India, July 13 -- An industry that has the propensity to put performers in watertight boxes, such as romantic heroes and action heroes, franchise heroes is the newest sobriquet on the block which has become a phenomenon. It stems from a simple truth -- as Bollywood grapples with poor economic health, it is leaning hard on franchises to stay afloat. And as old winning ideas are being reimagined and rebooted, actors headlining the projects are mining the opportunity - some raking in as much as Rs.100 crore for each film.

Such is the lure that recently veteran artiste Paresh Rawal, indispensable to the Hera Pheri series for his quirky Baburao act, demanded Rs.25 crore (highest yet in his career) reportedly when cast for the film's threequel...