The tradition was probably introduced by the very talented Ram Gopal Varma with the Money movie and two parts after that. It has become a bigger trend most recently in the South cinema. Now with Devara dropping a big surprise with the outing in two parts, the list has become longer with the movies that are either making sequels or coming in two or more parts.
RGV’s Money had two sequels to start with and later Gaayam, Satya, and Rakta Charitra also had two parts. Chiranjeevi’s Shankar Dada MBBS and Shakar Dada Zindabad belong to the same franchise, though it was remade from Sanjay Dutt’s Munna Bhai movies.
Allu Arjun’s Arya, Pawan Kalyan’s Gabbar Singh, Chandramukhi, Kick, Avunu, and a few other movies came up with a respective second part, but most of them were disasters. The trend of making announcing a two-part movie due to the span of the film started officially with Baahubali, and we all know how big blockbusters Baahubali movies are.
Coming to the present day, Allu Arjun’s Pushpa was a huge success and Sukumar is making part 2, The Rule now. Other successful movies like DJ Tillu, Hit, Goodachari, and Akhanda also are coming up with sequels. The large budgeted movies of Prabhas Salaar, Kalki 2898 AD were also announced as being made in multiple parts. Pawan Kalyan’s OG and Mahesh Babu SSMB29 are rumored to be in plans for multiple parts, but there is no official confirmation yet.
The directors are working on stories that have depth and intrigue these days. And when they know the elaborate yet interesting story cannot be narrated in just one movie, part 2 is being announced. It has to be seen how many of these ‘part 2’ movies are going to be successful like their first parts.