IANS

Yash Raj Films could easily be renamed as the Yash Raj Factory. Bollywood's most popular production house, known for its glamorous larger-than-life love stories, is planning to release five new films in 2007.

The films will, naturally, have some of the biggest stars in the industry including Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, Abhishek Bachchan and Saif Ali Khan and stage the comeback of the charismatic superstar Madhuri Dixit.

"We are very excited about our releases for 2007, not just because of the star casts, but because each film deals with a unique subject and has very promising young directors at the helm," said Yash Chopra, chairman, Yash Raj Films (YRF).

The first release from the Yash Raj stable this year will be Siddharth Anand's second directorial venture "Ta Ra Rum Pum" on April 27. The story revolves around a racing driver and has Saif and Rani in the lead.

Anand carved a niche for himself with his debut film "Salaam Namaste" starring Saif and Preity Zinta. So get ready to enjoy another roller coaster ride of entertainment and emotions.

"Ta Ra Rum Pum" will be followed by Shaad Ali's "Jhoom Barabar Jhoom". Scheduled for a June 15 release, Ali's third directorial venture has a stellar cast of Abhishek Bachchan, Preity, Bobby Deol, Lara Dutta, and Amitabh Bachchan in a special appearance. "Jhoom Barabar..." hopes to repeat the success story of "Bunty Aur Babli".

YRF's third release "Chak De India" will showcase the talent of yet another young director, Shimit Amin, and stars Shah Rukh Khan in a pivotal role. It is slated to hit the screens on Aug 10. So SRK fans can have a treat this Independence Day.

The Chopras, who are known for releasing special films during the festival season, will not let their audiences down this year either. So you will get to see Pradeep Sarkar's "Laaga Chunari Mein Daag" from Oct 12, a near Dussehra release.

Sarkar has demonstrated great sensitivity in his first film "Parineeta" and people have great expectations from "Laaga...." With a cast of Jaya Bachchan, Rani, Konkona Sen Sharma, Kunal Kapoor and Abhishek, the film is expected to satisfy the connoisseurs and the masses alike.

Nov 30 will see the release of the last Yash Raj film for 2007. "Aaja Nachle" will be a directorial debut for noted cinematographer Anil Mehta. What's more important, it will be Madhuri Dixit's comeback film. Try and imagine Madhuri gyrating under Mehta's skilful eye and you can be sure that the Chopras will end the year with a bang.

They plan to kick off 2008 in grand style with "Tashan". Directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya, the screenplay and dialogue writer of mega hits "Dhoom" and "Dhoom:2", it will star the much-loved men of action, Akshay Kumar and Saif. Anil Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor also star in the film.

This year will be memorable for YRF for another reason too. In 2007, the banner plans to move completely to the studio style of functioning -- on a par with Fox, Warner Bros and Universal.

This year's Filmfare award function was organised at the Yash Raj Studios, on the outskirts of Mumbai, last month marking a new chapter in the Indian film industry. The studio is well-equipped for every bit of pre-production, production and post-production work in-house.