Kick 2, Bahubali shall bring Franchise culture in Tollywood: Ravi Teja

Ravi Teja stated that Bahubali 2 and Kick 2 will bring the culture of the franchise in Tollywood. Kick 2, an action comedy, is releasing this Friday (August 21).

"I'm confident that Baahubali 2 and Kick 2 will pave way to more franchise-based films. This is just the beginning of the trend," said Ravi. He strongly feels the success of the films in a franchise rests on the shoulders of a good writer.

"It's a misconception that you make a second film in a franchise because the first one was successful. A writer has a very important role in building a successful franchise, and one of the reasons why Kick 2 even happened is because of our writer Vamsi," he said.

Also, Kick 2 penned by by Vakkantham Vamsi, was also associated with Kick and several other hits down south such as Race Gurram, Yevadu and Temper.

"We ended Kick with the thought of making a sequel, but we never got back to it. Then our writer Vamsi pitched this idea and we felt it could be linked to the Kick franchise. Kick 2 is not a sequel, but an extension of the franchise," Ravi clarified. Without revealing much, Ravi said that Kick 2 will take everything audiences experienced in Kick to the next level.

"When people will come to watch Kick 2, they expect it to be bigger and they won't be disappointed. This will be even more entertaining and commercial. In Kick, there was hardly much action and it didn't even feature a villain. This time, the action has been taken a notch higher and there are villains," he said.

Explaining why Kick 2 isn't a sequel to Kick, Teja said: "These are two different stories with characters that are poles apart. I play the son of the lead character from Kick, and unlike my urge to get a kick out of everything I do, this time I'm after comfort."

Directed by Surender Reddy, Rakul Preet Singh is the female lead, also stars Ravi Kishan, Rajpal Yadav and Kabir Duhan Singh. Ravi feels a lot has changed about his director since Kick, which released in 2009.

"The Surender I worked with in Kick is a lot of different now. He feels my company has changed him. It's probably my entertaining spirit that has made him funnier. Post Kick, his films have become entertaining. They aren't serious like his earlier films," he said, and added that people who work with him share his sense of humour and is contagious.

Popularly called as Mass Maharaja by his fans, Teja loves his nick name and swears by it. Well, that much be the reason why he prefers doing commercial films? "It's not that I haven't experimented. But whenever I did, the result has not been satisfying. I'd rather concentrate on doing films that entertain scores of people. I've got to admit that they are responsible for my successful career," said Ravi, who feels it's safer to do films that work.

While Kick 2 was to release much earlier, speculation arose that the makers of Kick 2 wanted the Bahubali hangover to settle down, though the exact reason for its delay is unknown.

"The delay was also because of some post-production work. We decided to give Baahubali an interrupted run as we felt it deserved it. Look what its success has done to Telugu cinema. It has become the pride of Indian cinema," he said.

Ravi also added that the success of Baahubali shouldn't pile up pressure on filmmakers. "We shouldn't compete with Baahubali or any film for that matter. We need to learn from its success that films too can generate a lot of revenue. We need to understand that the success of Baahubali and Srimanthudu will only benefit the industry in the long run," he added.

Ravi Teja's next release will be Telugu action entertainer ‘Bengal Tiger’. News about a remake of Hindi hit Special 26 is also being heard. "The discussion regarding Special 26 remake has been happening for a year now. I plan to co-produce it, but it will take a while before the project materialises. I want to concentrate on wrapping up Bengal Tiger first. There are two more projects in the offing," he said.

With all that the remake of Kick has offered with Salman Khan in Hindi, we wish this franchise Kick 2 the very best of luck.

Watch Kick 2 Trailer here

(with agency inputs)
By Sree Teja