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Rohit Shetty hints that the audience would’ve got a Shakti Shetty spin-off much earlier had Sooryavanshi not been postponed.
Deepika Padukone will get a Shakti Shetty spin-off in Rohit Shetty’s cop universe soon.
Singham that released in 2011 marked the beginning of Rohit Shetty’s cop universe even though he had no plans of conceiving a universe at that time. At the same time, the concept of a cinematic universe was also alien to the Hindi film-watching audience. Over the years, Singham Returns, Simmba and Sooryavanshi released and Rohit’s cop universe became a much loved franchise. Its latest instalment, Singham Again, released this Diwali and has already entered the Rs 200 crore club.
And what makes this film stand out is Deepika Padukone’s admission as Lady Singham aka Shakti Shetty, the first female cop, in this cinematic universe. Now, in an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, Rohit reveals the reason behind what took him so long to introduce a female cop. He tells us, “The wait was to get the right script and the right kind of launch for the character. Till 2018, I wasn’t even sure if there’s going to be a cop universe.”
In fact, it was during the making of Akshay Kumar’s Sooryavanshi that the idea of coming up with Lady Singham came into the picture. “When Simmba worked, people accepted that we can bring in other characters and create a universe. That’s when we made Sooryavanshi and it was during this film that we thought of making a film with an out-and-out lady cop,” says the Bol Bachchan and All The Best director.
Rohit hints that the audience would’ve got a Shakti Shetty spin-off much earlier had Sooryavanshi not been postponed. “What happened was that we lost two years in Covid. Sooryavanshi was supposed to release in March 2019. We were very happy because the trailer was well-received and we knew that it’s going to go places. But then suddenly, the film was in cans for two years and everything got delayed because of that. According to our original line-up, Singham Again was also supposed to release in 2020,” he recalls.
Prior to Shakti Shetty’s introduction, earlier this year, Rohit roped in Shilpa Shetty Kundra to play Tara Shetty in Indian Police Force, making her the first female cop in Rohit’s world. However, the filmmaker asserts that a film headlined by Shilpa and Deepika isn’t on the cards. “These are two different worlds. Indian Police Force is a different IP, altogether. It belongs to Amazon. This cop universe, on the other hand, belongs to us. So, technically, these two cannot come together,” he points out.
So, what’s the update on the standalone Shakti Shetty film? “We still have to write it. We do have a concept in mind but we don’t know where we can go with it. There’s still time for that. I know what the character will be like and her basic story arc but I don’t know her whole journey yet as a director or writer. But a female-led cop film headlined by Lady Singham will definitely happen, otherwise we wouldn’t have introduced her at all. There’s a reason why we’ve emphasised on that character and her name in Singham Again,” he remarks.