Decrypting Race franchise before the release of the 3rd installment this Friday.

It isn’t difficult to make out franchisee of the Race film. While the men are buff with tonnes of gel on their head, women are beautiful but bent with names such as Alaisha and Omeesha surround them, it has to be either Race or Race 2 ,don’t be worried about that added ‘2’, they were essentially the same film. They begin with a dysfunctional family with enough money to set relatives against each other, soon gravity and sanity-defying stunts kick in, then everybody gets busy manipulating each other and it all ends in yet another giant action set-piece.

In the midst of all this, the directors ensure that if not their characters’ intentions, at least the setting of the movies are exotic.There are also hummable songs and smart dialogues and a masala entertainer is born.

Race released In 2008, starring Anil Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Bipasha Basu, Katrina Kaif and Sameera Reddy and went on to become one of the top five grossers of the year with Rs 60.83 crore.

Come 2013 and Saif was back with Race 2 - the second film in the franchise and he returned with a majorly new cast. Only Saif and Anil had been retained in the new movie. Jacqueline Fernandez, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham and Ameesa Patel joined to form the new gang dabbling yet again in betrayal and mind games over money.Race 2 went ahead to earn Rs 93.48 crore.

Abbas-Mustan retained the main elements of Race - glamour played a major role not just in building the women’s character arcs but also those of the men. The action sequences, too, were over-the-top, gravity and logic defying - much like the first film.

With Race 3, the franchise is likely to enter a new era. Salman Khan, who enters the Race franchise on June 15, has a lot of expectations riding on his back, it is directed by choreographer Remo D’Souza and introduces Bobby Deol and Saqib Saleem to the franchise. Will Race 3 cater to Race franchise fans or break new grounds?

Salman Khan, Bobby Deol