PremiumIndian 2 Movie Review: Kamal Haasan and Shankar’s sequel has mammoth scale but very little emotions
Indian 2 Movie Review: Kamal Haasan and Shankar’s sequel has a screenplay that lacks depth and fails to evoke emotions effectively.
Last Updated: 01.17 PM, Jul 12, 2024
Indian 2 story
After 28 years, Senapathy (Kamal Haasan) is back! The former freedom fighter turned vigilante against corruption, now makes a return to India after a group of youngsters running an activism channel (against corruption) called Barking Dogs, run a social media campaign request his return. With the belief that Senapathy will weed out atrocious crimes, especially corruption, that plague the society, Chitra Aravind (Siddharth), Arthi (Priya Bhavani Shankar) and others who run the channel, finally succeed as Indian thata makes a return with his Varma kalai.
Indian 2 review
For once, if there has been a time when the story of making a film had been more historic, than the film itself, it has to be Indian 2. The sequel is not only making a comeback after 28 years following much production delays and pandemic, but also is bringing back Kamal Hassan’s iconic character Senapathy. But at what cost?
27 years have passed since the time of Chandru’s death, an RTO officer whose was killed by his very own father Senapathy, for indulging in outlaw activities. But the country doesn’t seem to have changed, given how corruption is rampant and almost a daily activity that commoners have to put up with. Shankar paints this picture with various scenarios, that seem to look like a compilation of multiple events rather than few invested sequences that can make your blood boil, like the times we had seen during Indian or even Anniyan. Given the filmmaker is no new face in pointing out the deteriorated society plagued by such daylight theft, as we have witnessed in his earlier films like Anniyan, Indian and Mudhalvan, the sequences doesn’t seem to justify when repeated in similar fashion in the sequel as well. It more feels like campaign videos that merely does its job in a very straightforward fashion rather than nudge you by your heart. In one instance when a detailed setup to show how honest a particular character is, you begin to feel that something is going to go wrong with that person, that makes you lose the interest. Yes, Shankar’s Indian 2 takes a hit with its screenplay and writing, that may have a big-scale setup but bogged down by hollow writing.
In a way Indian 2 is no different from other Shankar films, because the canvas is huge and this time, with a pan-Indian representation of how India has turned out to be, every frame of the sequel boasts lustrous sets. But where I beg to differ about how the film does not hold the charm of the filmmaker’s old films is when Indian 2 does not follow a sequence of events that can culminate into a point for an emotional outburst. When dialogues like “corrupt illa karapanpoochi (cockroach not corruption), “election is not a change, but exchange” and “nakkal? Illa nickel” galore the screenplay, you begin to feel the absence of effective writers who were able to make you feel exactly what you want to be made felt.
You also begin to realise that the parts where Shankar evokes his nostalgic quotient, especially references to his previous filmography like Sivaji: The Boss, and Gentleman, are the only ones that leave you reminded of the filmmaker’s glorious days and his films which touched your heart at the right spots. Shankar also smartly uses soundtracks from the 1996 film (thanks to AR Rahman), which keeps you reminded that this is a Senapathy story. But once cut to present, you are made to adhere to fast-paced tracks and beats, that it almost feels like this story of Senapathy is only to ridicule him.
The emotions in Indian 2 and the placement becomes unintentionally funny and sometimes falters. Even as we see late actors like Nedumudi Venu and Vivekh grace the big screens for one last time. That’s primarily because Indian 2 concentrates more on the technique rather than feeling. When Senapathy has a unique varma kalai to punish the offenders, it instantly reminds you of the punishments Anniyan gave using Garuda Puranam. They were unique, and not up for guesses. But given how Anniyan has already etched its stamp, a similar approach in Indian 2 feels unwanted and overtly repeated. And, as the movie progresses, when Senapathy begins to only slightly alter his approach, to repeatedly do the same thing, somewhere the screenplay feels more like a disjointed gruntle.
Indian 2 also treats itself as a costume party for Kamal Haasan. Of course, the multi-hyphenated actor gives it all, and there is no doubt that the actor’s perseverance and dedication is much visible onscreen. But the lacklustre emotions his character is treated with becomes a major drawback.
Indian 2 verdict
Indian 2 is a film that has Shankar’s stamp visually all over. Kamal Haasan may not have gotten a glorious comeback as he did in Vikram, but the actor tries to save the film as much as possible. But alas, there is only so much an actor can do.
We are also given a glimpse of Indian 3 during the post-credits sequence, and introduced to Veerasekharan, a freedom fighter during the British colonial days. With the hope that the third instalment will salvage for the trilogy, all that can be said about Indian 2 is that despite a mammoth scale, and known faces, the emotions evoked seem very little. Sometimes you feel, only if Senpathy had also died in the blast that killed Chandru too.