The Shankarverse

The Shankarverse is perhaps the first modern cinematic universe in Sandalwood history and the most famous of MP Shankar’s cinematic works. 

It technically started with an unofficial spiritual sequel of Sōji Yamakawa’s postwar Tiger Boy picture story, known as Kadina Rahasya, 

The story of Kadina Rahasya would expand with the more coherently crafted sequel Kadina Raja, itself an unofficial film adaptation of both Kenya Boy and two hit Taito arcade games. 

Mrugaalaya seems to be the only non Gandada Gudi film that’s not based unofficially on a Sōji Yamakawa work, as it instead would focus on a watchfully well meaning zookeeper who protects his zoo’s animals from being trafficked by lustful criminals. 

The most popular part of the Shankarverse is the first Gandada Gudi film, which ends with its temple guarding protagonist having met his sad demise at the hands and feet of agri-logging criminals working for a very ruthless and amoral corporation. Its own part 2 sequel is rather disappointing in comparison, since it’s quite telling that Sandalwood has currently become a Mecca for so bad it’s good massy movies instead.