Dinesh Vijan's Maddock Horror Comedy Universe has been setting up its strong fort with the success of Stree (2018), Bhediya (2022), Stree 2 (2024), Munjya (2024) and has recently added Thamma to it, starring Ayushmann Khurrana and Rashmika Mandanna. What started a spark with Amar Kaushik's Stree, set fire to horror comedy universe with films lined up until 2028.
Speaking about the success of the universe and how he achieved it, Dinesh Vijan, in an interview on The Right Angle with Sonal Kalra, said, "Someone very wise told me that when you're making films, keep them in a box. It was a gentleman called Chuck Roven who produces all of Christopher Nolan's films, he's done most of them. And he told Deepika Padukone and me this in 2012, and it stayed with me. So when Stree happened, I understood. There should be an ability to meet. Don't change the physics if you want some people to meet. That's how the idea of the universe came."
He noted that Munjya (2024) and Stree are "completely different worlds" and revealed that the third part of Stree is not coming anytime soon, not even next year. "We are very conscious to not repeat. That is why we're not bringing Stree 3 next year, you know, which most people would want to do, right? Even us. It just makes more sense to come. There's a journey to it. So we are trying to... the way I look at it is, I'm from a joint family. We love a big family atmosphere. So, the universe is a family and it's got different kind of characters. No one's similar."
Talking about Thamma, Dinesh Vijan shared, "When you watch Thamma you'll realise it's nothing like Munjya. Even the family drama, if you look at it, the father-son conflict here is very different to the father-son conflict in Stree. So as long as you don't try and repeat the same equations — Stree is three bunch of friends, the other is a brother, a cousin and him who happen to be from Stree, go into a forest (Bhediya), Munjya is like I like this girl but even Munjya likes this girl, what's going to happen, it's a triangle."
The producer stated that the worlds "should be connected, but not similar". "That's what we're trying to do. But because, so what happens is when you have a big family, you have a lot of family politics. And you are really interested while having chai ki isne kya kiya. So that's what the universe is. And I really feel that more in Delhi right now, because I spoke to a few people yesterday and I was so happy to see that actually they have their own theories (about the universe), of what's going to happen," he added.
Thamma, which also stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Paresh Rawal, is directed by Aditya Sarpotdar. The film minted Rs 65.15 crore net ( Rs 78.20 crore gross) in India over the first four days of its release.
The upcoming films in the Maddock Horror Comedy Universe include Shakti Shalini (2026), Bhediya 2 (2027), Chamunda (2027) and Stree 3 (2027), Maha Munjya (2028), Pehla Mahayudh (2028) and Doosara Mahayudh (2028). It was also recently announced that Stree will get an animated spin-off titled Choti Stree, which will revolve around Shraddha Kapoor's character from the 2018 film.