MUMBAI: The Star network is all set to start 2004 with a bang. Star Movies, Star Plus and Star Gold will showcase a slew of top notch films from January.
Star Movies will bring back its Made In india programme band in the Sunday 9 pm slot. Steven Spielberg's series Taken completes its run this month. As reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, the show failed to attract viewers.
The Made in India band should put the channel back in the reckoning at that slot. Earlier this year, the channel had a great deal of success with films like Bend It Like Beckham. One of the films that will be showcased is Mira Nair's Golden Globe nominated Monsoon Wedding. As the title suggests, different goings on happen during a wedding and secrets are revealed. The film stars Naseerudin Shah and Vasundhara Das. Other films that will be showcased include the coming of age drama Anita & Me, the side splittingly funny Bollywood Hollywood, American Born Confused Desi about Indians in America unsure about their identity, Split Wide Open.
The channel will also continue to showcase blockbusters like the world war II actioner Pearl Harbour, the animated Ice Age, which earlier this year got an Oscar nomination.
Star Plus has lined up a list of films that should make the Bollywood buff salivate for more. Among them is Jism which shot Bipasha Basu into the limelight. The film drew inspiration from the 1981 film Body Heat which in turn was inspired by the Billy Wilder 1944 classic Double Indemnity. Kabir Lal (played by model turned actor John Abraham) is an alcoholic. He practices law in Pondicherry.
Bowled by Sonia's (Bipasha Basu) bare back and looks, he lusts for her. Sonia, married to a businessman (Gulshan Grover), too reciprocates 'love' to him. Together they plan to eliminate her hubby to lead a life of their own. However after the murder of her hubby, Kabir finds out that Sonia has set eyes only on money but not on him.
The other films include Bhoot, Ishq Vshq, Hamara Dil Aapeke Paas Hai, Dum and Kuch To Hai. Meanwhile Star Gold will have dubbed versions of Jackie Chan's City Hunter Bruce Lee's The Game of Death and Shaolin Soccer which is one of the biggest hits in Hong Kong.