in excruciating pain.

“Yes, I’ve injured myself doing an action scene for ‘Alladin’. I had to go to a hospital for an MRI test. But I’m not hospitalised. I’m back on the set, heavily drugged to assuage the pain so I can complete crucial work,” Amitabh, who hurt himself Monday, told IANS.

Ghosh said: “He was doing a kick for a fight when something gave way in his back. We don’t quite know what happened. But Amitji was in unbearable pain. He had to be taken to hospital for MRI tests. But he was back on the sets right after the tests. I’m half Amitji’s age. But I’ve half his energy and grit.”

About this being the second occasion when he was injured on the sets of Alladin, Sujoy said: “Yes, earlier he hurt his wrist. That’s because Amitji is doing a full-on actioner after ages. The special effects in ‘Alladin’ have nothing to do with his action scenes.

“I wanted him to perform the stunts the same way he did in all those films like ‘Zanjeer’ and ‘Deewaar’ that I grew up watching - live and raw. It was a wish, and I didn’t want anything to come between my dream and me.

“I do caution Amitji before every action scene. But he just goes for the kill each time. I don’t want anything to happen to him for selfish reasons. I want to make at least 20 more films with him,” he said.

There’s a drought of hits at the box office, but Bollywood is witnessing a production boom. There are about 70 movies on the floor in varying stages of completion.

By yearend more than 100 movies made in Mumbai will have been released, over and above those that have already hit the screen as of April 25.

Buoyancy has also been witnessed in Bhojpuri movie production. As many as 60 movies made in the Bhojpuri language are now ready for release and another 60 are on the floor. Most of these are being made in Mumbai for logistical reasons.

The year so far has seen Bollywood movies not getting a good draw - only “Jodhaa Akbar” and “Race” have been declared hits.

Although “Krazzy 4″ and “U, Me Aur Hum” have not been able to live up to their pre-release hype, both the movies are sailing ahead smoothly.

The movie that is eagerly awaited at present is Yash Raj Films’ (YRF) multi-starrer action thriller “Tashan,” releasing next week.

Though YRF does not need props to boost box office performances, the much-publicised romantic linkup between Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor seems to have worked as a magnet to draw more crowds to “Tashan”, the couple’s first movie together.

“Since the romance between Saif and Kareena is for keeps, and not a gimmick to generate hope for ‘Tashan’, the people are eager to see their onscreen chemistry. And this, without being intended, will help the box office performance of the movie,” said a trade analyst.

Mahesh Bhatt’s “Jannat” is due for a May 2 release and a week after that B.R. Films’ “Bhoothnath,” starring Amitabh Bachchan, will hit the screen.

Another Amitabh starrer, “Sarkar Raaj,” directed by Ram Gopal Varma, is also due for a June 6 release.

Some of the much hyped movies lined up for release between June and October include “Kismet Konnections”, “Love Story 2050″, “Mission Istanbul”, “Money Hai To Honey Hai”, “Drona”, “Singh Is King”, “Gajini” and “Yuvraj”.

The year has also seen two well-known publishing houses making their movie debuts.

While the Times of India Group forays into moviemaking through Mirchi Movies, Nari Hira of Magna Publishing - the group that launched Stardust film magazine - ventures into film production with “Bhram”.

Preity Zinta, who is currently stationed in Mohali with her Indian Premier League (IPL) team - Kings XI Punjab, is aghast to hear stories that some of the players of the team were shabbily treated and asked to move out of the Taj hotel to a less opulent place.

Says a source close to Bollywood actor: “Preity and Ness (Wadia) are aghast at these stories. The last thing they have on mind is to discriminate against any player. But you see, there’s only one super-luxury hotel in Mohali and the main players in the squad of 16 were all housed there.

“In addition, Ness and Preity have decided to take on 10-12 players as trainees in a special development programme meant specially to create new cricketing talent. These boys were put up in a separate hotel but only because there was no room at the Taj. The team spirit didn’t suffer for a second just because the team of trainees stayed elsewhere.”

When contacted, Preity told IANS: “There’s no discrimination. We are in fact, trying to keep the game as much free of glitches as possible. Such negative stories aren’t helping our efforts at all.”

As for one of the trainee cricketers speaking on the alleged discrimination, the source said: “We’re pretty sure the cricketer didn’t mean to sound as though he was discriminated against, simply because that was not the intention at all.”

Preity intends to be totally immersed in Mohali team’s activities for the next couple of months.

In July, she leaves for the ‘Unforgettable world tour’ with Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. This would be her second concert tour with the Bachchans.

In fact, she flew back from Mohali to Mumbai for a day, last week, to shoot a promotional video for the concert. “The Bachchans are my buddies. They asked me, and I agreed,” Preity explained.