Kollywood is fast becoming a franchise factory with a long line-up of sequels getting ready to hit the screens. Kamal Haasan’s Vishwaroopam 2, Venkat Prabhu-directed Chennai 600028 II and Suriya’s Hari-directed S3 ( Singam 3 ) are likely to hit the screens by the end of this year. Two more will release in the summer of 2017—S. S. Rajamouli’s Baahubali 2 and Shankar-directed Rajinikanth sci-fi actioner 2.0, rumoured to be a sequel to Enthiran .
There are many more in the pipeline, such as Vishal’s Lingusamy-directed Sandakozhi 2 , Vikram-Hari’s Saamy 2, and Lawrence’s Kanchana 4 . S Ve Shekher has announced that he will be directing Manal Kayiru 2 , in which his son Ashwin Shekhar will play the pivotal role. The fans of Vijay want him to do Thuppakki 2 , while Ajith fans have been clamouring for a Mankatha 2 .
The first of the sequels to hit the screens will be Venkat Prabhu’s Chennai 600028 II on November 10. This sequel has retained much of the original cast of the 2008 trendsetter, including Jai, Shiva, Premgi, Vaibhav, Nithin Sathya, Vijayalakshmi, and Mahat. The audio and trailer of the film, which has music by Yuvan Shankar Raja, was launched in Malaysia last Friday by Suriya. Venkat Prabhu says he had planned the film as a trilogy as early as 10 years back. Now, the sequel Chennai 600028 II, is all set for a November release. The buzz is that if the sequel becomes a hit, he will continue with the franchise.
The trade feels, for a sequel to work, it has to connect with the original story and also include characters from the earlier film. Recently, Ko 2 and Darling 2 did not make any impact at the box-office as the storyline and actors were different. The sequel specialist director Hari feels his Singam 2 worked because of Suriya’s Durai Singam character and because he didn’t make many drastic changes to the original. The director shot for the first time in South Africa for Singam 2 , and now for S3 , he is shooting in never-seen-before locations in Malaysia. Hari is also introducing a new villain in the film — Thakur Anoop Singh, a pilot and television actor, whose confrontation scenes with Suriya are expected to be the film’s highlight.
In Hollywood, it has been proven that a franchise film works best when it is based on a larger-than-life character. There are enough comic book characters to feed the audiences for franchise films. But in Kollywood, it has worked only when big stars are involved, as audiences come to watch a film based on the star and not necessarily because of the character he plays in it. The big question being asked in the trade is, will Venkat Prabhu’s Chennai 600028 II break the jinx and create a new trend?
The reason for the sequel mania is that they guarantee a big opening as long as a superstar is associated with the film. In fact, Suriya’s S3 theatrical rights have been sold out even before shooting was completed. Producer KE Gnanavel Raja has also chosen a solo release day – December 16, to get that all-important opening and cash in on the goodwill of the original. Gnanavel Raja says, “ S3 is going to be the most expensive in the series so far. Audiences come in to watch a sequel expecting something bigger. It should be a new and improved version of the original to make it work at the box-office.”
There is big money and recall value for sequels as proved by the record theatrical sale of S.S. Rajamouli’s Baahubali: The Conclusion . Arka Media, the film’s producers, have sold all theatrical areas nearly eight months before its April 28, 2017 release. The trade buzz is that the Overseas and Tamil Nadu, Telugu and theatrical rights have been sold for a whopping sum of Rs. 100 crore! S.N. Rajarajan of K Productions, who has bought the Tamil Nadu and Overseas rights, has in turn sold the USA and Canada theatricals to a third person for almost three times the price of the first part.
S.N. Rajarajan says, “We are happy to be associated with Baahubali: The Conclusion , as the film is one of the biggest brands in Indian cinema. We feel the sequel has huge potential, and that is the reason we paid a record amount to get Overseas and TN theatrical rights. We have already sold US and Canada rights and will be directly distributing the rest of Overseas and Tamil Nadu.”
Shankar’s Rajinikanth sci-fi 2.0 is rumoured to be a sequel to the duo’s earlier Enthiran , but it is being played down by the makers. The reason, according to trade sources, is that the director and the new producers do not want any issues over copyright with the producer who made the original.
Meanwhile, Vikram has given the nod to director Hari to go ahead with a sequel to their successful 2003 cop story Saamy . The producer of Saamy 2 , Shibu Thameens, says that work on the sequel will start sometime early next year. Director Hari says he ended his first film with a caption that read – “ Saamiyin Vettai Thodarum (Samy’s hunt continues. )”. Now, after completing S3 , he will start reworking the script of Saamy 2 , to suit the current situation in the police force and Vikram’s image.
A leading financier and distributor says, “A sequel with a superstar will always have recall value. In today’s time, when a mass film gets back 90 per cent of its theatrical collections in the first 10 days, it makes sense to play safe with franchise films. And top stars also like doing sequels as they are less risky.”
