What's more special than Rohit Shetty's cop-drama Sooryavanshi releasing in theatres this Diwali? Well, it is the fact that the film is uniting the filmmaker's superhit cop universe for the very first time. Sooryavanshi, which is the fourth film in Rohit's famous cop world, will feature Singham Ajay Devgn, Simmba Ranveer Singh in special appearances along with the main lead - Veer Sooryavanshi aka Akshay Kumar for the very first time. And yes, it is a big deal. To get 3 superstars on the big screen in their super cop characters needs a lot of resources, money & power and well, Rohit had it all.

The filmmaker, who impressed the audience with Singham (2011), Singham Returns (2014) and Simmba (2018), is now all set to add another feather to his hat and well, his cop universe with Akshay's Sooryavanshi. Interestingly, Ajay's Singham completed 10 years this July. Looks like Sooryavanshi is an anniversary gift of sorts for all fans of Rohit Shetty's action-packed cinema.

Recommended Read: From ‘Main Khiladi Tu Anari’, ‘Khakee’ to ‘Rowdy Rathore’, best cop roles of Akshay Kumar ahead of Sooryavanshi’s release

As Akshay and his leading lady Katrina Kaif gear up for the release of Sooryavanshi on November 5, here's looking back at Rohit's cop world and what makes this grand reunion so special! 

Singham

In 2011, Rohit Shetty's Singham came out of nowhere and went on to become a blockbuster. It wasn't the first cop film of Bollywood, neither was it the first one as a police officer for Ajay Devgn but the amount of appreciation that the film garnered was beyond outstanding. A remake of the 2010 Tamil film Singam by Hari Gopalakrishnan, the film starred Ajay as a station house officer turned police inspector Bajirao Singham, with Kajal Aggarwal playing his love interest and Prakash Raj playing the main antagonist. It was theatrically released in India on July 22, 2011, and with a strong box office response, the film went of to become a box-office blockbuster.

Singham 2

Following Singham's success, Ajay and Rohit collaborated for a follow-up to the film -Singham Returns, which marked the filmmaker's production debut and was produced by Ajay as well. The film reunited the duo with their Golmaal 3 partner Kareena Kapoor Khan who replaced Aggarwal as the female lead, and was a direct continuation to Singham, set in Mumbai, with the basic plot inspired by the 1993 Malayalam film Ekalavyan. Released worldwide on Indian Independence Day 2014, Singham Returns broke various opening day records and was a widespread success. Ajay then reprised his role as Singham through a cameo appearance in the next film of Shetty's cop universe - Ranveer Singh's Simmba (2018).

Simmba

To give his cop universe a new twist, Rohit collaborated with Ranveer Singh for the very first time. Simmba, lifted from the 2015 Telugu film Temper and starring Ranveer as the titular anti-heroic orphaned cop with roots in Shivgarh, alongside Sara Ali Khan and Sonu Sood, was the first spin-off and the first expansion to officially create a Cop Universe, with Karan Johar joining Rohit as a producer on the film. Simmba, which was released on December 27, 2018, became Ranveer's highest-opening film and Rohit's biggest hit as it beat the lifetime business of Chennai Express. In 23 days of its release, the domestic gross of the film touched the 300 crore mark. It took 40 days for the film to gross 350 crores worldwide. Simmba became the biggest hit of the year 2018. 

Sooryavanshi 

Making the third entry was Sooryavanshi, a follow-up starring Akshay Kumar as the titular anti-terrorist squad chief. The film was slated to release in March 2020, but was postponed due to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic lockdown announced by the Indian government. In the fourth installment of Rohit's Cop Universe, the film stars Akshay Kumar as Anti-Terrorism Squad chief DCP Veer Sooryavanshi opposite Katrina Kaif with a supporting cast of Jackie Shroff, Gulshan Grover, Abhimanyu Singh, Niharica Raizada, Vivan Bhatena, Sikandar Kher, Nikitin Dheer and Jaaved Jaaferi. Ajay and Ranveer in extended cameo appearances reprise their roles of Singham and Simmba from the franchise's previous films. Akshay's character was announced towards the end of Simmba that served as a character introduction of Sooryavanshi.

The Grand Reunion in Sooryavanshi 

Exactly when the audience expected Sooryavanshi to be a follow-up to Simmba and Singham and have a storyline revolving around Akshay only, Rohit surprised everyone as he dropped the trailer in March 2020. The trailer increased the excitement of all fans of Rohit's cop-universe as they witnessed Akshay, Ajay and Ranveer with guns blazing in action-packed scenes for the first time. Despite Sooryavanshi being stuck for a theatrical release for over 1.5 years, fans did not lose their excitement and welcomed the release announcement with open arms. Witness three times the action, three times the power & three times the entertainment on November 5 in Sooryavanshi.