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After the success of Murder 2, Bhatts announce Murder 3
By Subhash K. Jha, July 13, 2011 - 12:50 IST

The unexpectedly high success-ratio of Murder 3 has speeded up the process of working on the franchise. Director Mohit Suri has been told to leave all other ideas and work on the nextMurder movie. Murder 3 will now be made sooner rather than later. The way it's going, Murder 2will be one of the biggest hits of 2011 and the biggest success so far of the Bhatts' production house. They now want to do Murder 3 quickly. The writing has already begun.

Jubilant and all geared up for the Murder 2 success party to be held on Friday evening, producer Mukesh Bhatt said, "Yes we're already looking at Murder 3. We hope to have it out by the summer of 2012."

Shagufta Rafique who wrote Murder 2 has been put on the job of quickly coming up with a crackling script for Murder 3 which will again star Emraan Hashmi. But the USP of the Murder franchise is the eclipsed hottie waiting for a makeover. If Murderpresented a made-over Mallika Sherawat and Murder 2 sees a completely revamped Jacqueline Fernandez. Murder 3 will also see an actress with a made-over image.

Says Mukesh Bhatt, "At the moment I can't reveal the casting plans. But yes Mohit Suri will again direct the next Murder film." The one thing that the writer has been asked to keep in mind while doing Murder 3 is to keep the plot original. Murder was apparently plagiarized from Unfaithful and now Murder 2 is said to be ripped off from a Korean film.

Mukesh Bhatt baulks at the suggestion of plagiarism. "People said Murder was copied from Unfaithful when it was more like B R Chopra's Gumrah. As for Murder 2, I haven't even heard of the Korean film The Chaser. If there are similarities then they're purely coincidental."

Adds Mahesh Bhatt, "Saying Murder 2 is ripped off is an uncharitable remark. It's like saying Ghajini was copied fromMemento. A situation can't be copyrighted. I'd say Murder 2 is closer to our own production Sangharsh. A Hindi film is like a patched quilt."

All said and done, Murder 3 which is now being written will be absolutely original. About it being made ahead of Raaz 3, Vikram Bhatt who's to direct Raaz 3 for the Bhatts, says, "As far as I know we're going on the floors in January 2012. Raaz 3will have Emraan Hashmi and Jacqueline Fernandez. It will also star another girl. But the role is still in development. As forMurder 3, it's a great franchise. But I'm sure Raaz 3 will also have a lot of takers."