With many sequels and franchises underperforming, Empuraan director Prithviraj says, ‘Do it only if…’

While actor-director Prithviraj Sukumaran acknowledges that sequels "make business sense", he recently stressed that financial incentives alone should not dictate their development.

By: Entertainment Desk

Kochi | February 3, 2025 04:40 PM IST

3 min read

While actor-director Prithviraj Sukumaran acknowledges that sequels "make business sense", he recently stressed that financial incentives alone should not dictate their development.

Director Prithviraj Sukumaran at the teaser launch event of his Mohanlal-starrer Empuraan.

Though the trend of expanding movies into sequels and franchises gained significant momentum following the phenomenal success of director SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali films, in recent years, this has yielded mixed results. In fact, many projects such as Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire received criticism for splitting the narrative into multiple parts without ensuring that each instalment is strong enough to function as a standalone film. Similarly, franchises like the Cop Universe have seen a decline, with recent entries failing to emulate the success of their predecessors. Despite this, film industries across the country continue to produce sequels to blockbuster projects or complete what they, perhaps unfortunately, started.

Among the most anticipated Indian films of 2025, director Prithviraj Sukumaran’s Mohanlal-starrer L2: Empuraan ranks as one of the frontrunners. As the second instalment in a planned trilogy that began with Lucifer (2019), the film has already generated substantial hype. While Prithviraj acknowledges that sequels “make business sense”, he recently stressed that financial incentives alone should not dictate their development. In his view, a sequel should be made only if the story naturally justifies it.

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“The trend is popular because it makes business sense — that’s actually the truth of it. Let’s say, a director makes a film, and that film is a huge success. If you make your next film and you say it belongs to that universe or it’s a continuation of that particular story, immediately the interest spikes. Even the streaming platforms think, ‘Oh, we need to have that film because it’s from the same series’… So, all of it makes business sense,” he pointed out during a chat with Hindustan Times.

He, however, added, “But ideally, that (the business aspect) shouldn’t be the driving force behind doing this. It should be that your story needs to be told across so many films or your story needs that kind of runtime to be completed.” Referring to Baahubali, he pointed out, “That was a very honest part one and part two. You realise that the story really needed two films to be completed, so that should be the driving force. You should be doing a part two or part three only because you have a story that needs two or three films to be told.”

Watch Prithviraj Sukumaran and Mohanlals’ Empuraan teaser here:

Discussing the Lucifer trilogy, Prithviraj expressed that the story warranted three films to reach completion. “In part one, we finished the film at a point where we knew that even if part two doesn’t happen, history will still look at Lucifer part one as a standalone film, and it’ll still be a complete tale.” He added, “But we’re taking a chance with part two because at the end of part two, I think the audience will walk out of the theatre thinking, ‘Well, now, to understand the rest of the story, we will have to see part three.'”

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