With Hollywood production house Marvel having established the advantage in bringing together the worlds of its assorted characters for the making of a larger thematic universe, Bollywood has readied itself to exploit the idea. After Rohit Shetty leveraged the success of Singham to create a cop universe — featuring Ranveer Singh as Simmba, and Akshay Kumar as Sooryavanshi — Yash Raj Films has weaved together the worlds of its three top spies for the making of a spy universe. 

YRF, however, appears to have gone a step further to establish its spy universe, which, so far, includes Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan, Hrithik Roshan’s War, and Salman Khan’s Tiger. A special logo introducing this universe will make its first on-screen appearance in the trailer of Pathaan that launches next week.

A source says, “This logo will subsequently keep appearing in the forthcoming editions of all the films within the universe. There couldn’t be a better occasion than the trailer launch on January 10 to share this logo. Aditya has been at the helm of this development as he considers this universe his ambitious project. He wants to make it the biggest franchise in the history of Indian cinema.”

The unveiling date of January 10, we hear, was also favoured because it marks a decade since the first film of this universe, Ek Tha Tiger, released. “The film’s success paved the way for Adi to dream big and plan the concept.”

While Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham, and Tiger Shroff, among others, are also part of this universe owing to their roles in the films, the makers plan to introduce new names in the future. Like it does in the Avengers franchise, each film coming out of the production’s stable will involve some form of a “cross-over” of the artistes from all the films, the source says.

When contacted, the spokesperson of YRF confirmed the development.