Overdose of sequels in Bollywood: 50 plus sequels to release in coming two years, may kill charm of original

Cinematic universes, sequels, and threequels are nothing new to Bollywood fans. Over the years, with Rohit Shetty ’s Golmaal and Singham series and many others, fans have gotten used to such things. But even then, such franchises have been limited, and there has always been a good flow of original and fresh content-based projects.

But it seems that in the last few years, Bollywood has been facing a drought of new ideas and concepts. With the regional producers opting for pan-Indian releases, the scope for remakes has dwindled. Importantly, even the big hits from the last decade are now shown on television in dubbed versions. So, their remakes like Jersey or Vikram Vedha have been highly unsuccessful.

In such a scenario what is left with the Bollywood production houses is coming out with sequels of the movies that have been big hits. Be it Pathaan, War, or Stree, Bollywood is simply overdoing this sequel. And that is not surprising as years of experience show that the Hindi film industry has always looked out for some safe formulas to make the movies superhit.

The massive success of Gadar 2, OMG 2, and Drishyam 2 gave the production houses a new hope which is why they are now keen on making sequels. But an overdose of anything can not only diminish but even destroy the legacy of the original. For example, Akshay Kumar and Priyadarshan’s Bhool Bhulaiyaa was a classic until Bhushan Kumar and Kartik Aaryan came out with their sequel.

Undoubtedly, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 was a superhit it could not match the class of the earlier film. Ditto with BB3 which also saw the return of Vidya Balan as Manjulika and a new twist in the form of a dance-off with none other than Madhuri Dixit. Despite all this masala, it lacked the special magic that the first movie had.

But since the sequels in the last few years have been successful, the theater owners, distributors, and exhibitors are demanding Bollywood producers to produce them. Even fans are very eager to watch follow-up movies of some hit franchises like Animal Park, Hera Pheri 3, Mirzapur The Film, and War 2.

That is why at present around 50 sequels are in the production or pre-production phase and will be released in 2025, and 2026. But only the quality of content will decide which one will emerge as a hit.