Bollywood stars will vie for screen space with swanky vehicles in major releases set to hit theatres in August.

The August line-up of films include Abbas-Mustan's 'Tarzan The Wonder Car', which has a Rs 25-milion car as its hero with two newcomers Ayesha Takia and Vatsal Sheth vying for the audiences' attention.

Sanjay Gadhvi's 'Dhoom', which opens at the end of the month, has flashy motorcycles zipping down the roads of Goa. Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham and Uday Chopra are mere add-ons.

Movie moguls are seeking out new ways to entertain people in the films slated for release in August. In Samir Karnik's 'Kyun! Ho Gaya Na', starring big names like Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and Vivek Oberoi, the formula is taken to new heights.

A twist in the tale runs through all the releases of August.

Revathi's eagerly awaited 'Phir Milenge', due for an August-end release, has Salman Khan, Abhishek Bachchan and Shilpa Shetty playing starkly different characters than their usual ones. While Shilpa plays an HIV-positive patient,
Salman is her faithful boyfriend and Abhishek, a lawyer defending her right to work.

Ken Ghosh's 'Fida', due to be released in the third week of August, may sound like the usual ritzy romantic musical, but in reality it is a love triangle with a twist. The three dramatis personae, Kareena Kapoor, Shahid Kapur and Fardeen Khan, try to outwit one another in the game of oneupmanship.

The days of the conventional entertaining formula seems to be over.

Debutante director Kabir Sadanand's youthful camp caper 'Popcorn Khao Mast Ho Jao' is slated for an early September release. Sadanand feels that the unconventional is soon going to be the conventional.

"The stars are no longer acceptable in conventional packages. The box-office performance of recent films proves it. It's up to filmmakers to bring the stars out in unexpected ways. In my film, Tanisha (seen earlier in the thriller 'Shhhh') is being re-launched. Believe me, you won't know it's her!"

In "Kyun! Ho Gaya Na" to be released in the second week of August, Vivek Oberoi does a giddy romance "almost like Fred Astaire-meets-Govinda-meets-Dev Anand". Kareena goes glamorously grey in "Fida". Even her co-stars Shahid and Fardeen undergo a total transition from teen heartthrobs to conniving dudes in the film.

John Abraham dons the villain's mantle in 'Dhoom' while Esha Deol reinvents herself as a glamour girl in the film.

"It's very important for the established stars to reinvent themselves periodically. Good that it's happening now rather than later," says Vivek Oberoi.

It looks like the long awaited changeover in the star system is finally here. Kyun, ho gaya na?