From Real To Reel: Bollywood's Fav Stories of 2013

With films like No One Killed Jessica, Dirty Picture and Paan Singh Tomar garnering critical acclaim and box office success, more filmmakers are taking up real life stories and adapting them for screen.

We take a look at more such films set to release this year.

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Kajal Aggarwal, Jimmy Shergill, Manoj Bajpai, Anupam Kher, Divya Dutta

Director: Neeraj Pandey

Release Date: February 8

After an impressive debut with A Wednesday, Neeraj Pandey has helmed a heist drama. 

The film is based on a real life incident that took place in the 80's where a group of con artists cleverly robbed famous businessmen and politicians by pretending to be the CBI or Income tax officers. On the pretext of conducting raids, they would take away all the black money hoarded by them. 

On March 19, 1987 the same group recruited 26 young boys as income tax officers and executed a daylight income tax raid on the Opera House branch of a jewellery store in Mumbai, and disappeared with jewellery worth lakhs. 

Cast: Nana Patekar, Sanjeev Jaiswal

Director: Ram Gopal Varma

Release Date: March 1

Based on the 2008 Mumbai attacks, The Attacks of 26/11 is a crime-thriller film. The film starts with the trawler MV Kuber being captured by the terrorists.

The film's climax, shot before Ajmal Kasab -- the lone terrorist to be captured alive -- was hanged, had an open-ended climax which was changed later at the last minute.

500 people were auditioned to play the role of Kasab before it went to Sanjeev Jaiswal. Nana Patekar will play the role of Rakesh Maria, Joint Commissioner of Mumbai Police who was instrumental in nabbing Kasab.

RGV has said that profits from the film will be donated to victims' families.

Cast: John Abraham, Anil Kapoor, Kangna Ranaut, Tusshar Kapoor and Sonu Sood

Director: Sanjay Gupta

Release Date: May 1

Shootout at Wadala is a crime drama film written and directed by Sanjay Gupta. 

A prequel to Sanjay Gupta's hit Shootout At Lokhandwala, the new film is based on a book called Dongri to Dubai -- Six Decades of The Mumbai Mafia written by Hussain Zaidi.

John Abraham plays a gangster called Manya Surve, based on the man who killed Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar's elder brother Sabir. 

It will show the first-ever registered encounter by the Mumbai police, where Surve was shot dead by the then Inspector Issaq Bagwan (played by Anil Kapoor) and his team. The shootout took place at the Vidyalankar Institute of Technology in Wadala on November 1, 1982.

Cast: Farhan Akhtar and Sonam Kapoor

Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

Release Date: July 12

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is a biopic on legendary Indian athlete Milkha Singh.

The name of the movie comes from the last words spoken by his father, which was to save his life during the Indian partition riots. 

The film narrates the story of his perseverance as an athlete and his courageous spirit.

To look like an athlete, Farhan Akhtar, who plays the title role, had to do rigorous workouts.

According to reports, Milkha Singh had sold the story for just a rupee. The profits from the movie will be used for the benefit of athletes.

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Imran Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Sonali Bendre

Director: Milan Luthria

Release Date: August 8

Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai 2 is a sequel to Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai starring Ajay Devgn and Emraan Hashmi.

While Devgn's character -- Sultan Mirza based on Haji Mastan -- dies in the first film, Emraan Hashmi's Shoaib Khan is played by Akshay Kumar in the sequel.

The film starts with an Indo-Pakistan cricket match in Sharjah as the crowds and the playes on field wait for th arrival of Shoaib Khan.

Cast: John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri, Sheetal Malhar

Director: Shoojit Sircar

Release Date: not announced

There are rumours that the story is a political thriller set against the backdrop of former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in Tamil Nadu.

The film has been titled Madras Cafe as the plot to kill the prime minister was hatched there.

Nargis Fakhri's role is modelled on the life of the famous Anita Pratap (Indian journalist and writer who met LTTE chief Prabhakaran).

Fakhri, however, will  be shown playing a journalist from the UK.

Cast: Tisca Chopra, Arjun Mathur, Kay Kay Menon, Harsh Chhaya, Paoli Dam

Director: Suhail Tatari

Release Date: not announced

Written by Vikram Bhatt, Ankur Arora Murder Case is a medical thriller film directed by Suhail Tatari.

It is based on a real-life incident where a boy died on the operation table due to medical negligence.

The makers had initially wanted to shoot the film in the New Delhi hospital where the boy passed away.

Cast: Malika Sherwat, Om Puri, Jackie Shroff, Anupam Kher and Ashutosh Rana

Director: K C Bokadia

Release Date: not announced

The film is inspired from the chilling tale of Bhanwari Devi, a rape victim from Rajasthan.

Mallika Sherwat plays the lead character named Anokhi Devi.