What are the biggest movies releasing in April 2023? Salman Khan headlines the biggest offering in Indian cinema this month, with also stars Ben Schwartz (Sonic the Hedgehog) as mob enforcer Teddy Lobo, Shohreh Aghdashloo (The Expanse) as mob boss Ella, and Adrien Martinez as Quincy’s co-worker Chris Marcos. Chris McKay, best known for The Lego Batman Movie and The Tomorrow War directs the film.
Shaakuntalam
When: April 14
Where: Theatres
If the name wasn’t a dead giveaway, Gunasekhar’s upcoming mythological epic is a cinematic reimagining of Kalidasa’s play, Abhijnanashakuntalam. Samantha Ruth Prabhu leads the cast as the beautiful Shakuntala, the forest-dwelling woman who instantly captures King Dushyanta’s (Dev Mohan) attention, falls in love, and is wedded based on the Gandharva marriage system. As per the epic, the king was forced to return to his kingdom for some official matters, leaving behind a ring as a token of promise to bring her back to the palace as his queen. Spending most of her time fantasising about her new husband, one day, Shakuntala fails to greet the powerful Rishi Durvasa (Mohan Babu), who in a fit of rage, curses Dushyanta to forget about her.
Their reunion forms the crux of the film, as Dushyanta is unable to recognise a now-pregnant Shakuntala, leaving her to care for the child alone. Much of Shaakuntalam was filmed within a five-month period, after which, it required another two years for visual effects and general post-production — although, the CGI and green screen effects presented in the trailer look pretty unconvincing. It was created on a budget of Rs. 80 crore.
Ghosted
When: April 21
Where: Apple TV+
You’d have to be pretty crazy to travel 5,000 miles to London, hoping to reunite with a woman who ghosted you after the first meeting. Well, that’s the premise of Apple TV+’s latest romantic comedy, which sees Cole (Chris Evans) going in pursuit of the enigmatic Sadie (Ana de Armas), only to get embroiled in a tussle involving gangsters who mistook him for ‘The Tax Man’. Things take a wild detour when he discovers that Sadie is, in fact, a CIA agent — turning what was meant to be a second date into a series of life-threatening situations, as they’re swept away on an international mission to save the world.
Adrien Brody (Detachment) plays Leveque, the main antagonist, who dispatches bounty hunters to capture and bring Sadie back alive. Meanwhile, Mike Moh (Boogie) appears to be playing one of his henchmen, expertly adept at hand-to-hand combat. Ghosted is helmed by Dexter Fletcher — best known for his 2019 Elton John biopic musical Rocketman — from a script written by a team of four: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Chris McKenna, and Erik Sommers. The former two wrote the Deadpool movies, while the latter pair worked on the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man trilogy.
Topping off the cast of Ghosted are Amy Sedaris (The Mandalorian), Tim Blake Nelson (Watchmen), Tate Donovan (Rocketman), and Anna Deavere Smith (Inventing Anna). This would be the third time Evans and de Armas are working together, following Knives Out and Netflix’s The Gray Man.
Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan
When: April 21
Where: Theatres
Following a cameo in the blockbuster film Pathaan, Salman Khan returns as a self-proclaimed vigilante in Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan, often getting into scuffles to keep crime rates to the bare minimum. Based on the 2014 Tamil film Veeram, Khan’s latest role hits a bit close to home — that of an ageing bachelor, with his siblings eagerly wanting to see getting married. To solve this conundrum, his brothers try setting him up with a woman (Pooja Hegde) bearing a similar name as his past love interest. What follows next is a series of wild revelations that take him across the country, as he sets out to protect his lover’s family.
The film was originally announced in 2020 with the title Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali but suffered multiple delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Farhad Samji (Pop Kaun?) directs the summer Bollywood blockbuster that is Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan, enlisting a cast featuring Venkatesh Daggubati (Rana Naidu), Jagapathi Babu (Radhe Shyam), Shehnaaz Gill, and Bhumika Chawla (Sita Ramam).
Evil Dead Rise
When: April 21
Where: Theatres
Unlike other chapters in the franchise, Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise is not set in a secluded cabin in the woods, instead relocating to a small apartment in Los Angeles, and limits the chances of escape. In it, a road-weary Beth (Lily Sullivan) visits her estranged sister and single mother Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland), who struggles to raise her three children. Their reunion, however, is cut short when they discover a sinister book — the Necronomicon — from the bowels of Ellie’s building, releasing flesh-possessing demons and turning the night into a primal fight for survival.
Evil Dead Rise promises to be a bloody family affair, starting with the possession of mother Ellie, which soon spreads like an infection amongst her children — played by Nell Fisher, Morgan Davies, and Gabrielle Echols. Expect torn-off scalps, skin being grated off, and demonic possessions crawling on the ceiling — akin to Ari Aster’s Hereditary — in this 97-minute-long gory horror film. While it seems short when compared to the modern movie landscape, that runtime makes Evil Dead Rise the longest in the franchise.
With Bruce Campbell no longer returning as series protagonist Ash Williams, it is insinuated that Beth will have to wield the roaring chainsaw and take over the role of the Deadite-slayer. Campbell is instead serving as executive producer on Evil Dead Rise, alongside Sam Raimi.
Peter Pan & Wendy
When: April 28
Where: Disney+ Hotstar
Disney continues its trend of reimagining its animated classics to live-action, and this time, it’s the enchanting Peter Pan & Wendy. Co-written and directed by the acclaimed genre filmmaker David Lowery (The Green Knight), it follows Wendy Darling (Ever Anderson), an adventurous girl from London who’s afraid to leave her childhood home behind. That is until she meets the free-spirited Peter Pan (Alexander Molony), a young boy residing on the magical Neverland island, who refuses to grow up. Hand-in-hand with her brothers, and the little fairy Tinker Bell (Yara Shahidi), she joins Peter on an adventure of a lifetime — even using pixie dust to fly around.
Trouble awaits in the form of the evil pirate Captain Hook (Jude Law), who seeks revenge on Peter Pan for the loss of his left hand. Judging by the trailer, this new adaptation seems to follow the same plot beats as the original 1953 animated film, which is something that I feared from the beginning — that it would be a corporate, safe Disney movie instead of being a personal, arthouse Lowery project. That said, some of the visuals put on display – courtesy of the cinematographer Bojan Bazelli – look stunning, featuring beautiful landscapes and sequences shot on Hook’s flying ship being a key standout. Just like Pinocchio from last year, Peter Pan & Wendy will be a Disney+ release.
