Which was the first sequel film made in the world? Fall of a Nation directed by the pioneering Hollywood filmmaker D. W. Griffith in 1916. It was a sequel to the director's wildly successful film, Birth of a Nation made the previous year. In a way there is amusing aside to this first ever sequel.
Apparently the sequel was prompted not only by the grand success of Birth of a Nation , but also because the film's author Thomas Dixon was not paid for the film Birth of a Nation which was based on his book The Clansman.
So Dixon wrote a sequel, Fall of a Nation to cash in and thus started a Hollywood tradition of sequels which soon caught up among filmmakers.
Though sequels are a rarity in Telugu films, they seem to have found their way in. In the recent past , two Telugu films ( Gayam-2 a sequel to the 1993 hit Gayam and the very recent Raktha Charitra Part 1 and II) and one dubbed movie Kanchana sequel to Tamil film Muni ) had hit the screens.
Now comes the second sequel to the 1993 runaway hit, Money (its first sequel Money Money also a box office success was made in 1995) titled Money Money More Money (M2MM). Interestingly if the earlier Money sequels mentioned above are connected to Ramgopal Varma, this is one is directed by his protégé and protagonist of the Money sequencesactor J.D Chekravarthy.
Three popular characters from the earlier versions played by Brahnanandam, Brahmaji besides J.D. are retained. Of course one can not think of the sequel without the ‘Khan Dada' character that catapulted Brahmanandam to new heights.
“He is not that rich arrogant power wielding Khan Dada any more,” smiles journalist turned producer K. Sathyanarayana. “He had invested all his ‘earnings' in real estate and with its collapse, lost all that he had. So what we seen in M2MM is a poor version of the Don. But taking his role seriously, Khan Dada will tickle your funny bone anyway.”
Giving a feel of the things that follow, he adds, “Brahmanandam and Venumadhav are in almost every frame of the movie, bringing in ripples of laughter. There is even an item dance shot on Brahmanandam and the lyric is extension of the songs filmed on him in the earlier versions.”
The film is made under First Choice Media House banner, a co-production in association with Reliance.
“Except Shashank's, every character include mine and heroine Tasha's have both negative and positive shades. Only Shashank has a positive side to his role. The climax will thrill the audience. A fresh story, it is a mad mad mad comedy,” says the maverick actor-filmmaker Chekravarthy. The film is slated for release on August 26.
