Raj and DK create their own Spy Universe; attempt a crossover of Shahid Kapoor’s Farzi and Manoj Bajpayee’s The Family Man
The super-success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has made Bollywood filmmakers realize the potential of crossovers and how they can lead to a bigger box office lifetime. Rohit Shetty was the first one to do so successfully with Simmba (2018), in which he featured Inspector Singham. This aspect added to the hype and also the numbers at the box office. Later, both Singham and Simmba came to save the day in Sooryavanshi (2021). Yet again, the formula worked well. Recently, the character of Tiger from Ek Tha Tiger (2012) and Tiger Zinda Hai (2017) made a massy appearance in Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Pathaan (2023). As expected, the audience couldn’t keep calm when the two superstars came together. What has added the excitement is that the Yash Raj Films (YRF) Spy Universe comprise not just Tiger and Pathaan but also Kabir from War (2019), played by Hrithik Roshan.
And now Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, popularly known as Raj and DK, have attempted to start a new trend. A source told Bollywood Hungama, “The talented director duo has created their own Spy Universe. Their latest show, Farzi, which releases tomorrow on February 10, is from the same universe as Manoj Bajpayee’s much-loved series, The Family Man. In fact, they have also attempted a crossover of the two series. Viewers will get to experience it in Farzi and are surely going to lap it up.”
The source continued, “We have seen many cinematic universes. Raj and DK’s Spy Universe is the first such digital universe, especially for OTT in India. It also opens up plenty of opportunities for the writers and makers as both shows have some interesting characters.”
Farzi stars Shahid Kapoor, Vijay Sethupathi, Raashii Khanna, Amol Palekar, Kay Kay Menon and Bhuvan Arora. While Shahid plays a con artist who designs fake currency notes, Vijay plays the secret agent who wants to eliminate those involved in the counterfeit currency business. In The Family Man, Manoj Bajpayee plays the spy and it also stars Sharib Hashmi, Priya Mani and Darshan Kumaar. The first season, which was released in September 2019, was a huge success. The second season was released in June 2021 and it also featured Samantha Ruth Prabhu. This season was quite loved and the third season is in the offing.
