Joginder Tuteja, Bollywood Trade News Network

After being in the industry for close to three decades, Anil Kapoor still finds himself playing lead roles, exciting cameos or strong character roles, as witnessed in 2007's last blockbuster WELCOME which is still doing roaring business. The actor stole the show along with Nana Patekar in this Anees Bazmee film in spite of presence of Akshay Kumar. At the last count, the film has netted close to 75 crores from India itself.

Now in 2008, Anil Kapoor has two more big films lined up in a few weeks from now. While 7th March would see the arrival of BLACK and WHITE, a week later would arrive RACE.

Both the films are quite interesting for Anil Kapoor. On one hand RACE is the first film which brings together Anil Kapoor with the director duo of Abbas and Mustan, it would be after close to a decade that Anil Kapoor would be reuniting with showman Subhash Ghai in BLACK and WHITE. Powerhouses in their own right, the two have worked together in films like MERI JUNG, KARMA, RAM LAKHAN, TRIMURTI and TAAL.

The two films, RACE and BLACK and WHITE, are as different from each other as chalk and cheese. While RACE follows a hardcore commercial pattern, BLACK and WHITE takes a more realistic route and belongs to offbeat genre. Anil Kapoor has an interesting part to enact in both the films as he plays his age.

In RACE, he features as a seasoned detective out to unravel the mystery behind the strange happenings in the personal lives of Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna, who play brothers in the film. Aided by his bimbo assistant Sameera Reddy, he is a lover of fruits and possesses a cheeky sense of humor. In spite of heavy weights like Saif Ali Khan and Bipasha Basu, Anil Kapoor is expected to be a scene stealer here.

On the other hand BLACK and WHITE has a lot relying on Anil Kapoor's histrionics, mainly because the main lead in the film is a newcomer Anuraag Singh. A film about a terrorist (Anuraag Singh) who takes shelter in the house of a an unsuspecting Delhi University college professor (Anil Kapoor) and gradually finds redemption, BLACK and WHITE is the first ever film directed by Subhash Ghai where he moves out of his larger than life setting for his projects. In the film, Anil Kapoor is paired opposite Shefali Shah, who plays his wife.

With two major films like these coming quite close to each other, March is indeed going to be a month belonging entirely to Anil Kapoor. Incidentally, as of today, there is no other film outside RACE and BLACK and WHITE which has been confirmed for the month of March.

Well, this won't be all that one would see of the actor this year. A few weeks down the line, he would have yet another biggie starring him up for release. TASHAN coming from the house of Yash Raj Films would be bringing Anil Kapoor back with the production house after 17 long years (his last film with YRF was LAMHE which released in 1991). Later in the year, Anil Kapoor would be seen in yet another Subhash Ghai directed film YUVRAAJ.