CAN THEY ALL UP THE GAME?
Bollywood franchises are shuffling directors — we ask how the new ones stack up against the originals
The much loved 2017 film Hindi Medium is getting a sequel in 2018 and, more importantly, a new director. This follows other franchise films, such as Tiger Zinda Hai, Rock On 2, Dhoom 3, Dabangg 2, and Naam Shabana also being helmed by a director who didn’t make the original movie.
Ever since the news came out this week that Homi Adajania will direct Hindi Medium 2, expectations have been soaring as to whether he’d be able to match the benchmark set by Saket Chaudhary. Several more franchise films will release or go on the floors this year with a different director.
Sample this: after Race 1 and 2, directed by AbbasMustan, Race 3 has got Remo D’Souza; Gangs of Wasseypur 1.5, has gone to Zeishan Quadri, after Anurag Kashyap directed the first two parts; and Ahmed Khan is helming Baaghi 2 and 3, replacing Sabbir Khan from Baaghi.
Citing it as a great wave, Homi says, “There may be numerous reasons for this, from the original director not wanting to elaborate further on the narrative, to the producer having a different vision for the franchise.”
Zeishan, who wrote the screenplay for Gangs of Wasseypur 1 and 2, points out that there’s definitely a lot of pressure and responsibility on the new director to match — or surpass — the standard set by the previous film(s), but adds that he himself is driven by creativity, not competition. “A creative individual is, I think, motivated by the desire to achieve, and not by the desire to beat others,” he says. “Since the box office is a different ball game altogether, a film’s fate doesn’t depend on whether it’s a new director or an old one.”
Several franchises have also replaced the lead actors, thus stimulating the audience’s imagination.
Trade experts say that with a new director, producers are only covering their risks, as the objective is to deliver something bigger and better.
Bhushan Kumar, who coproduced Hindi Medium, explains that a director’s unavailability — as it was with Saket Chaudhary — can lead to a replacement, but it doesn’t matter because “it’s always the franchise that’s more powerful that anybody else”. He adds, “It’s the concept that matters, and content has to be good, and you should have a good, valuable director.”
Atul Mohan, trade analyst, calls it a continuing trend, and a successful one, at that. A new director, he says, “has to not only make it work at the box office, but also come up with much better storytelling. So, he (or she) will put in more effort to ensure that everything goes right.”
Since the box office is a different ball game altogether, a film’s fate doesn’t depend on whether it’s a new director or an old one. ZEISHAN QUADRI
DIRECTOR AND SCREENPLAY WRITER