I will be back

The sequel continues elements of the original story, often with the same characters and settings.

Sequels did made very late entry in Bollywood. I mean, there were few instances like Satyajit Ray’s Apu trilogy ( Pather Panchali , Aparajita and Apur Sansar ), Harmesh Malhotra’s failed a sequel Nigahen after the Nagina but nothing after that for a long period whereas sequels were the ‘the thing’ in Hollywood. “The Godfather”, “Harry Potter”, “Mission Impossible”, “Matrix” ,“Spiderman”, “Batman”, “Superman”, “Star Wars”, and “The Terminator” are just the names few names.

Even talking about Bollywood Barring exceptions like Mahesh Manjarekar’s Hathyaar (sequel to ‘Vastava’) and Nagesh Kukunoor’s Hyderabad Blues 2 (sequel to ‘Hyderabad Blues’) most of the sequels in Bollywood are hit. The list includes “Phir Hera Pheri” and “Krrish”, “Munnabhai MBBS”, “Dhoom”, “Sarkar”, “hanuman returns” and many films are in pipeline.

Why there is the sudden rush for making sequels?

Sequel is just extension of an existing concept. The initial concept is already bought by public. [Untill now sequels are made only if the first part of the runs successfully]. As the original film is popular and people have already accepted the characters, half the job of selling sequel is done. Even if the quality of the sequel is not comparable to its original film, goodwill of the original film will guaranty most of the ticket sales for sequel.

A hit film raises the credibility of crew helping in the financial issues for the sequel. Few companies are into business of purchasing a sequel option. Generally sequels option expires after 3-4 years, meaning sequel has to be made soon after original movie because people tend to forget quickly. Purchasing a sequel gives you all the rights to make a sequel. You may or may not make it actually.

Current trend is to make stories keeping in mind the possible future sequel.