About six years ago, there was no legitimate concept or idea of the continuation of a franchise in ways that the Hindi film industry never witnessed. We had sequels, prequels, remakes and revamps, still do, but what does a ‘universe’ that is used to loosely to describe a particular idea of a multi-film franchise, comprises of, we had no idea about.
Whether or not our makers took inspiration from Hollywood or not; six years later, we now have not one or two but three fascinating and multi-million worth universes in the form of the horror-comedy saga created by Maddock Films, the Spy Universe from Yash Raj Films, and of course, Rohit Shetty’s Cop Universe. Now that we are just raking in the mammoth success of Stree 2 and have Singham Again up for release on Diwali, here’s looking at the potential that each of the universes carry in the future-
YRF Spy Universe
For some reason, the YRF Spy Universe didn’t quite land earlier with the idea but soon became a conversation point when Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan worked wonders. At that time, this seed of an idea seemed like a far-fetched thought but the USP and upper hand that this universe has over others is the sheer stack up of immense star power and a casting coup that is mouth-watering to everyone that even thinks about it. The OG Khans (Salman and Shah Rukh), and the Greek God himself, Hrithik Roshan as Kabir: to be imagining them in one frame in near future is going to be explosive.
YRF also acknowledged the lack of diversity and managed to rope in perhaps the biggest female superstar in India right now, Alia Bhatt to join this universe along with the sensation, Sharvari in the form of forthcoming film, Alpha. Also unlike the other two universes, YRF Spy Universe is still in its early days and an all-star line-up might take a while to actually come into fruition but that’s a bonus as this universe has a longer shelf-life as opposed to the others. There’s atleast three films lined up ahead – War 2, Tiger v/s Pathaan, and Alpha – much more to unravel.
Rohit Shetty’s Cop Universe
In many ways, Shetty was the propeller of the idea of having big superstars coming together in a frame and having a potential universe coming together. We had the first frame of Ranveer Singh and Ajay Devgn together in the mega blockbuster, Simmba along with a mid-credit scene teasing Akshay Kumar.
In just over a year and a half, we had Sooryavanshi which put these three mega stars in one single frame. Shetty’s way of moving forward with his universe hasn’t essentially been long-term as he is possibly working with it on a film-to-film basis. And then there was the forgettable OTT show, Indian Police Force with Sidharth Malhotra, Shilpa Shetty and Viviek Oberoi.
That does change a little bit with the introduction of Deepika Padukone as the first female cop in this world. Even more so, Shetty went on to mention that Singham Again has all these stars together which also includes new entrants, Tiger Shroff and Deepika Padukone apart from our usuals – this is thus not a certain long-term plan but will go on to have some unraveling of potential collaborations together. Right now, Singham Again is your biggest draw and will determine the world’s future ahead.
Maddock Films’ Horror-comedy Universe
It would be the easiest thing to pin that Maddock Films’ Horror-comedy Universe being not only the most successful one thanks to the gargantuan numbers Stree 2 has accumulated but also owing to how it has been the most consistent. The gravitas of storytelling blended with humor and genuine entertainment is a combination that these string of films have solely relied on.
Unlike the other two universes above, these films do not rely on megastar attractions where they even pulled off a Munjya with over 100 crores in their kitty with new faces and then Stree 2 doing unprecedented numbers it is right now. What this has meant for is that the horror-comedy universe is the only universe that has an apt blend of big money and big attraction prospects along with long-term planning as well. There’s atleast Bhediya 2, Munjya 2 and Stree 3 in plans but they will take their sweet time and won’t affect a legacy that has taken genuine and organic efforts to be built.
Which universe are you most looking forward to and feel has the maximum potential ahead?