You might have recovered from your Eid feast already, but I have a feeling that the Sultan hangover will linger till a sequel comes along. Yes, the film has been in theatres only for two days and trade experts are pretty sure it’ll cross the Rs 100 crore mark as early as on day three. So, if this one doesn’t deserve a sequel, I don’t know what does. Here are 5 reasons why I can bet that we’ll get to see more of Sultan, a LOT more!
Salman Is On a Roll
I’ll let the numbers do all the talking. Despite Salman’s countless controversies and big flops like Veer (2010), Jai Ho (2014) and Ready (2011), all we want to remember are his super-hit highs. He’s rocked the box office as the sanskari Prem, the haryanvi Sultan and of course, the too-good-to-be-true Bajrangi. Salman films not only have big openings, but big recall value too. And if the success of the Dabangg franchise and Sooraj Barjatya’s almost sequential Prem flicks go, Sultan (which could turn out to be the year’s biggest film) will definitely have a part two.
Aditya Chopra is Already On Board to Produce Sultan Part 2
According to a Mumbai Mirror report, producer Aditya Chopra has already asked Sultan director Ali Abbas Zafar to start working on the script for a sequel. I’m not surprised. For a mid-week release, that ended up missing its Eid release by a day (thanks to last minute changes), Sultan has done fabulously well with a collection of Rs 73.74 crore at the end of day two alone. What more can a producer ask for? Well, that’s why a Sultan-2 makes total sense money wise. Salman might not be getting any younger, but his langot act is definitely making him more popular.
Sultan Could Be the Rocky of Bollywood
I might be reading too much into the fact that Sultan happened to release on Sylvester Stallone aka Rocky Balboa’s birthday, but it looks like Salman might be on the path to big success with a Rocky kinda franchise, that came to define Sylvester Stallone as the megastar that he is in Hollywood. Just like Rocky, Sultan’s got some nasty fights, emotional drama and the feel good factor of a fallen hero rising once again. The Rocky franchise has had seven hits since the original came out in 1976. Stallone still hasn’t called it a day with the eight instalment (Creed 2) coming our way in 2017. I wonder how many Sultans we’ll have, but I’m sure Salman isn’t ready to stop just yet.
Getting Paid for Working Out, Who Wouldn’t Want That?
I won’t make the mistake of quoting (or misquoting) the level of Salman Khan’s exhaustion after working out for his akhada scenes in Sultan, but the fact remains, he’s getting paid big bucks to do what he loves doing. Salman the fitness freak loves working out. You don’t get to look that fabulous at 50 by skipping gym. No wonder he’s given his nod to the sequel- workout ka workout, superhit ka superhit.
5. Sultan 2 Could Be the Perfect Launchpad for Iulia Vantur, Haina!
I imagine that in Sultan 2, Salman will take over the international arena in a bigger way and emerge as a global icon. And since bhai might get hitched to his rumoured girlfriend Iulia Vantur this year (hopefully), it might be the perfect way to welcome the Romanian TV host into the world of Bollywood. We’ve already heard that their wedding has an inbuilt exclusivity clause – when Vantur becomes Khan, she will only work with Salman and only feature in his home productions. Perfect! I can totally imagine a boxing rink scene where Salman’s about to get punched (in slow motion) by his opponent, maybe a Romanian beast, when he spots his beautiful wife-to-be in the crowd, and manages to block the punch with a sudden burst of vigour. As filmi as it might be, I’m sure Salman, Zafar and Chopra are giving it a thought.
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