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The saga continues...

The sequel to the sizzling Basic Instinct has hit the screens. Some sequels work and some don't

PHOTO: AFP

NO STONE UNTURNED The well-oiled publicity machine has Sharon Stone saying she is disappointed the more risqué elements have been chopped off from Basic Instinct 2

It is a basic instinct for studios to commission sequels. A concept makes mega bucks, and that is the signal to spawn another and another and... well you get the picture. So you have Rocky overcoming many odds, regimes, the Russians, the Martians (just kidding!) ad nauseum reminding one of the MAD satire called Rocky XX or something like that with an octogenarian Rocky continuing to fight.

In March of 1992, the world opened its eyes (and mouth!) to Paul Verhoeven's Basic Instinct. Apart from the fact that writer Joe Eszterhas was paid a then-unheard-of $3 million for the script and gays and lesbians were furious with how they had been represented, there was the famous interrogation scene were Sharon Stone, as prime suspect Catherine Tramell, treats her interrogators and underwear with equal contempt.

Role reprisal

Now comes Basic Instinct 2 Risk Addiction in which the 48-year-old Stone reprises her role as Tramell. Verhoeven and Michael Douglas have since moved on — Verhoeven has returned to his Dutch roots while Douglas is rediscovering the joys of monogamy and fatherhood. The sequel seems to traverse the same paths with minor alterations like London for San Francisco, a detective from the Yard for boozy cokehead Nick Curran, and a race car driver "who got off before he got off" in place of the rock star. But Tramell remains suspect No 1. The well-oiled publicity machine has Stone saying she is disappointed the more risqué elements have been chopped off — setting course for the director's cut DVD.

"What is she going to do that she has not done earlier?" wonders Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, director of Rang De Basanti. "I am having major flashbacks," says Samit Basu, who wrote Simoquin Prophesies and the sequel The Manticore's Secret.

Rakeysh feels the need for a sequel is fuelled by the story. "Take a story like the Mahabharata. It would be difficult to contain it in a two-hour film. Folklore is another example of sequel-worthy material. The sequels that have worked, and by worked I mean made sense, like The Lord Of The Rings movies and Harry Potter or caper films like Ocean's Eleven have worked because of the story."

"The story should be going somewhere," says Samit. "Look at the Matrix movies. The first film was complete in itself. The second was bad and the third awful. That is because it was just more of the same stuff. A sequel should take the story to a certain point. You cannot have sequels like Disney's Lion King 2 or Jungle Book 2 just to sell toys!"

Jeewan Joshi of PVR Cinema says: "Sequels ride on the hype of the earlier films. As far as trilogies go, I have noticed that final part does better than the second like Matrix Revolutions did better than Reloaded and Revenge Of The Sith did better than Attack Of The Clones." Audiences must have been heaving a sigh of relief that they would not have to suffer a pokerfaced Keanu Reeves or a sullen Hayden Christensen ever again.

Abhishek of Rex cinema says: "Though sequels do not work, Transporter 2 did four times the business the original did. A film like the recent Big Momma's House 2 did not do well. Basic Instinct 2 is the most eagerly awaited sequel. When Basic Instinct came out, it ran in Symphony for 14 weeks! And it has always done well on re-release."

"A majority of sequels do not live up to the promise," says M. Bhaktavatsala, former president, Film Federation of India. "Because sequels are made for purely commercial considerations. The exception is Godfather 2, which was a critical and commercial success. Movies like The Lord Of The Rings and the Harry Potter films cannot be termed sequels as they are parts of a single work." Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol 1 and Vol II would fall in the same category.

"Sequels answer a need in all of us to know what happens next," says Samit. "We do not want to let go. I wrote Manticore as I had so much fun with Simoquin. I think a sequel that works should have a good balance of all that worked in the original with sufficient new things to keep the interest."

Rakeysh feels: "Terminator 2 is a classic. The villain of the first movie, the Terminator, becomes the hero. The concept is turned on its head." Samit's favourite sequel is Spiderman 2. "It has got Doc Ock in it."

Indian scene

The sequel scene in India is not very hot — one cannot conceive of a sequel to Sholay. "That is because the film is complete in itself," comments Rakeysh. "If someone were to come up with a mind-blowing script, I do not see why there cannot be a Sholay-II!"

Krrish, the sequel to the hugely popular Hrithik Roshan-starrer Koi Mil Gaya, and the sequel to biker movie Dhoom, Dhoom 2 are eagerly awaited. And now there is news of a sequel to the popular animated feature Hanuman. "I don't know why Indian audience are made out to be a different type of entity," says an exasperated Rakeysh. "We also have two eyes, ears, legs and hands. If sequels have never been made in India, it does not mean they should never be made! I would make a sequel if the story demanded it."

And so the sequel debate rages — should they be made or not? Is it filthy lucre or creative considerations? And when all questions have been addressed, one remains — is there an interrogation scene in Basic Instinct 2?

Second coming

Godfather II (1974): Universally accepted as a sequel that is every bit as good as the original. Director Francis Ford Coppola returns to his 1972 mafia epic. The story follows the young Vito Corleone's (a masterful performance by Robert De Niro) initiation into the mean streets of New York while following a parallel tale of Michael Corleone's (Al Pacino) moral disintegration.

Terminator II Judgement Day (1991): James Cameron directed the 1984 original about a Terminator (Arnold Schwarznegger) who comes from the future to kill a waitress, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), as she would have a child that would save the world from the machines. Terminator II, also directed by Cameron, sees two Terminators coming from the future — one to kill Sarah's son John and the other (Schwarznegger) to protect him. Apart from featuring mind-blowing special effects, the movie worked because of the new angle for the Schwarznegger character and the wry humour — hasta la vista!

Aliens (1986): Ridley Scott directed the 1979 original where a wicked alien with a nasty habit of incubating its young in the bodies of its victims lays waste a space ship and kills everyone except the smart, sexy Ripley — played sensationally by the 30-year-old Sigourney Weaver. James Cameron came on board for the sequel where 54 years later Ripley returns to a planet laid waste by the alien. The film upped the ante of tension and horror to unbelievable and totally gratifying levels.

The Empire Strikes Back (1980): Considered the best of the Star Wars films, the film, confusingly, the fifth in the series and sequel to George Lucas' Star Wars (1977) had Irvin Kershner at the helm. The film was space opera meets Greek tragedy, meets lost-and-found formula, meets space cowboys, meets dashing love story stirred up with slam-bang action, eye-popping visual effects and creatures ranging from the cute to the truly cringe worthy.

Back to the Future II (89): Robert Zemeckis directed the trilogy and even before it became fashionable to shoot 'em all together, he shot parts II and III simultaneously. In the first movie, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) went to the Fifties to see that his parents danced at that first date to ensure his existence. In the sequel he goes to the future to rescue his son from prison and also goes back in time to set things right and then goes to the present... All zippy and zany with the wild-eyed, wild-haired Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) presiding.

MINI ANTHIKAD-CHHIBBER

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