Franchise Madness Ruining Indian Cinema?

Indian cinema has seen a sudden surge in multi-part movies that are often part of some “cinematic universe”. While the division of a long storyline into smaller parts in the form of multiple movies based across a universe is a commendable decision, nowadays we are increasingly seeing films forcibly being divided to fit the narrative of a multi-part franchise.

Seeing the massive success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), many Indian filmmakers have decided to go down the path of creating little franchises of their own. Various universes such as the YRF Spy Universe, Maddock Supernatural Universe, Prasanth Varma Cinematic Universe, etc. have popped up right and left in recent years.

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Dividing a long story that often has lengthy character introductions, plot building, and intense exploration of the world, often require movies to be converted into a franchise. And we have seen well-made franchises like Baahubali and Kantara receive massive success and love from the audience.

But the problem arises when filmmakers of projects that have little to no depth in the story and do not need intense character-building take it upon themselves to make a forced franchise, a forced Cinematic Universe if you will, with prominent examples being Kamal Hasan’s Indian 2, and the recently released Jr. NTR’s Devara: Part 1.

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The individual films of these franchises often turn out to be mediocre at best, as most of the attention of the filmmakers is on transitioning the film into its next part and putting easter eggs for the viewers, thus completely botching up the plot of the individual movie.

While franchises should be promoted in Indian Cinema, the films that have the ability to shine by themselves must never be forced into a “Cinematic Universe”.

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