Comparisons are inevitable when you make a sequel. Let’s accept that Ajay Devgn’s Raid 2 was like the original flower that had lost its fragrance. That’s the problem with making a new edition of a successful title. To stay close to the spirit of the original, a laundry list of repeats is ticked off with a strained attempt at writing in a new element or two. So, move over Saurabh Shukla, the baddie who hid unaccounted wealth in his mansion in the Raid of 2018. Seven years later, the mantle of chief hoarder goes to Riteish Deshmukh but just to be different from the last outing, he’s turned into a landgrabber and rapist too. Lots of things didn’t go right this time around for the Devgn franchise, but suffice to say that the game is lost when a film tries to do multiple things to outdo the original but doesn’t elevate itself with a twist in the tale.
We have had some successful sequels. Ajay’s own Singham kept reinventing itself like the Marvel Universe does until that too hit a roadblock with Singham Again (2024), which gasped to recover its high cost of over ₹350 crore. After Singham (2011), Singham Returns (2014), Simmba (2018) and Sooryavanshi (2021), it was Devgn’s fifth appearance as no-nonsense cop Bajirao Singham. For the audience, a successful franchise is like a friendly face you already know and like, you don’t need an introduction to. But the audience is also demanding. It wants the original flavour plus a lip-smacking new one.
The Race franchise that was glitzy, naughty and unpredictable with its edgy twists looked podgy, dodgy and declasse when Saif Ali Khan was replaced by Salman Khan for its third edition. The new hero brought with him yes-men like Remo Fernandes as director and costars with zero market value like Daisy Shah, Saqib Salim and a pre-Aashram Bobby Deol. Brand Race lost the style, sophistication and slickness that had given it a thriller edge for years. Salman’s Dabangg and Tiger series also look like emergency measures will be required to revive their franchise value.
On OTT too, franchise owners find it tough to raise the bar they themselves set. Known as the Neerja maker, Ram Madhvani’s Aarya (2020) had an untouched ambience when Sushmita Sen made her comeback as a widow forced to join her family’s mafia business. It was a terrific Indian remake of the Dutch series Penoza. While Madhvani was able to retain some of the intrigue in its second edition, by the time Aarya went into its third edition it had petered out into a routine gangster show.
Mirzapur (2018) was worse. However crude and gruesome the morals and criminality of the Tripathi family, the show had an unseen surge of energy that made Kaleen Bhaiya almost as popular as Mogambo and Gabbar Singh. It stayed afloat the second time around when Pankaj Tripathi continued to hold the fort and held the Tripathi family together in 2020. But perhaps thinking that their franchise could live on the reputation of its title alone, Season 3 was made with non-entities toplining a listless show while Kaleen Bhaiya was reduced to a fleeting appearance. It was like making shandy without beer or cider. A sequel maker has to be a perfect mixologist to help a show retain its kick.
Drishyam (2015, 2022) did it brilliantly for Ajay Devgn when the smartly scripted original continued the same drama with equal intensity the second time around. There’s a third edition currently being brewed in Malayalam and Hindi. Hopefully, Drishyam 3 will retain its cerebral thrill in 2025.
Meanwhile, Farhan Akhtar’s Don continues its cheeky run with Ranveer Singh stepping into the big shoes of Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan, and Akshay Kumar has his fingers crossed that Housefull 5 will woo back his audience. There’s also news that Vijayendra Prasad (S.S. Rajamouli’s gifted writer-dad) has been meeting Salman Khan with a master script for Bajrangi Bhaijaan 2. That will be a South-North mix worth waiting for.