Last Updated:March 13, 2026, 02:50 IST

Priyadarshan says he dislikes making sequels to his own films, calling it stressful and admitting the trend often exploits the success of the original movie.

Priyadarshan opens up about why he dislikes making sequels.

Veteran filmmaker Priyadarshan is gearing up for the release of his upcoming horror-comedy Bhooth Bangla, starring Akshay Kumar. While the recently released teaser has already created buzz among fans, the director has opened up about his views on the growing trend of film franchises in Indian cinema.

Interestingly, despite directing several iconic films and even working on the third instalment of Hera Pheri, Priyadarshan admits he is not particularly fond of making sequels to his own movies.

In a recent interview with Variety India, the filmmaker shared that revisiting a successful film often brings pressure rather than excitement.

“I don’t like to do sequels of my own films because I know how much I suffered to make the original,” he said.

‘Sequels Bring Too Much Pressure’

Priyadarshan explained that the success of an original film can create additional expectations when a sequel is announced. According to him, the process of ensuring the sequel lives up to the first film can become stressful.

The director admitted that if a sequel works well at the box office, it only increases the burden on filmmakers to replicate that success again.

While discussing franchise filmmaking, he pointed to Hollywood examples such as The Terminator series, which maintains a narrative continuity across its instalments.

However, he believes that many films in India simply reuse a successful title rather than carrying forward the story in a meaningful way.

Priyadarshan suggested that sometimes filmmakers capitalise on the popularity of a previous film to attract audiences to theatres.

‘It’s A Kind Of Exploitation’

The filmmaker also spoke about how sequels often enjoy an initial advantage because of the goodwill generated by the original movie.

He cited examples of Indian franchises like Love Aaj Kal, Don, Golmaal and Dhamaal, noting that while some sequels perform well, the success of earlier films often helps pull audiences to theatres initially.

“The fame of the previous film also works in favour of the sequel for the first three to four days. Later, the collections start falling,” he said.

Priyadarshan added, “By that time the producer feels that I have made my money. So it’s a kind of exploitation. I rather say it’s a kind of extortion of the first film.”

The director has helmed several popular films across Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi cinema. His Hindi filmography includes hits such as Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Hungama, Hulchul, Malamaal Weekly and Chup Chup Ke.

His upcoming film Bhooth Bangla also stars Tabu, Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav, Wamiqa Gabbi, Mithila Palkar and the late Asrani. The film is scheduled to release in theatres on April 10, 2026.