If ever there has been a franchise that has consistently tried to innovate while remaining a tentpole commercial vehicle, it has to be The Fast and the Furious. Just when it appeared to hit a plateau, they introduced two dynamic action heroes in back-to-back films in the form of Dwayne The Rock Johnson and Jason Statham. But these two actors, who can headline films on their own, were always going to be too big for the franchise. Their character arcs at the end of The Fate of the Furious perfectly set up a potential spin-off, and this Friday, we have Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.
However, this isn’t a one-off idea in Hollywood, with a definite precedent set by the money-spinning spin-offs that the biggest franchises of Hollywood have spawned. Interestingly, this idea, just like many other Hollywoodian themes, has been adapted in our very own cinema industry too. Here, we take a look at some of these.
SCORPION KING
I still remember watching WWE back in the day when The Rock, the motormouth of a hero figure suddenly turned villain. It was announced that the sequel to The Mummy Returns was releasing and he would play an antagonist in it. While the role was largely CG in nature, the popularity of the wrestler-turned-actor was so much that they wrote a separate movie for him explaining his heroic backstory. I don’t think he would have thought that a decade-and-a-half later, he would be a part of yet another spin-off of a famous franchise.
MINIONS
While many animated characters could vie for the most cutest characters to have been created this side of the millenium, the minions of Despicable Me will most certainly win. With Steve Carrell headlining Despicable Me, little would people have realised that small creatures that looked like bananas would become one of the hottest merchandise movers in the world. So it was only natural that they received their own spin-off, which was a prequel to how they found Gru after searching for the best villainous overlord to serve. If you want to understand the craze behind these urchins, know that there are language apps that offer a chance for you to learn the minion language.
ANNABELLE
One of the most defining franchises of this decade, Annabelle trilogy actually came thanks to a little horror film called The Conjuring. That a small room full of assorted paraphernilia ranging from a circus monkey, coins, a wedding dress, a TV, and a doll would all contribute to a huge combined horror universe is something I don’t think James Wan would have thought of when he created the original story about the Warrens. The Annabelle trilogy follows the doll that becomes a conduit for many-an-evil spirit and how it terrorises families across three decades. The story is not over anytime soon and one wonders what Annabelle has next in store for us all. She is expected to play a short but interesting role in The Conjuring 3 as well.
BUMBLEBEE
With each Transformers movie progressively becoming worse, Paramount needed a saviour and little would they have realised that it would come in the form of Bumblebee. Here was a character who used to communicate to his human friend through radio channels and the spin-off religiously followed his loss of voice and it was probably one of, if not the most humane story, that a Transformers movie has told. Oh, and there is also John Cena in the movie, following in the footsteps of The Rock. What is it with wrestlers and spin-offs?
FANTASTIC BEASTS
Harry Potter was a character an entire generation grew up with. After introducing him to a whole new set of people through eight films, JK Rowling decided that she couldn’t stop herself from serving up more magic for the future. So, the author announced, to the surprise of many and to the chagrin of few, that a spin-off franchise called Fantastic Beasts would be made. Following the adventures of Newt Scamander, the author of the famous Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them book in the Harry Potter mythology, this also covers the famous Grindelwald-Dumbledore relationship and later showdown. While the two films have received lukewarm response from fans, there are still three more to go and one just hopes that Rowling finds her magic wand that she seems to have misplaced.
NAAM SHABANA
Taapsee Pannu had a short action scene in the 2015 Akshay Kumar-starrer Baby: The sequence of Shabana Khan’s cover being blown, being taken down by Sushant Singh, and then fighting her way out of the situation — all the while never knowing whether help will arrive before her death. Taapsee’s role was spoken at length, and it revitalised a career that peaked the year after with Pink. Her popularity and her character’s combined to form the spin-off Naam Shabana that follows the story of Shabana Khan prior to her joining up with Akshay Kumar’s secret task force.
SALEM VISHNU
New Delhi was Mammootty’s ticket to stardom. It was one of the first steps that made him into the ‘Mega Star’ he is now. He played an investigative journalist, who is sent to jail for trying to expose the truth. This is where he meets Thiagarajan’s Salem Vishnu, who along with few other jail inmates help Mammootty turn into a media mogul and exact revenge on the villains. While Thiagarajan’s role was only a supporting character in New Delhi, he wrote it into a full-fledged character for his directorial debut. Titled Salem Vishnu, the 1990 Tamil film was an origin story explaining how a bright and honest student turned into a cold-blooded murderer.
PADMASHREE BHARATH DR SAROJ KUMAR
When the Mohanlal-starrer Udayananu Tharam released in 2005, it was a blockbuster that was remade in multiple languages, including Tamil and Hindi. Though the film’s title meant Udhayan was the star, the multifaceted Sreenivasan’s brilliant performance as Superstar Saroj Kumar was praised too. Sreenivasan’s unique mannerisms, dialogue delivery, and the presence of his faithful sidekick, Pachalam Bhasi, was so good that it spawned a spinoff, seven years later. Unlike Udayananu Tharam, Padmashree Bharat Dr Saroj Kumar wasn’t as wellreceived though. It was remembered more for the controversies it created, which included an alleged dig at Mohanlal.
SABAASH NAIDU
When Kamal Haasan’s Dasavatharam came about, the reactions were mixed, to put it kindly. Called vain and self-eulogising, the film was attacked for Haasan’s cultural misappropriation of an American and a Japanese character. But in equal measure, praise came for Balram Naidu, a RAW operative who had a penchant for people who spoke Telugu. The unique comedic nature of the character in a film that otherwise took itself too seriously shone through, and Kamal, known for being the first actor to have done a sequel in Tamil cinema, also attempted to make its first spin-off. While the film reportedly been shelved, I can’t help but be excited, if this film were to come out.