A sequel title good as business point of view: Mahesh Bhatt

Mumbai -- Endorsing the latest trend of making sequels of hit movies in Bollywood, veteran filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt has said that it is a safe bet in terms of box office results. The filmmaker, whose latest production venture Jannat 2 -- a sequel to 2008 blockbuster Jannat -- is all set to hit the theatres, feels a franchise attracts audiences more as they can identify with that. "When we called the film Informer, we got a very cold response, so we renamed it as Jannat 2. The title was not generating excitement in market. For a blockbuster mentality the opening weekend is always important. It gives you a feeling of safety. What Jannat 2 can do, Informer would not do," Mahesh Bhatt told PTI. "With sequels, audience feels the second or third part is close to what they have experienced in previous film. A new face, a newcomer, or a new title is not picked up by people immediately, but if it is familiar then it works in most cases. So the safety is to take the franchise forward. A franchise does give you an illusion of safety," he said. Jannat 2, starring Emraan Hashmi, Esha Gupta and Randeep Hooda, is a police and informer drama which depicts illegal arms trade in its backdrop.