Sequels, prequels, reboots and spin-offs – Hindi film industry has moved into the franchise era. Two latest releases, Singham Again and Bhool Bhulaiya, are in their third instalment. We have Dabangg, Housefull, Dhoom, Golmaal and YRF Spy Universe among others already. Nostalgia and recall value make them a robust commercial proposition. But are they killing creativity and originality?
It’s a complicated question with no black and white answer. Hollywood has a long history of franchise movies. From the James Bond series and Star Trek to the Marvel Cinematic Universe through The Matrix, Fast and Furious and several others, it has successfully established the viability of franchises. However, they have faced criticism for inconsistency in quality and being too formulaic, business-driven and creativity-averse.
Franchise movies seek to provide viewers the same experience from an original movie in subsequent works. It helps that the former develops certain affinity to the characters or the manner of storytelling and wouldn’t mind watching them again and again. The success of the James Bond movies – it has 27 instalments so far and counting – is a pointer. Fans hardly show fatigue for the M16 secret with code number 007. The popularity of the original creates a readymade viewer base for the makers to capitalise on. It makes business sense to continue with it through sequels and spin-offs. It’s simply brand value at work.
People get hooked to a story idea, characters, structure and totality of the original. The Dhoom series carries its own identity even though lead actors change. In the Singham and Dabangg franchises the characters of Bajirao Singham and Chulbul Pandey are the unique selling point. In Rohit Shetty’s Golmaal comedy series, it is the ensemble cast. Housefull makes crude comedy its USP and the Raaz series banks on horror. The Stree series is shaping up as are others. Nothing exactly wrong with keeping the popular going, but for when it becomes a lazy exercise.
The Dabangg series has been a case of diminishing quality with none of the sequels matching up to the original. Similar is the case with the Raaz franchise. The original Singham of 2011 remains the best of the three out so far. It has been the case with the Marvel Cinematic Universe too. The Pirates of the Caribbean, Ghostbusters and Final Destination series have not been a big success in their later phase either. Surely, there’s a problem here. There’s complacency arising out of a ready base and there’s a tendency to take the viewers’ love and loyalty for granted.
Franchise movies are self-limiting. The filmmaker has to operate within a fixed frame in terms of plot, storytelling, texture and totality. The template is already set, they can innovate within it. The response is often scale. Just make the movie bigger than the last one, ramp up action, special effects and make everything spectacular. Singham Again is an example. The failure of the recent YRF Spy Universe movies is a reminder that emphasis on big stars and style quotient doesn’t work always. Engaging content does.
Those looking to make sense of the trend of disastrous box office performance of big budget movies should stop and throw a close look at the mediocrity creeping into franchise movies.
(By arrangements with Perspective Bytes)