Laal Singh Chadda was one of the biggest flops of Bollywood post pandemic. Made on a reported budget of 180 crores, the movie is Aamir Khan’s second consecutive theatrically unsuccessful film. While the adaptation was rejected by the audience, reports now has come of how actor Tom Hanks who played Forrest Gump in the original, revealed there was an idea of creating a sequel to the cult classic .
The Oscar winning actor was talking on a podcast when the revealed that the talks for a sequel did not last for more than 40 minutes and he scrapped the idea of a sequel because he felt there was not a good enough reason that warranted his return as the loved character. This comes in times where sequels to hit films are all the rage, some like Top Gun :Maverick succeeding with flying colors (pun intended) while others like the sequels of beloved films like the Matrix series and Fast and Furious series have not striking a chord with the audience, with fans feeling they are actually destroying the legacy set by the originals.
Laal Singh Chadda received similar response from the audience with some feeling the official adaptation of the loved film has left them dissatisfied, with many feeling the movie should not have been made at all. Netizens are now applauding Hanks, who has rejected the idea for something that might have a possible cash cow for the studio. Tom maintains he has always been smart to not sign contracts that had contractual obligations to a sequel.
Forced sequel, beside being disappointments for the fans, end up destroying the magic of the originals.The studios decision from a pure economic POV is not wrong, but these do more bad than good to the movies and its legacy in most cases.
One can no longer rewatch the classic without remembering the sequel no one wanted in the first place and what it did to their favourite films and characters.
It is up to the makers to decide as to whether the cult classics warrant a sequel in today’s times or to leave them as they are, complete on their own.