Bollywood has an obsession. Say the word sequel, remix, franchise or any other equivalent word and watch Bollywood producers start salivating at the mouth, and their eyes probably turn into the rupee symbol.
Okay, maybe that is a bit mean and harsh, and not even entirely true, because original stories are being made. However, it feels as if at some point, Hindi cinema quietly began treating endings as optional. Now, a The End at the end of the movie doesn’t mean squat.
Because you can bet that if not in 2 or 3 years, then 10 or even 20 years later, the makers, in a bid to make some profits and earn money, will bring back whatever film they feel like just to cash in on the nostalgia factor of it, even if the movie itself didn’t really even need a sequel or any continuation at all.
The latest example being Awarapan 2, whose teaser was dropped exactly nineteen years since Awarapan first released in Indian cinemas. In it, Emraan Hashmi returns as Shivam Pandit, a gangster-romantic, which in turn is very confusing. Because remember, in Mohit Suri’s 2007 film, Shivam does not survive, dying in a gunfight at the shipping docks.
The film ends with him reuniting with his love in heaven.
Now, the movie makers coming out with a sequel to this wouldn’t have been this alarming if this was just another one in a long list of sequels, franchise parts and more that we have gotten in just the past 2-3 years itself. In very recent times, we have seen franchise extensions like Gadar 2, Border reboot, the continuing expansion of long-running comedy series such as Dhamaal and Welcome. Then we have movies like Cocktail 2, Drishyam 3, Raid 2, Singham 4, Bhool Bhulaiya 3, and so many more.
The pattern is hard to miss. Increasingly, Hindi cinema does not just release films; it builds franchises around them. Then, we have the music industry, which, if it is not remixing songs, then it is bringing back old songs without really seeming to put effort into making quality music in present.
So the question begs to be asked: is Bollywood really out of originality?
When Did Every Film Become A Potential Franchise?
Right now, it feels as if every film is being made with the very thought of it turning into a franchise or multiverse of some kind.
The list of sequels and franchise entries either already released or imminent this year includes: Pati Patni Aur Woh Do, Cocktail 2, Welcome to the Jungle (Welcome 3), Dhamaal 4, Bhediya 2, Khosla Ka Ghosla 2, Drishyam 3, Awarapan 2, Hera Pheri 3, and Don 3.
A Bollywood Hungama analysis from April 2026 concluded: “Bollywood’s current pipeline looks less like a creative marketplace and more like an IP stock exchange, where the safest bet is not the best story but the most familiar title.”
BollywoodMDB noted that 2026 was expected to be “the year of Bollywood franchises,” with franchise titles dominating every major holiday weekend on the release calendar, Republic Day, Eid, Independence Day, and Diwali, essentially leaving no premium release window available for an original film.
This is not a passing phase. According to a report by Peeping Moon published in September 2025, sequels dominated the 2024 box office so thoroughly that “these four sequels together accounted for more than 50% of the total Hindi box office earnings” that year, creating what the report described as “a pervasive herd mentality among Bollywood producers, convincing them that sequels and franchise films were the safest bets to lure audiences into cinemas.”
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When Sequels Fail: 2025’s Warning That Nobody Listened To
Here is what makes the current sequel stampede all the more confusing: the year immediately preceding this one offered a very clear warning about where blind franchise faith leads.
A Peeping Moon analysis from September 2025 documented how the sequel dominance of 2024 had generated the exact opposite outcome in 2025. The report found that with the exception of Raid 2, “every other sequel released so far this year has stumbled or collapsed at the ticket windows.”
The biggest casualty was War 2, described as “a sure-shot blockbuster on paper”: Hrithik Roshan, Jr. NTR, a massive YRF spy universe, a budget of approximately ₹350 crore, that “flopped disastrously.” According to the report, “audiences just didn’t connect with the story, found grandiose action sequences hollow and unsubstantial, and heavily criticized the entire template of the film, which felt like a tired rehash of previous YRF spy offerings.”
Girish Johar himself had acknowledged this tension in the ETV Bharat interview: “Audience anywhere in the world is clear that you can’t take us for granted. If you want to take the franchise ahead then give us proper stories.”
And yet, 2026 arrived with an even heavier sequel calendar. The warning was apparently filed and forgotten.
Trade analyst Girish Wankhede, speaking to ETV Bharat, offered the industry’s counter-argument: “It’s essentially a three-day business and when your Friday-Saturday-Sunday are safe because of your great franchise value, that is what the filmmakers are inclined to go for.”
This is the core tension. The industry is not wrong that sequels offer opening-weekend insurance. The question is what that insurance is actually protecting: films, or just opening weekends.
It Is Not Just Films, Even The Music Industry Is Not Spared
Familiarity appears to have become just as valuable in music as it has in filmmaking. Much like films are increasingly returning as Part 2 or Part 3, songs are returning as remixes, recreations and “reimagined” versions. The soundtrack to 2019’s Pati Patni Aur Woh featured recreated versions of “Ankhiyon Se Goli Maare,” originally from Dulhe Raja (1998).
Composer Tanishk Bagchi has been behind many of Bollywood’s recreations, almost infamously so. In a 2020 interview with The Times of India, Bagchi explained why 1990s songs became particularly attractive for recreation.
He said, “90s songs have a superb recall value and don’t take much time to pick up. Tanishk also says that obtaining rights to these 90s numbers is much easier than getting the rights of the 70s-80s numbers. “You don’t know which company holds the rights, or who they sold it to. The 90s songs being not that old, it is easier to get their data and reach out to people associated with it.”
He also spoke about how it is easier to acquire rights to the 90s songs since they have an existing data trail to them, compared to the70-80s songs. He said, “You don’t know which company holds the rights, or who they sold it to. The 90s songs being not that old, it is easier to get their data and reach out to people associated with it.”
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: The Indian Express, The Print, Hindustan Times
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: Bollywood, Bollywood sequels, Bollywood sequel factory, awarapan 2, dhamal 4, border 2, cocktail 2, welcome 3
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