Building his own cop universe with Akshay, Ajay and Ranveer, Shetty says team developing the final draft of script hopefully to make way for new hero in uniform
Rohit Shetty
If Hollywood has its superhero world of Marvel Cinematic universe, closer home, Rohit Shetty has built his own cop universe with the Singham franchise, Simmba (2018) and the recent Sooryavanshi. The filmmaker is happy to have created three heroes—Ajay Devgn’s Bajirao Singham, Akshay Kumar’s Veer Sooryavanshi and Ranveer Singh’s Sangram Simmba Bhalerao—each distinct from one another. “For me, the most important part of a cop universe should be that the characters should not be the same. Tomorrow if another cop comes on board, he has to be completely different from Simmba, Sooryavanshi and Singham. Each of the three films have a distinct take on cop heroes. When people come to the theatres, they should not feel ‘Arre, yeh toh Singham jaisa hai,’” says Shetty.
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A still from Sooryavanshi
Clearly, the filmmaker is thinking of expanding the universe, bringing a fourth hero to join forces with Kumar, Devgn and Singh. In fact, there’s talk that Shetty may introduce another police officer in Singham 3. “At present, we cannot say what we will be doing,” he laughs, before adding, “We have another story for a different cop, but we have not decided whether he will come in Singham 3. [We could also] add a lady cop. We need to write the final draft of that story keeping Sooryavanshi [the last offering in the universe] in mind.”
Salman Khan in Dabangg
Speculation is rife that Salman Khan aka his Dabangg cop character Chulbul Pandey will make an appearance in Singham 3. The union of Dabangg with Shetty’s world will be a treat for Bollywood fans. Excited as he is at the prospect, the filmmaker chooses to tread with caution. “Whenever Salman and I meet, we talk about Singham and Chulbul coming together, but nothing has been planned. Bringing both of them together is a big responsibility. Chulbul has a [big] fan following and is a brand in himself. If and when it happens, it will be a big [undertaking]. At present, I don’t see it happening as I am focusing on Cirkus, and then Singham 3.”