Pushpa 2, Singham Again, Stree 2: 2024 is set to be the year of sequels helobaba.com
Risk hai toh ishq hai- this line from Scam 1992 was pretty popular. But when it comes to investing money in films, not many would swear by it.
And that is precisely the reason why 2024 has been dedicated to franchise films, the latest being Raid 2, starring Ajay Devgn and Vaani Kapoor. Then there’s Bhool Bhulaiayaa 3 with Kartik Aaryan, Welcome To The Jungle which boasts of a huge cast including Akshay Kumar, Raveena Tandon, and more.
Clearly, sequels and prequels work. Anees Bazmee, who will helm BB3 , says, “Franchise ki popularity achhi baat bhi hai aur buri baat bhi hai. Ek film ka itna goodwill hai, pyaar mohabbat hai, makers feel more people will go and watch it. Maintaining curiosity among people for films today is very tough and important. But the problem with franchises is people go in with a lot of expectations that the film must be good like the previous one. It is always a challenge for the makers.”
And it is a pressure for the actors coming back for the subsequent parts in a franchise too. Abhishek Banerjee, who will reprise his role as Janna in Stree 2 after Stree and Bhediya, says, “There is an added responsibility. The character is loved by people. Of course the pressure is high. We had a ball shooting though. Also, coming back to play the same character after some time… I think it’s just muscle memory for me because I have played the character a lot. But there will obviously be a difference in the character from Stree to Bhediya.”
2023 too, was proof how much love subsequent parts of a franchise receive from viewers. Dream Girl 2, Gadar 2, OMG 2 were prime examples.
This year will also see possibly the biggest sequels ever- Rohit Shetty’s Singham Again is like the Indian equivalent of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Ajay Devgn, Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Tiger Shroff and more on board. Allu Arjun’s Pushpa 2 will clash with the former on Independence Day.
Elaborating on why people don’t want to risk their money, trade expert Atul Mohan says, “Daring aaj kam ho gayi hai industry mein. New writers keep going from pillar to pillar with their new stories, nobody is ready to listen to them. Aaj ke time pe log experiment nahi karna chahte, jo ab films announce ho rahi hain. Almost everyone feels there’s already a popular film,, let’s just make that. The recall value will be more, we won’t have to put in much efforts to establish a new brand. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 worked, then it will be simple to market BB3. Raid was popular, so instead of taking a story and announcing it as a new film, the makers decide to just announce it as Raid 2 if the theme is similar.”
