BOLLYWOOD IN A LOOP

For Indian cinema, 2025 was the year of sequels, with 2026 looking even bigger, as filmmakers lean into connected stories for guaranteed plots and safe franchises amid creative fatigue. But is the audience lapping it up?

- VAISHALI DAR

EVEN AS THE Dhurandhar frenzy is on, a buzz is already building up about a sequel to the spy actioner, as is being revealed in the post-credit scene of the film. ‘Dhurandhar to be continued,’ reads the title card, followed by the word ‘Revenge’ and a release date, March 19, 2026.

The instant sequel strategy, involving back-to-back production, clearly attempts to create a franchise-building model and to capitalise on the first film’s momentum, which, in Dhurandhar’s case, helped mint ₹27 crore on its opening day, becoming actor Ranveer Singh’s best opener yet.

The film, directed by Aditya Dhar, continues to perform strongly at the box office, becoming the highest grossing Indian film of 2025 and entering the prestigious ₹1,000-crore club at the global box office. The film has also secured a massive ₹130-crore digital distribution deal with OTT major Netflix for both its chapters.

The year that’s about to go by was undoubtedly all about sequels, the film industry’s most dependable commercial cushion, with filmmakers leaning into them for guaranteed plots and safe franchises. In a highly competitive market driven by box-office collections, critical reception, and audience footfalls, sequels capitalise on pre-built brand value and franchise engine, ensuring instant recognition, builtin audience curiosity, and guaranteed strong openings.

War 2, released on August 14, for instance, collected ₹50 crore on its opening day. Though a box-office failure, the action-thriller film—the sixth instalment in the YRF Spy Universe and sequel to the 2019 film War—emerged as the sixth highest-grossing Indian film of 2025.

Similarly, Housefull 5, a comedy thriller film marking the fifth instalment of the Housefull franchise, was released on June 6, and had a commercially average run, grossing ₹300 crore at the box office. Despite this, it emerged as the eighth highest-grossing Hindi film of 2025.