It's an era of cinematic universes, it doesn't matter if they made sense or not any more. Blame it on Marvel for ushering this obsessive streak on making cinematic universes from major studios, but not all have gone ahead and received the kind of final successes and fandom that Marvel Cinematic Universe has gotten till now. In Hollywood itself, DCU and Sony's Spiderverse have got a very mixed success, while Universal Pictures' Dark Universe got doomed right from the start. Now even Indian cinema has gotten on this bandwagon and is off to making their own movie universes of interconnected films and crossover characters. Thalapathy 67: Did Narain Really Say Thalapathy Vijay’s Film is Part of Lokesh Cinematic Universe? Here’s the Truth.

The biggest and the most successful of cinematic universes is none other than Rohit Shetty's cop universe, that houses blockbusters like Singham movies, Simmba and Sooryavanshi, the last film bringing together Ajay Devgn's Singham, Ranveer Singh's Simmba and Akshay Kumar's Sooryavanshi for an epic climactic showdown last year. In that year itself, down South, director Basil Joseph slyly created his own cinematic universe with Minnal Murali, where he had included easter eggs that indicated his earlier films Kunjiramayanam and Godha were also in the same universe. Unlike MCU where nearly everything was carefully planned in terms of inter-connectivity of the movies (save for casting Gemma Chan and Michelle Yeoh in two different roles), the Indian cinematic universes cared less for such logic and are more for pandering to the fans.

Year 2022 threw in more cinematic universes and there are a couple of good exciting ones. Not all makes sense, and some feel they are overreaching even before they take off. And some are, I presume, just playful Easter Eggs with no plan to be one. Let's look at 10 such cinematic universes confirmed this year! PS: SPOILERS AHEAD!

Astraverse

Promotional Still of Brahmastra (Photo Credit: Dharma Productions)

When you are releasing a film with 'Part One' in the title, you know that the makers are going for a lambi race ka ghoda (though not always this plan work... looking at you Bhoot Part One - The Haunted Ship). The ending of Brahmastra Part One - Shiva has already confirmed a sequel, Part Two - Dev, while the makers have thrown quite a few hints at spinoffs involving Shah Rukh Khan's ill-fated Vanarastra, or the origin stories of Amitabh Bachchan's Guruji, among others. Let's see if they are empty promises to keep the fans excited or if there is a bigger plan already in place. Brahmastra Part 1 - Shiva Ending Explained: Decoding the Finale of Ranbir Kapoor-Alia Bhatt Starrer, the Secret Cameo and How They Expand the Astraverse.

LCU

Karthi, Kamal Haasan and Suriya (Photo Credit: Twitter)

LCU or Lokesh Cinematic Universe came excitedly into fruition with the release of Kamal Haasan's blockbuster hit Vikram this year. Lokesh Kanagaraj, the director, tied the film with his earlier hit, Kaithi, while also setting up a big future by having superstar Suriya play a cameo and the big baddie of this planned universe. Now there are rumours that Thalapathy 67, which reunites Lokesh and Thalapathy Vijay after Master, could also be part of this universe. With a rumoured future film that could bring together Kamal Haasan, Thalapathy Vijay, Suriya, Fahadh Faasil, Karthi together in a movie, needless to say, we are totally on board this universe! Vikram Ending Explained: Decoding How Suriya’s Cameo in Kamal Haasan, Fahadh Faasil and Vijay Sethupathi’s Film Expands Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Kaithi-Verse.

HIT Universe

Nani and Adivi Sesh (Photo Credit: Instagram)

The first HIT movie, starring Vishwak Sen, was a taut investigative thriller that ended with a promise of a sequel. HIT 2 did arrive but it brought a new protagonist in Adivi Sesh's KD, but also not forgetting about the events of the first film. Now the epilogue of HIT 2 teased a new protagonist in HIT 3, with Nani being that hero. So are we looking at a HIT 4 that brings all these three protagonists together?

YRF's Spy-verse

YRF's Spy-verse? (Photo Credit: YRF)

The rumblings that Yash Raj Films are trying to expand Salman Khan's Tiger franchise with new heroes, including Shah Rukh Khan's Pathaan, were heard much before 2022. However, it was when Bhai himself confirmed his cameo in Pathaan during an episode in BB15, even before Shah Rukh Khan even confirmed doing Pathaan himself, that the spyverse became a serious concept. Now the latest rumour is that Hrithik Roshan's character Kabir from War will also be a part of the Spy-verse, and he would have a cameo in Pathaan as well.

Rohit Shetty Comic Cinematic Universe

Ranveer Singh and Rohit Shetty with Golmaal gang During Simmba Song Shoot (Photo Credit: Twitter)

Rohit Shetty has established Bollywood's most successful cop universe. Now he is all set to tie up his comedy franchises with his latest film Cirkus. The trailer already showed how the Golmaal gang from Golmaal Again is appearing in the film as kids, which is also there in the film slapped towards the end, and establishing a larger universe at work. Cirkus Ending Explained: Decoding the Madcap Climax of Rohit Shetty-Ranveer Singh Film and How the Golmaal Gang Fits into This Universe!

Stree-Verse

Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor and Kriti Sanon during Bhediya song BTS (Photo Credit: Instagram)

The mid-credit scene of Varun Dhawan's horror-comedy Bhediya has confirmed that it is part of the same cinematic universe as Stree, the 2018 sleeper hit, directed by the same man, Amar Kaushik. This was confirmed by the surprise appearances of Rajkummar Rao and Aparshakti Khurana reprising their characters from Stree. While this was an exciting enough tease, the underperformance of Bhediya at the theatres might put a dampener on these plans. Let's wait and watch! Bhediya Ending Explained: How Abhishek Banerjee and Two Surprise Cameos Connect Varun Dhawan-Kriti Sanon's Film to Stree-Universe!

Ek Villain Universe

John Abraham in Ek Villain Returns, Riteish Deshmukh in Ek Villain (Photo Credits: T-Series)

Ek Villain Returns mentions the villain of the first film, Rakesh Mhadkar, during an early scene that confirms both the movies are in the same universe. What's more, Riteish Deshmukh also makes a cameo appearance in the mid-credit sequence, reprising his character (who is somehow alive) as he plans something evil using the comatose 'villain' of this sequel, played by John Abraham.

Fukrey-Verse

Stills from Phone Bhoot and Fukrey Returns (Photo Credits: Excel Entertainment)

In a hilarious cameo, the Phone Bhoot duo, played by Ishaan Khatter and Siddhant Chaturvedi, get phone-pranked by what they think are prospective customer. Instead, the caller turns out to be Varun Sharma's Choocha, while Pulkit Samrat's Hunny and Manjot Singh's Lali are seeing laughing uproariously. While we don't know if there is a crossover waiting to happen between Phone Bhoot gang and the Fukrey boys, this was a fun Easter egg, though we are curious to know how Bholi Punjaban would react if she meets the ghostly Ragini.

Vasan Bala Universe

Promotional Stills of Monica O My Darling and Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota (Photo Credits: Twitter)

In Vasan Bala's Netflix black comic thriller, Monica O My Darling, he drops in two cameos from his breakout film, Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota, Radhika Madan's Supri and Abhimanyu Dassani's Surya in the film. They are fun, cheeky nods to the director's film and playful mention of an interconnected universe.

Aarattu-Verse (?)

Credits of Monster (Phot Credit: Aashirwad Cinemas)

Yup, you read it right? This might be nothing but a (un)playful tease, but the end-credits of Monster showed Mohanlal's character name as shown in the above image. The '?' in there, while denoting the mystery around the character's real identity, is making fans draw parallels with superstar's role in Aarattu (both are by different directors, but same screenplaywright and producer) while wondering if they are both the same character. It's just that after the critical and commercial drubbing of both the films, we really don't want to know if there is any truth in these!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 24, 2022 06:10 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).