The Desi Hip Hop movement is at its peak with fresh music coming out of the scene almost daily. Not only that, doors of all entertainment industries are opening up to the sounds of rap being spoken in their own mother tongue. While we all know about the biggest upcoming hip hop movie Gully Boy, there are many other films in the pipeline featuring talented rappers from India. Let’s take a look!
Gully Boy
Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy has commenced shoot with a new year opening doors for hip hop in India like never before. A lot of buzz has been afloat about this film, but only the hip hop community knows its importance. Actor Ranveer Singh is playing the lead role of the movie which is loosely based on the lives of Gully stars Naezy and Divine.
The film features known names from the Mumbai hip hop scene such as Kaaam Bhaari, Emiway, D’Evil, Dee MC, Dharavi United, Bombay Lokal, Shah Rule among others. The film is all set to release worldwide on February 14th, 2019. A year later, hip hop in South Asia will never be the same. Who’s excited? We surely are!
Beyond The Clouds
The upcoming movie Beyond The Clouds based on the life of lesser fortunate people from Mumbai is set to release this month. Music for the film is done by the evergreen A.R. Rahman who roped in rapper Heam for a track titled “Motor Chala”. The track released worldwide on April 6th, 2018.
Another exciting thing is to see a familiar face from the Mumbai hip hop scene on the big screen. It is none other than rapper Sense from the 5 Dog’z crew straight out of Dharavi. He shares the big screen playing a role that is next to the lead artist of the film. It is set to release on April 20th, and we are beyond excited for Sense!
Kaala
This has to be the biggest one on the list as the movie stars superstar Rajnikanth! It just goes to show that India as a whole is accepting hip hop into its entertainment world. We’re hoping that this film sets as an example for other regional filmmakers, encouraging them to explore hip hop music. The film is set to release on April 27th, 2018.
Dharavi’s very own Dopeadelicz have been roped in to play vital roles in the film. The movie is based around and on Dharavi and the group plays a rap gang in the movie themselves. This is a very big break for the rap group and we’ve come to know that they have already worked on 8 tracks for the film! As a matter of fact, MC Mawali from the rap group Swadesi is also involved with Dopeadelicz in the movie along with Abhishek from 7Bantais crew.
Zoo
Two of Dharavi’s young rap stars will soon be seen on the big screen. Yoku and Prince (from 7Bantaiz crew) have been chosen to play a crucial part in the movie “Zoo” releasing under Anurag Kashyap’s film banner. Yoku and Prince have been chosen to play the roles of two emcees who idolise their rap icons – Tupac and Notorious B.I.G.
It feels good to know the pioneers of a culture have brought it this far. This is the kind of united effort and harmony that needs to co-exist between artists of all kinds (film makers, musicians, writers and so on) to help cultures grow and flourish in our country. The film is set to premiere at the Busan Film Festival.
Hichki
Rani Mukherjee starer Hichki shows the story of a school teacher who suffers from a form of speech disability. The film is based on the story of a school, for which again a rapper from Dharavi has been cast. David Klyton plays the role of one of Rani’s students. The playful and naughty character of a school kid isn’t far off from the rapper’s actual personality. The film released worldwide on March 23rd, 2018 and is faring well in theaters.
