Looking back, it almost feels like ‘Awarapan 2’ was always going to succeed. The first film, released in 2007, became a cult favourite with fans who love it to this day. The sequel, which came out last week, is already Emraan Hashmi‘s highest-earning film. But things weren’t that clear at the start. Producer Vishesh Bhatt says Emraan wasn’t very sure about the film when it was just an idea. The filmmaker recently talked about how this much-awaited sequel finally got made.
Vishesh calls ‘Awarapan 2’ an emotional decision
In conversation with Hindustan Times, when asked whether making ‘Awarapan 2’ was driven by creative or business reasons, Vishesh doesn’t hesitate: “It was an emotional decision.” He goes on to explain, “I think we followed a lot of things emotionally, which probably converted. That’s why the audience feels that way. Creative came from the emotional, and then comes the business.”
Why Vishesh brought Shivam back for ‘Awarapan 2’
Released in 2007, ‘Awarapan’ was a box-office disaster. Though it later earned cult status, the commercial failure never really faded from its legacy. Over the years, Shivam, the character portrayed by Emraan, built a fan following of his own. Reflecting on his decision to bring Emraan back for the role, Vishesh says, “There were so many layers and so much depth in that character that we had to bring him. He is a broken man, and we have all taken his pain for 18-19 years.”Sequels have long been a strong suit for Vishesh Films, in fact, all of its top five highest-grossing films are sequels. The banner is also credited with pioneering the ‘spiritual successor’ trend in Hindi cinema, building thematically linked franchises such as ‘Raaz’, ‘Aashiqui’, and ‘Jism’. With ‘Awarapan’, however, Vishesh chose a different route, reviving Shivam and continuing the same storyline instead. “People would ask, ‘You have so many franchises. Why Awarapan 19 years later?’,” he recalls.“I said it actually came from feeling a lack of emotions connecting to the audience in me during Covid. Those 2-3 years, there was a lot of at-home watching, and a lot of things were being made for that. But I felt that when the cinemas open, what would I want to go and see? I felt drama was missing. Everything is being mounted with VFX and grand scale. We have done the same things here, but to support the drama. Everything looked like a very clever cover-up for lack of drama.”
Emraan’s early hesitation over ‘Awarapan 2’
Vishesh admits that even Emraan wasn’t entirely convinced about the idea of an Awarapan sequel when he first pitched it a few years back. “Jannat came just after Awarapan, and a lot of learnings from why Awarapan didn’t work went into Jannat. And that was a success. Emraan said Awarapan is a beautiful film, but our hearts did break when it didn’t do well. So, why not Jannat? That is close to you, and it worked. It’s almost obvious to me, forget the market, that we would take that forward. But, I said I am stuck on Awarapan,” he says.However, things changed once the re-release trend began working at the box office. “When the re-release of films that had tanked started doing well, I felt like I was onto something. Emraan also softened his stance on the market,” the filmmaker says.
Awarapan 2’s theatrical release and cast
Announced last year, ‘Awarapan 2’ released in theatres on August 14, just ahead of Independence Day. Even with competition from Sunny Deol’s ‘Batwara 1947’, the film managed a strong opening. Helmed by Nitin Kakkar, the cast also includes Shabana Azmi, Disha Patani, and Suvinder Vicky.
