5 Sequels Which Are As Good As The First

Set six years after the events of the first film, Jeethu Joseph's Drishyam 2, now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, questions whether cable operator Georgekutty (Mohanlal) really did get away with the perfect crime. He may have hidden the body in the last place anyone suspects, but the townspeople are still suspicious and the police still won't stop digging. 

If you liked the Drishyam movies, here are some more films with a great part 1 and 2 that follow the same storyline and make for a perfect double bill: 

Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)

Shekhar Kapur's Oscar-nominated Elizabeth told the story of Elizabeth I's early years, including her assumption of the throne of England and her early struggles in power. The sequel, released nine years later and titled Elizabeth: The Golden Age, follows the events of the first film and tells of the queen's later reign. While it took many dramatic licences and was quite fictionalised (receiving criticism for this), Cate Blanchett's Oscar-nominated performance carried the film and gave us some idea of what it meant to be a woman in power in the late sixteenth century, battling male egos both in politics and in love.

Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 1 and 2 (2012)

The sprawling, generations-spanning Gangs of Wasseypur came as a preordained two-parter: one film divided into two halves because our theatres can't run a 5 hour film. But it was very smartly designed, with the trailer of part II playing with the ending credits and ending with one hell of a line: 'Baap ka, Dada ka, sab ka badla lega re tera Faisal'. Part II picks up where part I had left off: Faisal (Nawazuddin Siddiqui, in a star-making performance) wakes up from his ganja-induced sleep to be informed that his father, Sardar Khan (Manoj Bajpayee), has been murdered. What will follow is a smoke-hazed journey of a reluctant hero. This was Anurag Kashyap's The Godfather, set in Bihar.

Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013)

What connects Richard Linklater's Before Trilogy – Before Sunrise set in Vienna, Before Sunset set in Paris, and Before Midnight set in Greece – is not just the fraying romance of the European landscape, but the emotional terrains of love played out by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. The first film charts the giddy possibilities of new love, the second film attempts to infuse the distance of space and time to see if the memory of passion endures, and the last film shows how love is, despite its rose tints and rosé bubbles, an agony at its heart. Each succeeding film is keenly aware of both the last film, and the time that has lapsed since. 

The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974)

As far as sequels go, is there anything topping The Godfather part II? As Michael (Al Pacino) takes the reins as heir to the crime empire, we are taken back to the making of Don Vito Corleone, in Sicily, 1921, with Robert De Niro playing a young Marlon Brando. 

Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) and Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004)

Quentin Tarantino's epic revenge saga follows The Bride (Uma Thurman), a former assassin beaten into a comatose state by her former boss and associates. Awakening four years later, she leaves behind a bloody trail as she begins hunting down those who hurt her. Come for the stylised violence set pieces, formidable antagonists and compelling backstories of the first part, (which ends with a major twist), stay for the catharsis of the second.