When a bad remake is made, we find that the sheen of the original classic dims a bit for us. Much the same happens when a poor sequel comes in. And we rue the fact that we revisited a sequel that is made with the mere idea of ‘assembling’ another hit!
From Jism 2 to Kahaani 2: 15 Sequels we did not need!
In this season, when Housefull 5 has just released (as India’s first fifth film franchise), Raid 2 is doing great business, Hera Pheri 3 is facing a crisis and Subhash Ghai has announced that the script for Khal-Nayak’s sequel is locked, here’s looking at those sequels that really need not have been made. They were corny, middling, mindlessly mercenary in intent, appalling in content and made us, the audience, become completely fogged about how they were actually green-lit!
We present these cinematic gaffes in alphabetical order.
Ab Tak Chhappan 2
The Nana Patekar 2004 thriller Ab Tak Chhappan directed by Shimit Amin gained critical acclaim for its crisp wallop but had nothing in common with this 2015 misadventure, though Nana Patekar misguidedly accepted it as the character played by him was the ‘same’. Reportedly, original producer Ram Gopal Varma did not even know about this film.
Bheja Fry 2
The 2007 original was said to be a frame-to-frame remake of the 1998 French hit, Le Diner de Cons. It was a laugh-riot that made over 10 times its slender budget at the box-office. The more ambitious 2011 sequel was actually based on a story and script by Sagar Ballary, who had directed the original. The result of this forced story—qualitatively and commercially—was abysmal.
Bhoot Returns
It was the height of overconfidence that Ram Gopal Varma decided to ‘sequel in spirit’ his 2003 milestone horror drama in 2012 with a zero star-cast. All that this tropes-laden new film did was besmirch the fabulous memory of the original masterpiece that featured Rekha, Nana Patekar, Tanuja, Ajay Devgn, Urmila and Fardeen Khan with a unique plotline.
This time, Yash Raj Films also got off the wrong foot and decided that a semi-continuation of their 2005 ‘con’-coction be made with the original Babli (Rani Mukerji) and Bunty (this time Saif Ali Khan came in place of Abhishek Bachchan) in extended cameos, and a new lead pair and director. Not only was the magic missing, but also the hit music, and the new 2021 film went nowhere fast.
Hathyar
Mahesh Manjrekar had made the tight and emotionally gripping ‘gangsta’ hit Vaastav in 1998. He decided to extend the story into Hathyar with Sanjay Dutt playing the earlier Dutt’s son in a ‘true’ sequel. The ‘calculation’ showed in the lack of inspiration and the film collapsed.
Hungama 2 & Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal
Even as Priyadarshan turned down Phir Hera Pheri (of Hera Pheri) as he “did not make sequels” for the sake of it, he accepted Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal (2012) for his 2006 tour de force, Malamaal Weekly and the even-worse Hungama 2 (2021 follow-up to his 2003 delight Hungama). Both the forced sequels were thrown out of the window, so we sincerely hope that he will be third-time lucky with Hera Pheri 3, which will now be directed by him!
Ishq Vishk Rebound
The 2003 film was one of the breeziest coming-of-age dramas with music (Anu Malik) to match its youth quotient and introduced Shahid Kapoor and Amrita Rao. The 2024 sequel with a mishmash of music makers tried to repeat the aura in a forced manner and sadly died a premature death!
Jism 2
Erotica for the sake of it never works: this axiom was best proved by this 2012 sequel to Jism (2003). The original had a solid core and a splendid script along with the sensual quotient. Add the fantastic musical score (M.M. Kreem) and John Abraham’s and Bipasha Basu’s sizzling chemistry and we got a winner. This time, even Sunny Leone’s Hindi debut could not excite the audience!
Kahaani 2
Sujoy Ghosh must have learnt a similar lesson here in the suspense thriller department. The 2016 sequel to his 2012 masterpiece, Kahaani, just did not match the cliffhangers-studded original despite the fact that Vidya Balan was in the team again! Story and content are, after all, ‘king’!
Imtiaz Ali repeated the same title for a different, equally complex love story and only ended up alienating the audience. Pritam’s new music too lacked the chimera, and Kartik Aaryan and Sara Ali Khan just could not bring in the bacon that Sara’s father, Saif Ali Khan, and Deepika Padukone did.
Phoonk 2
Ram Gopal Varma tried to cash in on the ‘credit’ of the sleeper hit, Phoonk, with an instant sequel (2008/2010). Both films had no stars, but the former connected, while the latter did not despite hyped PR about its ‘scare quotient’.
Rock On 2, Satya 2 & Tum Bin 2
These three films were also clearly made just for the sake of cashing in on a brand that the people had lovingly endorsed. We expected Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar to do better with the first, especially as they took eight years (2016 against 2008) to conceive and release Rock On 2, and also had a musical subject in their hands.
Satya 2 was a Ram Gopal Varma con on the viewers, 15 years after his 1998 landmark underworld saga, while Tum Bin 2 was all about exploiting a musical hit revolving around friendship and love. In 2001, the original had trounced its co-release, Aks, at the box-office, but the 2016 movie was a disaster.
More Pages: Kahaani 2 Box Office Collection , Kahaani 2 Movie Review
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