Such is its lure that every Friday release, even if a mediocre success, has filmmakers announcing its sequel! With established characters and an accepted format, there seems to be little to lose in this proposition. This year itself, there is a sequel party at the BO — Krrish 3, Ragini MMS 2, Shaadi Ke Side Effects, Dhoom 3 and Dedh Ishqiya . And some surprising sequels, including Agent Vinod 2, Housefull 3, Golmaal 4 and No Smoking 2 , have already been announced. Wish filmmakers would learn a lesson or two from some of the most forgettable sequels:
Yamla Pagla Deewana 2
Samir Karnik had done a good job of ‘directing’ the Deols the first time around. Yamla Pagla Deewana turned out to be such a hit that the family decided they were game for another. But they brought in Sangeeth Sivan to direct it. Santosh had earlier decided against directing a sequel to his own super hit film Kya Kool Hain Hum but fell for the bait with this one. YPD2 sank in spite of having some good music and more muscle to market it.
Once Upon Ay Time In Mumbaai Dobara
This time it is personal. The film lost the plot in its tagline itself. The minute it got out that the dark underbelly of Mumbai was going to have a rosy tint, the buzz around the film went downhill. To its credit, the content did not belie its claim and we were indeed told a story about a don and his sidekick in love. Fell flat. Both the films were helmed by Milan Luthria.
Phir Hera Pheri
What a wonderful film Hera Pheri was, with not a dull moment. Even though a remake of the Tamil remake Arangetra Velai of the Malayalma original Ramji Rao Speaking , the film adapted itself very well and went on to be a cult comedy. The less said about the sequel directed by Neeraj Vora six years later, the better. Mashed up situations and loony guys don’t always a comedy make.
Sarkar Raj
Sarkar is counted as among those movies that could salvage Ram Gopal Varma. It was taut and a good adaptation of Godfather as RGV claimed it to be. There was also a thin veil between Shankar Nagre’s character (played by Amitabh Bachchan) and the real-life Bal Thackeray that led to the excitement and curiosity about the film. In Sarkar Raj , he lost the plot. With Kay Kay Menon’s character killed and Aishwarya Rai’s character brought in, the story kept meandering.
Bheja Fry 2
When Bheja Fry was released in 2007, there was no buzz around it. But the endearing performance of Vinay Pathak got the film immense word-of-mouth publicity and it was loved by one and all. The film was based on the French movie Le Dîner de Cons . Very tightly budgeted, it did relatively well at the BO, spurring the ‘obvious’ need for a sequel. Can we now conclude that had the sequel also been based on some other film, it would have had a good response? Possibly the charm of the single room was missed on the luxurious cruise liner.
This article has been corrected for a factual error.
