Our time has come. The world no longer identifies Indian cinema as the land of DDLJ. Thanks to the internet, especially to those YouTube reaction channels hosted by American film buffs with an affinity for Indian content, the term ‘Bollywood is going out of vogue.
The pandemic also did its bit.
For reasons yet to be decoded, regional industries made a record- shattering comeback to the big screen post-lockdown, particularly the ones in the south. However, the so-called poster industry of Indian cinema has been struggling to make an impact, doling out a string of flops.
Perhaps the Southern film industries and Bollywood approached their months of confinement differently. While the former may have used this time to dream big and get ready for the international recognition which remained elusive due to the towering presence of Hindi cinema, Bollywood clung to a mix of nationalism, crass comedy and botched biopics.
Ofcourse it crashed and burned, with the audience now having access to a much larger umbrella of world movies, thanks to mushrooming OTT
platforms. Barring a few commendable indie projects, Hindi cinema keeps going back to its tried, tested and failed formula.
Political propaganda finding its way through the cracks has not helped Bollywood either.
Indian cinema’s scale and scope far exceeded Bollywood’s sphere of influence in the past two years, though it’s been the case since long.
Cinematic wars a lot closer to home
Sure, it is exciting to watch Marvel and DC fans ripping apart each other on which comic universe would survive an all-out war. But we may not need them much longer if the present scenario is any indication.
Already, there are sparring matches on social media about how Shibu’s actions are justified in Minnal Murali or how Vikram’s rogue Black Squad should go on an international mission to bust the cartels of Mexico. When there’s so much happening a lot closer to home, why should we bother about Doctor Strange and his multiverse of madness?
While it could be some time before Indian cinema reaches the budgetary scale of a Marvel or DC movie, the trend is highly encouraging.
We now have producers who are ready to take the kind of risk that would have been out of the question a decade ago.
International collaborations boosted the quality of our visual effects drastically.
If all goes well, Indian cinema may even have its first multiverse in the near future.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
If you’re just being introduced to Indian cinema, it won’t be hard to catch up with the different universes here.
If Stan Lee had a plethora of superheroes with dark back stories ready for Hollywood to adapt, our heroes are made from scratch for the screen.
While they may not possess inhuman strength or the power to fly — not looking at you Minnal Murali they are more than handy when it comes to handling a Kalashnikov or an M1919 Browning.
Universe vs Sequel
Before we dive into the different cinematic universes, let’s get a handle on two things a sequel is not a universe, but a sequel can be part of a universe. A sequel is usually the continuation of an original story, wherein the same characters from the first part reprise their roles to carry the story into new arenas.
A movie becomes a universe when different stories with different characters all have a common thread tying them together, only to meet at some point.
Universes will have spin-offs, crossovers and even sequels building its premise. Let’s take Marvel for example. The entire Avengers universe had at least 22 spin-offs, crossovers and sequels before Endgame.
Spin-offs are more like separate movies for a character from the original thread.
Every Avenger had a spin-off movie to give the audience some backstory about each of them and how they got to where they were.
Now that we have a rudimentary understanding of sequels and universes, let’s look at the Indian cinematic universes that are in the making and the various possibilities it holds in terms of storytelling:
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