Bollywood’s Nostalgic Surge: The Rise of Iconic Sequels and Legendary Characters |

In 2007, Shah Rukh Khan starrer Om Shanti Om humorously parodied Bollywood’s trend of producing sequels to iconic films, featuring fictional titles like Dhoom 5, Khiladi Returns, and Main Bhi Hoon Na. Interestingly, this playful satire is now edging closer to reality.
Gadar 2 has reignited the passion for sequels, and in the coming months, one can expect a deluge of follow-ups like Border 2, Don 3, Singham Again, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, Welcome To The Jungle, Brahmastra 2, Metro In Dino, No Entry 2, De De Pyaar 2, Masti 4, and Raid 2, among others.Phew! While the list is extensive and exhaustive, these sequels come with a promise to entertain.
“Right now we have this wave of sequels, but it’s always been like that. When a franchise is loved by an audience and accepted, subsequent parts always get made and the audience is all the more excited for those,” shares Milap Zaveri, who will be helming ‘Masti 4’ and is also penning the dialogues for the most awaited Diwali Dhamaka ‘Singham Again’.
As everyone is enthusiastically hopping onto the bandwagon, achieving success with these schemes remains a challenging journey. The roadblocks are many – from reuniting the original cast to adjusting budgets for a modern approach and preserving the nostalgic essence of the originals, filmmakers are going the extra mile to leverage these beloved legacy titles.

Sequels come with a security blanket
The success of the original film often boosts the prospects of its sequels, as the initial victory is shared with the follow-up movies, creating much anticipation and buzz. “There is the comfort in franchises, you know the audience is going to come to the theatres on the day of release because it is a big sequel. You have that security blanket on Friday which assures a good opening. But on the flip side, you have to work very hard so you don’t fail with a legacy movie. If you end up misfiring, then you effectively end the franchise,” quips Milap Zaveri.
Ask Milap if the inception of Masti 4 was in tune with the recent success of sequels and he reveals, “Last year I reached out to Induji (Indra Kumar) and Riteish, since sequels were working. Dream Girl 2 was a big hit, Gadar 2 also excelled. So after I cracked the plot, both of them loved it and Induji told me to direct it. The casting remains the same Riteish, Vivek and Aftab but there will be a few new mixes, which I cannot reveal right now. With directing Masti 4, the responsibility is obviously to deliver a film that is more entertaining and at same time lives up to the nostalgia of the earlier parts.”

To cast or not to cast?
For years, there was speculation that Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, and Fardeen Khan would reunite for the No Entry sequel. However, two decades later, Diljit Dosanjh, Arjun Kapoor, and Varun Dhawan have been named as the men who will rule the second part. Meanwhile, Welcome, which originally featured the iconic pairing of Uday and Majnu, played by Nana Patekar and Anil Kapoor, is making a return. Despite this, Nana Patekar has revealed that the storyline of the threequel did not meet their expectations, leading to Uday and Majnu going missing from Welcome To The Jungle.
Meanwhile, for Border 2, Sunny Deol returns to lead the battalion with newer faces like Varun Dhawan and Diljit Dosanjh joining the league. Shedding light on the casting for the film, producer Nidhi Dutta says, “It was a team effort, with Bhushanji (Bhushan Kumar) and our director Anurag Singh. The three of us managed to get this dream cast. When it comes to Sunny sir, there is no Border without Sunny sir, the audience will definitely imagine him in the sequel. There’s always a sense of responsibility. But just like my dad, I too believe that the heroes that I’m depicting in Border 2, who are not with us now, wherever they are in heaven, I’m sure they have willed this to happen. So whenever I feel any kind of pressure or stress, I just think of that and I leave it to them along with God.”
A tricky box office proposition
While the nostalgia remains, the box office game is no longer the same. 100 crore is the newest 50 crore and only after a movie crosses 500 crore worldwide, will people sit up and notice. So while the sequels will assure footfalls on Friday, the game may change as Monday rolls in.
“Collections have increased because ticket rates have increased. It’s not like footfalls for every film have increased, unless it is an extraordinary film like Stree 2. But it all boils down to the budget. If a film is made on Rs 40-50 crore and earns Rs 100 crore, the profit is double! That’s why we have so many small-time movies emerging as blockbusters. Because the budget is nowhere near as big as some other superhits which have come in the past. We are also making Masti 4 on a smart budget. There will be added elements of the past served with the right amount of nostalgia which the audience wants,” opines Milap.
Success or not, Bollywood seems to have cracked yet another formula and it looks like a winner all the way! A trade source opines, “It is a tried and tested formula for filmmakers. If the first part has worked wonders then everyone rushes to invest in a sequel. Rather, the practice of keeping the ending inconclusive has become ubiquitous, giving room to the makers to explore chances of a sequel. While Gadar 2 was a massive blockbuster, the Housefull sequels saw fewer takers with each new instalment. Hence, box office continues to be an unpredictable element.”

Coming Soon

In the coming months, Rohit Shetty helmed Singham Again shines as the brightest and most promising instalment! “It’s so great to work with a strong team of writers under Rohit’s direction. There’s Yunus Sajawal, Abhijeet Khuman, Kshitij Patwardhan, Sandeep and Anusha. This is the intelligence of Rohit Shetty, that he’s brought us all together, so we all can contribute our speciality for Singham Again,” quips Milap Zaveri. The film is not just an extension of Rohit’s ambitious cop universe, but also presents a casting coup that has never been witnessed before in over a decade in Indian cinema. Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Akshay Kumar, Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Tiger Shroff, Arjun Kapoor – you name it and Rohit Shetty has cast it! This bonanza is just waiting to strike gold at the box office this Diwali.
West Bengal has become a pivotal character in Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, and to stir nostalgia from the first part, director Anees Bazmee has also roped in the original Manjulika from Bhool Bhulaiyaa, aka Vidya Balan. “The way we ended Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2′, we thought let us do something new and the first name that came to my mind was Vidya Balan. Isn’t the combination good? She immediately agreed. Besides, she is a friend and quite enthusiastic. Enthu hokar kaam karenge,” Bazmee reveals.

Producer Nidhi Dutta, who has taken over the mantle to deliver Border 2 from her father JP Dutta, feels that this sequel was just destined. “We were actually entrusted with certain stories by late General Bipin Rawat, who was the Chief of Army Staff at one point. He had wanted me to make films out of them, so Border 2 is just one from the list. I kind of revisited the stories that General Rawat had given and realized that there were a few of them that needed to be told and they were from the 1971 war. So, the reason Border 2 is being made is because it is from the 1971 war. We are still telling those stories like Border. And Border 2 was a title that my dad always had registered, weirdly. So, it just worked out, maybe it was meant to be,” she says.
Apart from Singham Again, the makers of ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ have also pulled off an exceptional team of actors. Their film boasts of an ensemble cast, including Akshay Kumar, Raveena Tandon, Suniel Shetty, Disha Patani, Aftab Shivdasani, Jacqueline Fernandez, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor, and a total of 34 actors. Due to heavy budget and an even heavyweight cast, buzz suggested that the film has been shelved. Denying the rumours, director Ahmed Khan had said in a statement, “There is no truth to these rumours. The film is on track and we are kickstarting our next leg of the marathon schedule internationally from October for which my technical team has already left for the first recce.” High on action and comedy, Welcome The The Jungle is one of the most awaited franchise films!

The wave of sequels shows no signs of slowing down, with titles like Brahmastra 2, No Entry 2, De De Pyaar 2, Housefull 5, Metro In Dino, and Raid 2 on the horizon. With a generous sprinkle of nostalgia fueling these films, the red carpet has been rolled out for popcorn-worthy entertainment and fans are excited to revisit their favorite memories on the big screen!