While elections and cricket are dominating the collective mind space, there is a moveable feast to look forward to this summer. A number of Bollywood releases with unconventional themes by a clutch of young directors who are prepared to think out of the box is preparing to hit movie theatres. Each year, we have one film that defines the direction Bollywood is heading toward. Last year, Koi ... Mil Gaya, which not only resurrected Hrithik Roshan's career but also raised the bar for special effects in India, won the sweepstakes.

NEW FORMULAE: Our past covers on Bollywood trends

This summer, Bollywood seems to have decided to get in touch with its inner self. Relationships are being explored-between men and women, between parents and children, even between society and its citizens. The budget is no longer an issue, the mindset is. A Rs 6 crore Run can try to occupy the same space as a Rs 25 crore Yuva, that of young people struggling to define their identities. The settings are contemporary and the situations often more so-if Lakshya is a love story set against the backdrop of Kargil, the Rs 20 crore Main Hoon Na revolves around Project Milaap, a move to broker peace between India and Pakistan.

This youth quake heralds the first wave of big commercial multiplex movies. Over 40 films will hit theatres this season, but India Today has focused on seven which seem to stand out for their experimentation in structure, characters or story. These movies have some of the industry's biggest stars, from Shah Rukh Khan to Aishwarya Rai. One of them is directed by the path-breaking Mani Ratnam (whose every film is an event), and another has been put together by one of the industry's brightest film crews-director Farhan Akhtar and his team. The films careen from the romantic comedy Kyun ... Ho Gaya Na to the dark Yuva, which, unusually for a Hindi film, begins and ends on Kolkata's Howrah Bridge.

Senior Editor Kaveree Bamzai, who spent time in Mumbai speaking to many of the bright young people at the cutting edge of this change, says the excitement is palpable. Suddenly scriptwriters are the hottest item in Bollywood, cinematographers are being spoken of in the same breath as the stars, and even fashion experts are being employed by costume designers to check what look will work when the movie is being released. No one, she says, is over 40.

Get your popcorn ready for a blockbuster summer.