Mumbai: Last year was a mixed bag for Bollywood, but 2008 comes with a lot of promise.

First up in January will be Rajkumar Santoshi's Halla Bol in which actors Ajay Devgan and Vidya Balan will share screen space for the first time. The film, which is about a film star fighting for justice, is believed to be inspired by the Jessica Lal murder case.

February, the month of love, will see Ashutosh Gowarikar's Jodha Akbar hit theatres. This 16th Century epic romance will see Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan together again after Dhoom 2.

The buzz around it:
Ash and Hrithik sizzle in regal splendour.
AR Rahman's lilting music.

April 2008 will see the release of Tashan, and the one reason why you should be watching out for this one is that off-screen couple Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor will be together in the same frame.

The buzz around it:
Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan's on-screen chemistry.
Stylish action sequences.

After much dilly-dallying with the casting Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra's Dilli 6 is finally scheduled to release in 2008 with Abhishek Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor in the lead. The film reportedly draws inspiration from Mehra's growing up years in Delhi and the infamous monkey man scare.

The buzz around it:
Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra's next film after Rang De Basanti, so expectations are high.
The Delhi flavour will be well in place.

Ghajini, the remake of a Tamil hit, will be Aamir Khan's film for the year 2008. Murugadas, who directed the original, will direct Aamir Khan, Tamil actress Asin, and Jiah Khan in this racy thriller.

The original Ghajini was itself a remake of the Christopher Nolan thriller Memento. Of course any similarities between the two films will be purely coincidental.

The buzz around it:
Aamir Khan's next after Taare Zameen Par, so once again expectations will be sky high.
The obvious inspiration from Memento.

Ram Gopal Varma's Sarkar Raj will release this summer and this sequel to Sarkar will star not just Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan, but bahu Aishwarya as well. So will Sarkar Raj offer the much needed cinematic redemption for Ram Gopal Varma? We guess that's reason enough to check out the film.

June will see the release of the Priyanka Chopra-Abhishek Bachchan starrer Drona. This action fantasy flick with its special effects extravaganza has Priyanka playing Abhishek's bodyguard.

The buzz around it:
Action sequences
Special effects

After delivering four whopping hits in 2007, Akshay Kumar will kick off the new year with Singh is King, in which he plays the Punjab da puttar once again, but this time Akshay returns to hardcore action after a long break during which he excelled at comedy.

The buzz around it:
Akshay Kumar getting back to being macho.
Akshay and Katrina's on screen chemistry.

And with films like the futuristic drama Love Story 2050 starring Priyanka Chopra and Harman Baweja, Ravi Chopra's Shah Rukh-Amitabh starrer Bhootnath, Sujoy Ghosh's Alladin with Big B playing genie and Ritesh Deshmukh in the title role, Subhash Ghai's Yuvraj with Anil Kapoor and Salman Khan, it seems like 2008 has enough in store to keep us all entertained through the year. So happy movie going!

(With inputs from Apoorva Talwalkar)