Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
If there’s one thing Sikander 2 proved, then it’s the fact that audience is ever ready to repose its faith, may be even whistles, hoots, claps… in the sequels of Punjabi movie. The long queues outside the ticket counters and the loud hoots inside the cinema halls meant the audience has high expectations and the openings will come in easy. It stands true as long as the product is a tad bigger and a little better, which unfortunately hasn’t been the case with most of the sequels in Punjabi cinema. But encouragingly, we’ve seen a lot many sequels this year itself, starting with Manje Bistre 2, Rabb Da Radio 2, Ardaas Karaan and the most recent being Sikander 2. It’s tough to keep a tab, considering the first sequel of the hit Punjabi film Yaaran Naal Baharaan 2 came out only in 2012. The same year we had Jatt & Juliet and the industry defining Carry on Jatta, whose success immediately meant sequels were on the cards.
While the audience always gives a ‘one more time’ shouts to the films they have loved, is it a good idea? And if yes, When? “As long as the flavour of the film is intact. That’s one thing a sequel must, and definitely must have, because people are coming to watch the film in search of the same experience and feeling. Whether you retain the flavour in the form of same cast, similar plot or keep it alive in any other way,” says writer Jass Grewal, who wrote the screenplay for both Rabb Da Radio and Rabb Da Radio 2. He also shares how sequels are something that producers are always more intent upon because it gives them a ready market but the creative people associated with a film often want to explore something new. That explains the deluge of sequels and the ‘not so surprising’ incoordination between box office collections and critics’ reviews. While the sequels rake in more money, but not so much the audience’s approval. “Haven’t we heard 90 per cent of the time, people coming out of the cinema halls and saying, Yaar pehlan vaali zyada vadiya si.” Producer Rrupaali Gupta, behind successful films like Uda Aida says it as it is. It is precisely the fear of this comment that kept her from coming up with a sequel to the hit Mr and Mrs 420 franchise for four long years. “I must have heard at least 22 to 23 scripts and could have further waited for any number of years. But when the stakes are on the name of your first film, it should be an idea you are convinced and excited about.” Which is why Mr and Mrs 420 Returns did just as well, and while the third one is in the offing too, when that happens is something she won’t commit on.
Whether the same story or similar plotline, what they all do agree on is that sequels are a ‘high risk, high return’ proposition. When translated, it is nothing but, ‘high expectations and high pressure’. “Which means give the audience something just as big,” Gunbir Singh Sidhu, MD, White Hill Studios, cites the example of franchises like Fast and Furious and Mission Impossible. Having produced one of the first few sequels to hit films like Jatt & Juliet and Sardaar Ji, he knows the ‘sequel psychology’ all too well. “See, with a name like Sardaar Ji, it’s an open platform to give any twist to the film and story. But there are some films that are open and shut case, which can’t be carried further without being forced down the audience throat and that’s when it’s a bad idea. For a series like Ardaas, you have to give the audience some meaningful message, which both films did.”
Talk of titular roles and films that can be given any slant, coming up is Nikka Zaildar 3. Till we have enough triquels and figure out whether the audience is up for giving second chances. 
