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EXCLUSIVE: Decoding the importance of suspense around cameos in cinematic universe films
During a recent discussion, Himesh Mankad, Varun Gupta, and Anmol Jamwal discussed the importance of suspense in cinematic universe films. Read on to know their views.
The Hindi film industry is lately drawn towards two things — cinematic universe and cameo appearances. The idea is being considered as a sure-shot formula to work at the box office. Meanwhile, in the 2024 film round-up video, experts from trade, marketing, and review came together to analyze the importance of suspense around cameos in cinematic universe films.
Pinkvilla's Himesh Mankad, Varun Gupta, Founder Director - MAX Marketing, and Tried and Refused Productions' Anmol Jamwal sat together and discussed the cameo appearances in recent times. The trio hailed the special appearance of Vijay Deverkonda in Kalki 2898 AD, Suriya in Vikram, and Kamal Haasan's voice-over in Leo, among others.
Meanwhile, Varun highlighted how it has also become a "PR peg" of the makers to add to the speculations, which can "disappoint" the audiences if it doesn't turn up.
According to Himesh, "Singam Again would have been a completely different film if they had not shown every character or every actor in the trailer."
He explained his pointing by emphasizing, "Everyone knows it's a universe, everyone knows that these actors are there, but at least film ke time there would have been a surprise element you don't know what scenes they are coming, so there might have been a surprise element where I don't know where Deepika (Padukone) is coming, I don't know where Tiger (Shroff) is coming I don't know where Akshay sir is coming."
Adding to his point, Anmol agreed and pointed out how Rohit Shetty reasons "to sell" it exactly the way it will be seen in the theater, which, according to him, is a "disservice to the surprise element of the story."
Watch full conversation here
Himesh further noted that YRF does a great job maintaining the suspense with their cameos. He remarked while they could easily drop hints by showcasing the iconic Salman Khan scarf or Shah Rukh Khan's Jhoome Jo Pathaan, they keep the cameos exclusive and "give respect to the leading man."
Further drawing a comparison with Singham Again, Mankad cited an example of the climax scene featuring Ajay Devgn and Kareena Kapoor, elucidating that the tension couldn't be built up as everybody knew that Akshay Kumar would appear in the scene.
"The fact that you're near the climax, and you don't fear either of your lead characters dying, then you're like that belief of you getting invested in the story is gone away because you've already sold to us that someone will come and save them yeah," Anmol chimed in.
Highlighting the importance of build-up in the scene, Varun Gupta stated how it still happens to him while watching Aamir Khan's Lagaan. He offered effusive praise on the screenplay of the period sports drama. Himesh also appreciated Jawan's trailer, which he acknowledged to have created an intrigue about SRK's character.
Varun Gupta, talking about his view on Singham Agai,n shared that the film's background music also impacted the overall experience. He remembered watching the first part of Singham in 2011 when Ajay's character walks in slo-mo and sits on the bike with the title track in the background.
"People are going mad. Now, as a scene, the actor has just sat on the bike. Yeah, people have reacted so much because that background is their trigger to react," he noted. However, in the latest franchise of the cop-universe, he admitted that it was missing, which attracted "no reaction" from the audience.
"I want to shout clap everything when the trailer came out we talk that I would love to enjoy, but because of that BGM somewhere, I felt, I mean, it really lost in the psychology of wanting to enjoy it," he further added.
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