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Maidaan Bade Miyan Chote Miyan Crew Ruslaan Srikanth Bhaiyya Ji

The Sequel Trap: Limiting Creativity

By Rajiv Vijayakar -

May 20, 2016 - 10:23 AM IST

Before the film's release, Baaghi's director Sabbir Khan, when asked about his films to come, said that he was toying with two ideas. In a chat after the film's success,

The Sequel Trap: Limiting Creativity

he said that there was a possibility of a sequel to the film, now that it had become a hit, as "everyone was keen"!

A day later came the formal announcement of Baaghi 2, just after Sabbir had said that he was off for a vacation before getting back to work. At the success party, everyone was speaking about

the sequel; with 'villain' Sudheer Babu admitting with a laugh that he could not be a part of it as he had been killed in Baaghi.

A day later, came the final statement from Sabbir: "I am not making Baaghi 2 right away. I will make some other film first. A worthy idea has to be click and be developed into an appealing

script; otherwise Baaghi 2 will just be a project and will never succeed."

Bravo, Sabbir Khan. It takes tons of guts, confidence and self-esteem and conviction to think that way.

The Sequel Trap

The trap of making a sequel, making it before any other different movie and making it now when the original is hot is something into which all grades of filmmakers have fallen. Of course, there are

pressures, beginning with the distributors and perceived fans. Who would not want to make quick bucks, or at least try and make them? UTV Motion Pictures and Sajid Nadiadwala, the co-producers,

would both like additional big money in their coffers. Theoretically, even Sabbir Khan would like another hit to his name.

All that is actually needed is a concocted story and screenplay-in fact the most neglected and persistently weak area of Hindi cinema that, despite the welcome variety in themes being explored

today, has only grown weaker. Because especially in such cases, the delusion persists that the audience will accept anything connected with a brand if they have accepted it once.

Today, when sequels are in a commanding position, we see so many talented filmmakers succumbing to this temptation, unable to rise beyond them, as unfortunate victims of the sequel trap that so

severely restricts their creative juices.

A prime example, sadly, seems to be the otherwise versatile Rakesh Roshan, who followed up the superlative Krrish with Krrish 3 after seven years, during which he could not get a fix

on another subject after the Koi...Mil Gaya (KMG) - Krrish chain worked.

Having said that, the KMG-Krrish series was among the best in concept, as Roshan cleverly switched genres in its course from sci-fi to super-hero films, both distinctive firsts in A-grade

Hindi cinema. With Krrish 3, the figures, all said and done, were not so gratifying, with diminished quality as causative factor.

In between, Roshan had produced two films with other directors that bombed-Krazzy 4 and Kites, and he is now producing Kaabil directed by Sanjay Gupta. So what will he direct

next?

Sajid Khan, having made a more successful (and frankly funnier) Housefull 2 after a five-year gap with the first, was out of Housefull 3 for personal reasons, reportedly differences

between him and a key person involved in both movies.

But he tried to go a different way with Himmatwala (a remake of a film he loved) and Humshakals and came a cropper. His own expressed view was that he had become arrogant and failed.

Our answer: Maybe. But was he also functioning too much in the Housefull mode? If Housefull 4 is made, and he directs it, will he get a hit again? More important: will be make a

different film, yet succeed?

Or take Farhan Akhtar: the genius writer-director of Dil Chahta Hai. After Lakshya flopped, he opted for a relatively safe project, a remake of the cult Don in 2006. But a decade

later, has not been able to move beyond the Don franchise as filmmaker. Don 2 (2011) was smart writing but not appreciated enough vis-a-vis his original remake. And Farhan, 5 years

after Don 2, has been unable to take the directorial plunge again. He wants an idea to excite him as a director, but whenever asked, he only talks about Don 3.

Ram Gopal Varma represents the desperate face of the sequel obsession: he is heavily into sequels now for a decade and more. Darna Zaroori Hai was a pathetic follow-up to Darna Mana

Hai, though he had not directed the first film, and Sarkar 2 failed to muster the limited business of the original. Ramu-sir, in rapid succession, also made the second parts of Bhoot,

Satya and Phoonk, all disasters, and he now wants to make Sarkar 3! Somewhere in this commercial mess, we have lost a filmmaker capable of the original and diverse engaging fare

like Rangeela, Satya and Bhoot-actually his only three hits!

Prakash Jha too, who could not repeat the successes of Gangaajal and Raajneeti over the last 13 years, and whose template is overtly restricted to political dramas set in the Northern

hinterlands, chose to name his new film Jai Gangaajal to attract viewers who had loved the 2003 Ajay Devgn film. But the standard template repeated yet again did not appeal and the film

broke even probably on its sole novelty-Priyanka Chopra as the protagonist cop rather than any hero.

Jha now wants to take his only big commercial hit Raajneeti forward with a proper sequel, rather than changing overused gears and attempting something completely fresh.

Kunal Deshmukh, after two instalments of Jannat did well, with a decently-made Tum Mile in-between them becoming a calamity due to over-budgeting and vital flaws in marketing, opted

for another different subject-Raja Natwarlal, a con caper. Obviously, the film nosedived. So will be now restrict himself to a Jannat 3?

Such is the situation that even with Rajkumar Hirani, who is making yet another film in the Munna Bhai series soon, we are a bit anxious that it does not kill the brilliant brain that can

also make 3 Idiots and PK. Rohit Shetty may have done well on three instalments of Golmaal, but he was actually funnier in his other comedies All The Best and Bol

Bachchan. And Singham Returns was no patch on his first film with that brand, the 2011 blockbuster Singham.

Anubhav Sinha has never got the kind of success he did with his debut film Tum Bin. And so now, he is getting into Tum Bin 2 after multiple flops in between. It's all about

(theoretically at least) survival, right?

Producers too tend to milk the proverbial cow more brazenly than the directors, but they only stand to lose money, not creativity. The Bhatts are into endless revisits to Raaz, Murder and

now Aashiqui and Firoz Nadiadwala into Welcome, Hera Pheri and Awara Pagal Deewana. But it is the directors who need to have self-confidence and milk their own creativity

rather than just be after a golden goose that can destroy their creativity irreversibly.

Breaking the Vicious Circle

Here is where we admire a Nishikant Kamat for turning down Force 2, though buzz is that it was again due to creative differences with the producer. The fact is that though Kamat has not been

truly consistent, he has creditably directed a variety of films both in Hindi and Marathi.

And we wish the best for Abhishek Chaubey, who has broken out of the Ishqiya circle to fashion a completely fresh tale in Udta Punjab, as well as Aanand L. Rai, who could have

conceived the third part of Tanu Weds Manu but is making a film on a dwarf instead.