Brahmastra, Attack, Pushpa: Are pre-planned franchises a gamble in Bollywood?

Popular films getting a sequel and eventually becoming a franchise has been a trend for many years now, such as Krrish, Housefull, Sarkar, and many others. But today, makers are doing something unusual: they have begun to announce films as first parts in a pre-decided franchise.

Ranbir Kapoor- Alia Bhatt’s Brahmastra, which has been in the making for years now, is being called the ‘astraverse’, revolving around Indian mythology. But it’s just the first part, the makers have announced. Director Ayan Mukerji shares that the reason for this is ‘ confidence, hard work and nervousness’. “We really believe in the content. To be honest, we had set out to make a trilogy, and we have shown the film as we are making it. We are confident,” he asserts.

But what about the fact that it all depends on how the first one is received? Mukerji continues, “I know how the movie business is, it depends on how the first one gets received. I hope we take it even deeper with the second one. Brahmastra is a new film, inspired by Hindi cinema, the tropes, Indian culture, but still a new film. I hope the youth get attached to it, it will give us more wings.”

Allu Arjun’s blockbuster Pushpa too, was released as Part 1: The Rise. Another pre-planned franchise is John Abraham’s Attack, which released as part 1 for now. Director Lakshya Raj Anand says more than confidence, it’s the art of storytelling.

“It’s not just a project that should do well, so then we will make another one and and use the same name. For me, it’s passion driven. We have created these characters whose journey doesn’t end after part one, the journey begins. And he takes the learning from what happens in part one to part two and three. It automatically ledns itself to action films,” he reasons.

What about the box office gamble? Anand says, “With the world we are living in right now, the industry has always been a risk.”

Abraham too had talked about the same at the trailer launch recently and said, “We intend to make a part 2. We have got a script ready. You can only decide to make a part 2 when the studio part is on board.”

Trade experts are of the opinion that Baahubali is where it all started from. “Makers saw that it had come out in two parts, Beginning and Conclusion. SS Rajamouli is a genius. The success of that made the makers think and come up with something which could be two parts or trilogy like that. Also, the public memory is too short, it won’t remember if the first part doesn’t do well, that it was announced as a franchise. Two-three years will pass after the release, makers will claim ‘story nahi mil rahi’, actors will say they are busy. Log bade bade kaand bhool jaate hain, toh yeh kya hai,” says Atul Mohan.