Abhishek Sharma: Why sequels are great for the film industry

Sequels make a lot of commercial sense for producers. Which is why, there is such a buzz regarding sequels for every hit film that gets made. From a marketing point of view, a sequel is a godsend. The audience already has an association with the brand, they are aware of the film, the characters, so the producer does not have to go through the grind of introducing a new film to the audience. It becomes an easy sell.

For a filmmaker too a sequel has its boons. When you make a film, you live the characters, you start to care about their stories, their lives. A sequel gives you the opportunity to continue exploring the same characters in greater detail. And if the producers are making money, and the audiences appreciate it, then it’s a good deal for everyone concerned.

From a personal point of view though, if I am to make a sequel I’m going to try and make it as good as the last one. I want to cater to the same audience and meet their expectations and possibly draw in new ones. There is a trap that one can fall into while making a sequel. That of repetition. Even though you’re continuing the story of the first film, it’s important to say something new.

Hangover 2 was disappointing in that respect. There was nothing new in it. It was very repetitive. On the other hand Lage Raho Munnabhai is a brilliant sequel. They repeated the chemistry between Munnabhai and Circuit that people loved in the first film, but they also introduced something unique in the form of Gandhigiri. It was something new in an old world. If you don’t have anything new to say and are just repeating yourself to milk the brand, then the audiences are not going to appreciate it.

One really interesting trend in Indian films is that our sequels repeat characters but sometimes the story is set in a completely new world, where the events of the first film haven’t happened.

The Munnabhai and the Golmaal series are excellent examples of this. In India, the audience is more attracted to characters than to stories. So as long as Munnbhai and Circuit are doing masti, they don’t care whether the story has progressed linearly or not. This actually gives the filmmaker leeway to experiment with the story.

You can tell completely fresh stories in a new way and yet retain the identity of the brand. I think it’s fantastic for the movie industry.

The gamble in making a sequel is living up to the audiences expectations based on the first film. A badly made sequel can destroy the aura of the first film. And that’s the worst thing you can do.

— As told to Rito Paul

Abhishek Sharma is the director of Tere Bin Laden