Bollywood gears up for a series of franchise movies

The first one to release under this initiative will be a children’s action film directed by Amole Gupte. This film, with a child secret agent at the centre, is set to go on the floors this month. Trinity Pictures had earlier announced its first slate of films — an action film inspired by Haathi Mere Saathi (1971); a film set around the exploits of buddy cops; and an Indo-China project. Two projects under the Indo-China franchise will be co-produced with a leading Chinese studio; shot in both languages. The first Indo-China co-production, to be directed by Kabir Khan, is a drama that explores the central character’s journey from India to China.

Trinity has appointed a dedicated team of writers, who have created over 10 original franchises so far. Out of them, at least four films will go into production in the next year. Thakur is excited about rebooting the spy genre — to be helmed by Siddharth Anand — in India.

“Whether we have big stars or not, we have tried to widen the range of these movies. We are working on offering new genres to the audience,” says Thakur, who plans to introduce corresponding merchandise as well.

The USP of most of these movies will be a big canvas and visual grandeur. “If the first installment of a franchise works, then the second one will be out in 12 months. If it does not, then we will tweak our approach,” says Thakur, an IIM-Lucknow alumnus, who quit his marketing job to join the film industry.

He believes Amar Akbar Anthony (1977), Disco Dancer (1982) and Angoor (1982) had the potential to be converted into franchises.