The evolution of a ‘shared universe’ — which primarily consists of a franchise featuring an umbrella of multiple movies, each telling its own stand-alone story focusing on a different character (or group of characters) and set within the same continuity — appears to be the direction the film industry is headed. And like the West, which regularly releases blockbusters through the Star Wars, Marvel and DC universes, Bollywood also appears to have adapted to the trend.

Take, for instance, Singham (played by Ajay Devgn), Sooryavanshi (Akshay Kumar), and Simmba (Ranveer Singh), who assembled to fight the baddies in Rohit Shetty’s film Sooryavanshi. In fact, the filmmaker has even announced the fourth instalment in this ‘copverse’, Singham Again, which has a new addition: Deepika Padukone, his first female cop!

Another instance of this trend infiltrating Bollywood can be seen in the works of producer Dinesh Vijan, who has already begun creating the characters for his horror-comedy universe. The latest release, Bhediya, starring Varun Dhawan, included a special cameo by actors Rajkummar Rao and Aparshakti Khurana (from the cast of Stree, 2018).

Hardik Mehta, who helmed Roohi (2021), also by Vijan, tells us, “A good film [regardless of universe or franchise] will last longer. I was pleasantly surprised by Bhediya’s end, though. What I liked about it was that the main story was not dependent on Stree.”

Hussain Dalal, the writer of films such as Mere Pyaare Prime Minister and the upcoming Shehzaada, says, “This universe is a format that guarantees success. It’s an intelligent thing that the West taught us.”

Dalal also wrote the dialogue for Brahmastra (part of Astraverse), which was a big hit and audiences will see the plot unfold in its pre-declared trilogy. From a producer’s perspective, too, exploring this seems to be a lucrative option, as Anand Pandit notes: “I think it’s very interesting. As a producer, you can stick to your genre and create loyal viewers. This universe concept will absolutely work. And if the content is good, that will be an add-on.”

However, trade expert Atul Mohan says the Hindi film industry “always copies the trends in the West”. “The problem with us could be that unlike Hollywood, where they work on it (franchises) properly, here they look at franchises as a gimmick,” he adds.