The 45-year-old actor has already had one release this year Chal Chala Chal with Rajpal Yadav. The film went unnoticed when it released in January this year. He has quite a few releases lined up this year but he isn’t the lead actor in any of them.

Ravi Chopra’s Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai is complete. It stars Tabu, Lara Dutta, Boman Irani, Rajpal Yadav and Ashish Chaudhary. The remake of My Cousin Vinny has decent chances of doing well because of the presence of Boman Irani and Tabu.

Govinda will get a chance to display his comic flair in the movie. Ravi says in defense of Govinda, “He is a fantastic and very talented actor. That's all I look for. He may not have a pull on the audiences like Shah Rukh Khan or Hrithik Roshan, but he is a good actor.

If the film is right for an actor of his talent, it would create magic. Hats off to him that he continues to work in movies, he has been around for so long."

Main Aur Mrs Khanna has Kareena Kapoor, Sohail and Salman Khan. Due to his friendship with Salman, he has bagged a small role in the film, which will release soon after the strike is called off. In Mani Ratnam’s Raavan, the focus is on Abhishek and Aishwarya. Govinda plays Hanuman and forms the supporting cast along with Manisha Koirala, Vikram and Nikhil Dwivedi. The film will release late this year or early next year.

In David Dhawan’s Do Knot Disturb, Govinda shares the screen with Riteish Deshmukh, Ranvir Shorey, Rajpal Yadav and hotties Sushmita Sen and Lara Dutta. The duo last collaborated on Partner. The shooting of the comedy is going on and it will release late 2009 or early 2010.

The only solo hero film that Govinda has is Jagmohan Mundhra’s Naughty@40, a remake of the Hollywood film The 40-year-old Virgin. Anupam Kher and Shakti Kapoor are also part of it. Jagmohan Mundhra hasn’t made a successful film in recent times. The film has been struck by the recession as filming has been stalled.

The limelight in Abbas Mustan’s production Life Partner, directed by Rumi Jaffrey, will be hogged by youngsters like Tushaar Kapoor, Prachi Desai and Genelia D’Souza, who have leading roles. In fact, Prachi and Tushaar are already talking about the film. Fardeen Khan and Akshaye Khanna also star in the movie.

Then there is Aaditya Dutt’s Chai Garam with Esha Deol, Celina Jaitley, Urvashi Sharma, Sunil Shetty, Javed Jaffrey, Rajpal Yadav, Ravi Kishen and Anupam Kher. Aaditya Dutt’s previous films like Aashiq Banaya Aapne and Good Luck have been non-starters. This comedy is under production.

Do Lucky, previously known as Run Bhola Run, stars Tushaar Kapoor, Celina Jaitley and Amisha Patel. It is directed by Neeraj Vora, who has made Phir Hera Pheri in the past. The film is in its postproduction stages.

Lastly, there is a sequel to Partner with Salman Khan, helmed by David Dhawan, but that will only go into production next year. Govinda had one awful release in 2008: Money Hain Toh Honey Hain. As is evident, in spite of an 8 film line up, Govinda doesn’t have any solo hero films (except Naughty @ 40) and he is either part of a multi-starrer or has a supporting role in a big banner film like Raavan in 2009.

Barring Raavan, none of the films are hugely anticipated. Though he continues to dance, romance and display his comic timing, that isn’t enough to attract the audiences to the theatre to watch the middle aged actor in action. No wonder then, his daughter Narmmadaa has decided to fill in his shoes as she is set to make her debut this year.