Bollywood mints money by continuing the story…

Arundhati Konar, YourMoneySite.

The highly acclaimed ‘Raajneeti' will join the race of sequels. According to news reports, a sequel to Prakash Jha's political drama will see Katrina Kaif in a central role and will talk about her political rise followed by a subsequent fall. 

While, the prequel comprised of powerful actors like Ajay Devgn, Manoj Bajpayee, Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Rampal and Nana Patekar; two-thirds of the characters (in the sequel) will be completely new. 

Today, after a movie makes it big at the box-office, most of the filmmakers start planning for a sequel hoping for a bigger hit. However, in this race of sequels, while some turn out to be major blockbusters, many fail to match up with the kind of business their prequels did. Will Prakash Jha's Raajneeti 2 , minus Ranbir Kapoor, succeed in charming its audiences, is something only time will tell?

Dawn of sequels:

For those who believe that sequels are the latest fashion in Bollywood, it might be shocking that the concept of a ‘part II' in movies was introduced in India way back in late 1980s. After a huge success of Rishi Kapoor and Sridevi starrer Nagina in 1986, director Harmesh Malhotra came up with its sequel Nigahen in 1989. The movie, however, unlike its prequel, failed to leave a mark.

A decade later, history repeated itself. Followed by an outstanding performance of Sanjay Dutt-starrer Vaastav in 1999, director Mahesh Majrekar went ahead to make its sequel Hathyar , also starring Sanjay Dutt along with Shilpa Shetty in the lead. While Vaastav was considered as a turning point in Dutt's acting career, Hathyar, which hit the theatres in 2000, turned out to be a commercial and critical failure.

At the time when even the big Bollywood names failed to lure their audiences in sequels, director-writer-producer Nagesh Kukunoor showed the courage to make a second part to his 1998 hit movie Hyderabad Blues . However, the sequel - Hyderabad Blues 2 (released in 2004) - went unnoticed.

The bucking trend:

Irrespective of the major failures of the three mentioned sequels at the box-office, Bollywood found it hard to isolate the concept of ‘part II'. This resulted in yet another sequel in 2006 – Phir Hera Pheri .

Hera Pheri to Phir Hera Pheri: While analyzing a movie, one usually speaks of chemistry between the ‘hero' and the ‘heroine'. But, when Hera Pheri (2000) was released, the much talked about chemistry was that of Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal and Sunil Shetty. It was after a long time the audiences had a hearty laugh and didn't feel cheated for the money they had spend. Perhaps that led to the movie's huge hit at the box-office. Hera Pheri 's success was so big that the filmmakers couldn't resist from trying their hands at its sequel – Phir Hera Pheri . Like its original, Phir Hera Pheri too connected well with the movie goers and went on to be ‘one of the highest grossing Bollywood films of 2006'.

From Phir Hera Pheri to Housefull 2 (released in 2012), the Hindi film industry has come a long way in terms of sequels. During this decade-long journey, Bollywood has offered its audiences with sequels comprising of themes like comedy, thriller, drama, etc. Here's a list of some the sequels Bollywood has delivered so far.

Let's take a sneak-peek in some of the Bollywood sequels:

Name	Year of Release	Box-office status
Raaz	2002	Blockbuster
Raaz - The Mystery Continues	2009	Hit
Munna Bhai MBBS	2003	Super Hit
Lage Raho Munna Bhai	2006	Blockbuster
Darna mana hai	2003	Hit
Darna Zaroori Hai	2006	Not Available
Koi…Mil Gaya	2003	Blockbuster
Krrish	2006	Blockbuster
Dhoom	2004	Hit
Dhoom 2	2006	Blockbuster
Murder	2004	Super Hit
Murder 2	2011	Blockbuster
Sarkar	2005	Hit
Sarkar Raj	2008	Super Hit
Golmaal	2006	Semi-Hit
Golmaal Returns	2008	Hit
Golmaal 3	2010	Blockbuster
Don	2006	Hit
Don 2	2011	Superhit
Dhamaal	2007	Semi-Hit
Double Dhamaal	2011	Semi-Hit
Bheja fry	2007	Semi-hit
Bheja Fry 2	2011	Below average
Jannat	2008	Superhit
Jannat 2	2012	Blockbuster
Raktacharitra	2010	Hit
Raktacharitra 2	2010	Hit
Housefull	2010	Blockbuster
Housefull 2	2012	Blockbuster

And one can look forwards to these sequels in coming days – Dostana 2, Dhoom 3, Race 2, Ab tak Chappan 2, Pyaar Ke Side Effects 2, Raaz 3, Jism 2, Dabangg 2, Once upon a time in Mumbai 2, Raajneeti 2, Bhoot 2.

Source:  http://www.yourmoneysite.com/news/2012/jul/bollywood-mints-money-by-continuing-the-story.html