Caper thrillers are not easy stories to be told. And that’s because even though the film’s plot may just be a single liner, the screenplay needs to be embellished with enough twists and turns to keep the momentum going. Also, for an audience which tends to get restless at every pause in the screenplay, especially for a film belonging to this genre, the expectation levels have to be constantly matched.

And now comes the crore rupees question - Who is ‘gaddaar’? And by the way - Who is Johnny?

Is it Seshadri [Dharmendra]?

A suave and sophisticated man in his 60s who was once a smuggler decades back but now ran a syndicate that earned from a mix of legal and not so legal activities. For someone who had lost the love of his life many years back, it didn’t matter if he hardly posessed an emotional side. All he wanted was a loyal set of people who were good in what they did!

Is it Vikram [Neil Mukesh]?

A young man in his 20s who believed, like most other people in his age, that possibilities were endless. So much so that in spite of being decently educated with an experience in stocks, he was willing to be a part of Seshadri’s syndicate. His aim? To achieve heights of success by first learning from the syndicate, then make himself trustworthy with his ideas and skills and finally, break that very trust! For him, what he loved most was money, money and money. And yes, he also loved his girlfriend Mini [Rimi Sen] with whom he wanted to eventually settle down. But then, who actually was Mini?

Is it Prakash [Vinay Pathak]?

Gamblers go out in the market to place bets on their money. For Prakash, it was all ‘ghar ki baat’. Reason? He himself ran a gambling club called ‘Deepa Social Club’ and hence it was doubly difficult for him to resist his temptation of gambling. However, his business was going full steam courtesy his connection with underworld and his partners Seshadri and Shardul who had once helped his business from shutting down.

Is it Shardul [Zakir Hussain]?

It was quite an ironical situation for Shardul. He once ran dance bars. Now post the government ban on dance bard, he was forced to convert them into lounge bars. And this was hardly funny. His setting changed. His clientele changed. And worst, the kind of music required to be played changed. Looking at Vikram to helm him get out of this mess, he was a ruthless man who knew how to be in the best books of both law and the underworld!

Is it Daya [Shiva]?

The fifth man in the gang who belonged to a family of wrestlers from Kolhapur. A heavy weight who knew where and how to apply the right pressure, he was brutal. A family man who was concerned about the ill-health of his mother, he was unpredictable.

Together, Seshadri, Vikram, Prakash, Shardul and Daya may well have the jackpot of their life as they got going towards a destination that spelt crores. But Vikram had some other plans. He looked at double crossing his partners, even if that meant shedding some blood. Will he be successful in his endeavor? And was he really the ‘gaddar’?

No unwanted love songs, no ‘rona-dhona’, no side comedy tracks and absolutely no beating around the bush - In short a ‘mantra’ which any and every caper thriller is required to follow. If initial indications are anything to go by, film maker Sriram Raghavan seems to have ensured all of that and much for his second directorial venture - JOHNNY GADDAR which releases on 28th September!

Male bonding is truly in. If the three men were not good enough in HEYY BABYY, there is an addition of two more in this week’s comic caper DHAMAAL that stars as many as five male leads. And guess what, there is no leading lady in the film!

DHAMAAL is about an absolute ‘dhamaal’ that is created in a non stop rollercoaster ride that Roy, Aditya, Manav and Boman take. And hot on their trail is a cop named Kabir Nayak.

Roy [Ritiesh Deshmukh] always believed that he was the smartest detective ever born on this side of the planet. Overconfident but an out and out idiot, Roy could in fact not get even one thing right and instead of solving a case, only turned it into even more complicated.

He also had to content himself with a pair of brothers who had their own shortcomings. Adi [Arshad Warsi], unlike Roy didn’t consider himself as a great detective. Instead he projected himself as a great singer. The only truth here being that he was never the voice behind the songs he used to sing; it was that of a tape which played whenever he wanted to gain people’s attention.

Adi’s younger brother Manav [Javed Jaffrey] was a loser too. An over grown kid who could hardly keep a secret to himself, he had a habit of speaking too much and too quick. So much so that it led him from one trouble to another, hence creating an absolute ruckus in whatever he did and wherever he went.

To add more misery to the tale, there was Boman [Ashish Chowdhry] who could get scary with anything and everything. Always getting scolded by his father [Asrani], he was an element of fun for his friends who couldn’t help but mock him. A young man, he was the closest cousin that trouble ever had!

Roy, Adi, Manav and Boman - Together they were small time conmen and just the perfect recipe of disaster and ‘dhamaal’. But wait there is more - Inspector Nayak. Kabir Nayak [Sanjay Dutt].

An inspector who had been hunting for a criminal named Bose [Prem Chopra] for ten years, he did nab him, but dead! Around the dead body were the usual suspects - Roy, Adi, Manav and Boman. But before his death, Bose had told the foursome a secret which could change their lives forever. As Kabir questions them, the cat is thrown out of the bag even as they all make their escape from Kabir’s clutches!

A chase follows and the five of them start running towards their ultimate goal. What was this goal?

Join the fun as DHAMAAL promises to stick to it’s title and ensure a ride that is made of gags, laughter and thrills.

Directed by Indra Kumar, DHAMAAL releases all over on 7th September.

Have you ever been in love? Of course you must have been! But have you ever been in love with a ghost? Or rather has a ghost ever loved you?

Well, ask Aditya [Fardeen Khan] and he would perhaps live to tell this tale. It wasn’t because he was in trouble for being in love with two women. His worries were bigger because he was now being loved by a ghost who was once the woman in his life!

How did it all start? Well, here we go…

A working man, Aditya had a kind of life which was almost perfect. A successful career was complimented by a traditional, yet beautiful wife [Isha Kopikar] at home. What else could a man really ask for?

Aditya did ask for more. And he had to pay for it big time for what he got..

He got a stunning secretary at office with whom he could spend his time outside home. She was a sensual female [Esha Deol] who could drive any man crazy.

Now she would drive Aditya mad for the rest of his life. What made her take this drastic step?

It was all going well for Aditya. He was loved by his wife and his girlfriend. He loved them both too. Until Esha became pregnant! Now she wanted Aditya to leave his wife behind and marry her instead. It was a tough call for Aditya to take. He couldn’t even imagine doing so because he had never once given it a thought.

Esha couldn’t take her refusal lightly and in an argument that followed, she got killed in an accident.

Scared, Aditya didn’t have an option but to get rid of her body. He did so successfully and returned back to the peace of his life…his wife! All seemed to be well for him from now on. Well, almost!

For Aditya it seemed like end of story. But was it really?

In fact the story had just begun. Because Esha returned. And returned with a vengeance. She had become a ghost and what she wanted was revenge!

Did her revenge meant getting hold of Aditya? Or did it mean killing him as well? Worse, did she have another deadly plan in mind?

Was she really the ‘darling’ that Aditya had once loved?

Directed by Ram Gopal Varma, ‘Darling’ is a co-production of Varma and T-Series with Pritam giving the music. Himesh Reshammiya is the guest composer. The film is aiming for a September release.