Jannat 2, Housefull 2, Jism 2: Dumping the leading lady

by Gautam Chintamani

Success in Bollywood often means sequels. Dhoom 2. Jism 2. Murder 2. Housefull 2. But for the industry’s leading ladies sequels mean little. The industry apparently doesn’t care much for its women the second (or third time) around. How else can one explain the absence of Bipasha Basu from Jism 2, Mallika Sherawat from Murder 2, and Deepika Padukone from Housefull 2? And now Sonal Chauhan from Jannat 2?

The irony is this whole sequel fever was set off by a woman-centric film. Those who think Dhoom-2 was the first sequel to set the ball rolling need to visit Nigahen or Nagina Part 2, which started the trend way back in the late 1980’s. The surprising success of Nagina inspired Harmesh Malhotra to stretch the insaan-nagin pyar concept but there was no way the sequel could have been imagined without Sridevi. The message to the audiences was pretty simple- you loved Sridevi in Nagina, now here she is in Nigahen and by the way, Rishi Kapoor says hi.

Since then however the biggest loser in the whole sequel game is the leading lady. In this particularly male dominated industry it’s the ‘hero’-setting-the-box-office-on-fire mentality that rides all decisions. Heroines like Rimi Sen are often the collateral damage. Sen prominently featured in the first installments of both Dhoom and Golmaal but all she got when it came to sequels was back in action for just a wee cameo in Dhoom 2. While Dhoom 2 needed her as the good luck charm, Golmaal Returns didn’t even bother to miss her. What is it about the heroine that makes her disposable in the grand scheme of sequels?

Consider Mallika Sherawat. She came out of nowhere and became the biggest sensation of the season thanks to her much publicised series of kisses in her debut film. Mahesh Bhatt offered her Murder and it would not be incorrect to assume that the film wouldn’t have made half the splash it did had it not been for its sizzling heroine. But when it came time to cash in on the Murder brand the woman who helped build it was nowhere to be found. The grapevine suggests that Ms Sherawat asked for her market price and the audacity of that offended the Bhatts. Isn’t it peculiar that right from the first successful sequel, Dhoom 2, up to the most recent Housefull 2 just about every sequel has no problem in dumping the original female lead? Sajid Khan’s script for Housefull 2 made room for four actresses including Jacqueline Fernandez, rumored to be his inamorata, but Deepika Padukone wasn’t good enough to get a return engagement. Come 4 May and Jannat 2 will have the same hero, the same music director, the same director and the same template, of course, minus Sonal Chauhan.

One argument for not repeating a certain cast member is that most of these sequels aren’t sequels in the true sense. So as long as the template and the hero(s) remain the same, say in the case of a Golmaal or Dhoom sequel, the audiences will be happy. Raaz, Jism and Murder are the best examples of templates that don’t depend on specific actors. Perhaps that’s why producers cough up copious amounts of moolah for the hero and think twice before extending the same courtesy to the heroines. Can you even imagine The Return of 3 Idiots without Aamir Khan? If a Dil Chahta Hai were to get a sequel no one would miss Sonali Kulkarni as long as the boys are all there, right? Besides the in-case-of-fire-save-hero-first-and-everyone-else-later mindset that operates commercial Hindi cinema, heroines have to contend with the age factor as well. The industry doesn’t allow heroes to grow up but readily replaces the heroine the moment she crosses a certain age. It’s hardly surprising that in the new world of sequels too, the original heroine is incidental.

There have been two exceptions to this trend in the recent past. Priyanka Chopra reprised her role in Don 2 with equal, if not greater, aplomb than Shah Rukh Khan himself. Don 2 takes off from the point where Don ended thereby making it a sequel in the truest sense of the word and thanks to that most of the cast gets to reprise their roles. While Chopra gets to don, no pun intended, the same character once again, Kangna Ranaut takes the game up a few notches. In a first of sorts, Ranaut might end up romancing a whole new Manu in the sequel to Tanu Weds Manu. After the runaway success of the first film the producers weren’t too happy with R Madhavan’s increased fee and decided that they would rather get a bigger star for the same price. In a rare reversal of norms, Eros, who is producing the sequel, believes that it’s Kangana and not Madhavan who was the USP that drew the crowds.

It’s too early to say if these two are exceptions to the rule or game changers. But one thing is for sure – it’s usually the money that calls the shots. Wasn’t Sharman Joshi let go from subsequent Golmaal installments because he demanded a much higher price than the producer thought was justifiable? But the same producer didn’t mind putting up with Arshad Warsi’s beefed-up fee for the same film for the simple reason that Warsi came across as a bigger draw or better value for money.

With Bipasha Basu all set to feature in Raaz 3, a decade after the original and with Murder 2 dying at the box-office with a certain Jacqueline Fernandez in place of Mallika Sherawat, it’s time the ladies started adding clauses for sequel duty in their contracts.