Sam Raimi, director of the ‘Spiderman’ series, successfully milked the franchise by making sequels at regular intervals. Others have followed suit, with sometimes mixed results. Nevertheless, sequels have been around for quite some time now.
Tamil cinema, too, is no stranger to sequels. In fact, going by their numbers in the last few years, it seems to have become a trend. The first sequel in Kollywood, ‘Japanil Kalyanaraman’, goes way back to 1985—it was the sequel to ‘Kalyanaraman’. Both starred Kamal Hassan and went on to become blockbusters.
But not all spell box-office magic. K Balachander’s 1974 film ‘Naan Avan Illai’, starring Gemini Ganesan, was remade by director Selva by the same name. Released in 2009, ‘Naan Avan Illai-2’ was a dud. In 2007, choreographer-actordirector Raghava Lawrence released his horror flick ‘Muni’ which got average reviews but in 2011, its sequel ‘Kanchana-Muni 2’ turned out to be a roaring success.
In 2007, actor Ajith stepped into Rajinikanth’s shoes by playing the lead in ‘Billa’, a remake of the 1980 ‘Billa’, which itself was a remake of the 1978 ‘Don’ starring Big B. Directed by Vishnuvardhan, the film now has a prequel in production, again with Ajith in the lead. According to Vishnuvardhan, the prequel is a tremendously powerful idea. “We are working towards putting together the winning team, which worked on the Ajith-starrer ‘Billa’ and will leave no stone unturned to make ‘Billa 2’ a bigger success,” he says.
After the success of ‘Kanchana- Muni 2’, Lawrence has confirmed part three: “‘Kanchana’, a dubbed version in Telugu, received an outstanding response in Andhra Pradesh, a week prior to its release in Tamil, where it also did well. Even though it carried a message—that transgenders also deserve equality—‘Kanchana’ had all the essential elements of a commercial entertainer and I knew it would click. And ‘Muni, part three’ which is ready in terms of an outline, will take shape by next year.”
Film critic and cartoonist Madhan says, “Somebody has to start a trend here. It’s as simple as that. And producers should be willing to invest as well. Generally, in Tamil cinema, the scripts are tailor-made for mass heroes, where the story ends with that film. A lengthy, exhaustive script is required for a sequel in its pre-production stage itself.”
Perhaps, all sequel makers must be of the belief that why should one reinvent the wheel!