It's a blast from the past for Bollywood now

It was all about looking into the future for Bollywood with films like 'Aa Dekhen Zara', '13 B' and 'Kal Kissne Dekha' hitting the screens in recent times. But now it is flashback time and forthcoming movies will see popular actors exploring the times that have gone by.

These include Saif Ali Khan's production debut 'Love Aaj Kal', "Akshay Kumar's 'Action Replay' and 'Once Upon a Time in Mumbai' that stars Emraan Hashmi.

Said director Imtiaz Ali, who has brought together two eras in his 'Love Aaj Kal': "The film moves in two different eras - 1965 and 2009 - almost simultaneously. They could well be termed as 'Love Kal' and 'Love Aaj' respectively due to their relevance with the characters and the time period involved.

"The story is told from the point of view of Veer and Jai respectively who have a different perspective about love and relationships."

Incidentally, Saif plays the double role of both Veer and Jai, while Rishi Kapoor forms an important part in the entire narration that travels across London, San Francisco, Delhi and Kolkata. The film also stars Deepika Padukone.

From the 1960s, Bollywood moves to the 1970s as Akshay Kumar and Aishwarya Rai come together for 'Action Replay'. The film is said to be going into two time zones - 1975 and the current times.

"Yes, the film is about a time-travel tale. It also stars Randhir Kapoor. Beyond that, I can't reveal much about the film's plot," said producer and director Vipul Shah.

Composer Pritam too has made tunes suited to the 70s.

"Yes, I have created compositions that completely go with the mood of the 70s. It's been a unique experience...," he said.

Emraan Hashmi shares similar sentiments after briefly shooting for director Milan Luthria 'Once Upon a Time in Mumbai'.

Excited about finding himself in an underworld set-up belonging to the 1970s in the film, the actor said: "It's good to be stepping into an era when the underworld had just started making its presence felt. Milan is coming up with an entirely new presentation of what crime was back then."

He is impressed with the way the film has been shot so far.

" 'Once Upon a Time in Mumbai' is an entirely new way of narrating a story and such kinds of scripts are Milan's forte. You can see that he is all pumped up when it comes to high testosterone, male-oriented films like the ones he has directed in the past ('Kachche Dhaage' for example). The 70s flavour is only adding to the entire fun," Emraan said.

The film sees Emraan coming together with Ajay Devgan for the first time. The leading ladies - Kangana Ranaut and Prachi Desai - are also going all out to get that perfect 70s look.

Then there are films coming up that might be set in current times but inspired by the 70s nevertheless.

In a few weeks from now, Vishal Bhardwaj would be releasing his 'Kaminey'. Going by the look, treatment and music of the film, it seems to be searching into the past for inspiration.

In fact makers of 'Kaminey' have been making no bones about the fact that this Shahid Kapoor-Priyanka-starrer belongs to the caper genre, something that has been mastered by Hollywood filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino and Tony Scott, known for the 70s treatment imparted into their films.