Will Kiccha Sudeep’s Vikrant Rona get a sequel after all?

Much before the release of Vikrant Rona, director Anup Bhandari had alluded to the possibility of making it a franchise. Vikrant Rona, after all, is a cop, so, getting him to solve different cases/mysteries isn’t a tough task. Since the film came out, though, it’s become clear that Anup has set his film within what he calls as the Rangitaranga universe.

Rangitaranga was the filmmaker’s debut feature film, a sleeper hit that dealt with the mysterious disappearances of pregnant women in a village called Kamarottu. Vikrant Rona, which is set way before the events of Rangitaranga, unfolds in the same village and has people there believing that the cases of missing children, who are later found dead, are the handiwork of a Brahmarakshasa. The narrative follows how Vikrant Rona figures out the mystery behind these murders.

While Anup had not divulged this connect between the two films prior to the release, he addressed it only when a segment of audiences was left less than thrilled at the apparent similarities. Vikrant Rona, he said, would be a franchise within the Rangitaranga universe, wherein Anup would tell different stories, but against the same backdrop. In fact, the filmmaker claims that his original plan was to end the film with the children seen at the start, who have been reading about Vikrant Rona. The last line was meant to have the children wonder if that was all to the tale of Vikrant Rona and then remarking that he will be back. But in the interest of brevity, Anup took that scene out in the final edit. Sudeep, who plays the title character, has been categoric that he will revisit the subject only if Anup has a compelling script. The duo has lined up two other films to collaborate on in the meantime, so Vikrant Rona 2, if at all, will happen only thereafter.

Vikrant Rona, which is currently playing in theatres across the globe in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi, broke into the Rs 100-crore club (gross) over the weekend. The film, which opened with a Rs 35-crore world wide collection on day 1, saw a slight dip on Friday. However, over the weekend, the box office collections saw significant spikes, largely due to the lack of major competition. Films like Ek Villain Returns and Ramarao on Duty have faltered, giving Vikrant Rona a better shot at the box office.