Mahesh Bhatt plans 'Murder' franchise

Mumbai, July 1 (IANS) Revealing that he never wanted to cast Mallika Sherawat for "Murder 2", filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt says that he is planning to make "Murder" a franchise and will be coming out with sequels of the erotic crime thriller.

"We didn't feel the need of Mallika in "Murder 2". We never wanted Mallika back because unlike "Murder", which was a woman's film, this is a man's film," Bhatt told IANS in an interview.

Bhatt says that casting Sri Lankan actress Jacqueline Fernandez in the film was a spontaneous decision.

"When we were discussing the casting, someone spoke about her and said that she had done a film, 'Aladin', but it failed at the box office. We saw her photographs and she came to the office, we liked her and took the call. We never thought of anyone else," said Bhatt.

The 61-year-old also disclosed that he wanted to make "Murder" a brand and would continue making a series of sequels.

"We decided to make 'Murder 2' with a clear understanding that it would have the key components that were in 'Murder', which is erotica, edginess and experience of crime and thrills. And this is going to be the brand of 'Murder'. We are not going to stop here. We are going to make 'Murder 3' 'Murder 4' and so on," the prolific director said.

Releasing July 8, "Murder 2", directed by Mohit Suri, explores the life of a couple, dealing with the uncertainty of their relationship.

"What I have seen is that problems of unmarried couples are more than that of married couples. That's what it's there in 'Murder 2'," says Bhatt, who has made path-breaking films like "Saaransh", "Arth", "Daddy", "Sadak" and "Zakham".

"The problem of Jacqueline is that she sleeps with this man, has the companionship of this man, he loves her but the problem is of commitment. This is the age where young people are frightened to make commitments," said Bhatt.

In the last decade, Bhatt's banner has given hits like "Jism" and "Murder".

Bhatt says his films have high sexual content as he wants to mop out the feeling of guilt associated with the term sex.

"I want to take out guilt from sex. There is an age-old relation between sex and guilt. Indian heroines used to be very reluctant about doing bold scenes, taking it to be a dirty thing. That's the fountainhead of your life, how could it be dirty?" he asked.

"In the 21st century, we have increased the sexual content as India has changed. Its thought processes have changed and so have changed the sexual references," said Bhatt.

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