India FM

Mumbai, Jan 3: Sports films seem to be the flavour of the coming year. Beginning with Nisha Chainani's Mumbai Marathon in January which features Sammir Dattani as a marathon runner, Bollywood has a string of films based on games and sports lined up for release.

Among them there's Shimit Amin's Chak De (featuring Shah Rukh Khan as a hockey coach of a girls' team), Vivek Agnihotri's Goal (football flick with John Abraham) and Soham Shah's film .

If sporty is in, then flicks can't get sportier than debutant director Vicky Singh's Raaste. ... a sort of Dhoom-meets-Fast & Furious featuring Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, John Abraham and Sikandar Kher, the film's main action converges on an international car race which will be shot at an unknown destination.

The main cast, all featured in rugged avatars, are expected to train in the intricacies of car racing.

Says Sikandar, "I suppose Raaste will be one of those flicks that hasn't been done before in Hindi. I'm very excited to be part of it. I'm getting to work with Abhishek whom I've known from childhood. He's like the elder brother I never had. And John is also someone I know very well. So we guys are going to bond big-time."

Sikandar's first film, Hansal Mehta's Woodstock Villa is almost complete. "It's been a learning experience. And Sanjay Gupta is a terrific producer. If I had a choice I'd still want this to be my first release."