Indian 2
Indian 2 is a 2024 Indian Tamil-language vigilante action film directed by Shankar, who co-wrote the script with B. Jeyamohan, Kabilan Vairamuthu and Lakshmi Saravana Kumar. The film is jointly produced by Lyca Productions and Red Giant Movies. It is the second instalment in the Indian trilogy and sequel to Indian. Kamal Haasan reprises his role as Senapathy, an aging freedom fighter turned vigilante who fights against corruption, with an ensemble cast including Siddharth, S. J. Suryah, Rakul Preet Singh, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Vivek, Samuthirakani, Bobby Simha, Nedumudi Venu, Delhi Ganesh, Manobala, Jagan and Gulshan Grover with Kajal Aggarwal and Kalidas Jayaram in cameo roles. In the film, set years after the events in Indian, Senapathy returns from abroad to aid Chitra Aravindhan and his team, to deal with corruption in the country.
The project was announced in September 2017. Sri Venkateswara Creations was initially on board, but opted out a month later. Lyca entered the production thereafter. Principal photography commenced in January 2019, and occurred sporadically over five years, before wrapping by March 2024. In 2020, an accident that killed some crew members, and the COVID-19 pandemic delayed filming for two years until Red Giant Movies entered as co-producers. The technical crew includes musician Anirudh Ravichander, cinematographers Ravi Varman and R. Rathnavelu, editor A. Sreekar Prasad, production designer T. Muthuraj and visual effects supervisor V. Srinivas Mohan.
Indian 2 was released worldwide on 12 July 2024 in standard and IMAX formats. The film was panned by critics and was compared unfavorably to the original, with critics highlighting the runtime, characterization, and the lack of emotional depth in the screenplay, while Kamal Haasan's performance received praise. The film grossed a total worldwide collection of 150 crores and became one of the highest grossing Tamil films of 2024 by the end of its theatrical run. It was a box office disaster. Due to its length of over six hours, the film was split into two parts, although the latter part titled Indian 3 has not released as of 2026.
Plot
Chitra Aravindhan is an online media reporter who runs a YouTube channel called "Barking Dogs" along with his three friends Aarthi, Thambesh, and Harish, in Chennai. He lives happily with his mother Chitra and father Varadharajan, who works at the Anti-Corruption and Vigilance Commission. They focus on creating parodies and political satires, which garner them lakhs of views. However, when a young lady named Sunitha dies by suicide, the team discovers that corrupt officials caused her death. In response, they protest, demanding justice. The police arrest them, but they eventually get bailed out by Chitra's girlfriend, Disha. She lectures them that they cannot single-handedly change the country. Soon, they launch a campaign titled "Come Back Indian," believing that only Senapathy alias Indian, can put an end to the corruption once and for all.Nilesh, one of Chitra's friends, spots Senapathy in Taipei and discovers that he is running a martial arts school there, teaching Varma Kalai. Nilesh persuades him to return to Chennai, which he eventually does, by using his senior mentor's passport. CBI officers Pramod and Elango attempt to capture Senapathy upon his arrival in India but fail. Senapathy urges his followers and the public in a Facebook live to expose corrupt individuals in their respective states through peaceful means, inspired by Gandhi's principles, while he will uphold the ideals of Subhas Chandra Bose. He emphasises that people should prioritise addressing corruption at home before tackling external issues. Senapathy also emotionally reveals that he tearfully and mournfully killed his son, Chandrabose alias Chandru, as he too was a part of the corruption in the country and accepted bribes. Senapathy feels very guilty in killing his own son. This results in everyone getting motivated; Chitra and his friends then start monitoring their parents' activities to uncover any wrongdoing. Harish visits his uncle's motel and discovers they serve stale food to customers. Thambesh finds out that his brother-in-law, Nanjunda Moorthy, accepts bribes from customers, as does Aarthi's mother, Kanagalatha. who works as a sub-registrar. They report their findings to the ACVC, leading to their parents' arrest.
Meanwhile, Senapathy targets famous corrupt officials all over India who have embezzled lakhs of rupees from the government, including MNC owner Amit Aggarwal and Gujarati gold trader Darshan, and kills them using Varma Kalai. Pramod investigates it and plans to arrest Senapathy. Chitra follows Varadharajan, but finds no evidence of wrongdoing. However, Aarthi's father, Thangavel, reveals to Chitra that Sunitha was actually a victim of his own father's corruption, not the officer's. Initially skeptical, Chitra investigates and discovers the truth: Varadharajan had accepted bribes from the officer. Chitra reports this to the ACVC, leading to Varadharajan's arrest. Learning that Chitra is responsible for Varadharajan's arrest, Chitra's mother sends him out of the house. That day, Senapathy tells Chitra and his friends that they achieved a victory and he is going to meet them in person, where they get excited. The next day, when Chitra and his friends go to meet Senapathy, they learn that Chitra's mother committed suicide by hanging due to being overwhelmed by the public shame and ridicule as the wife of a corrupt officer. Chitra gets blamed for this and he is unable to see his mother, even to do the last rites for her and Varadharajan disowns him. Devastated by the incident, Chitra leaves with his friends and suddenly they meets Senapathy near the graveyard. Senapathy apologies for what all has happened to him but Chitra blames Senapathy for his mother's death and for killing Chandru. He starts a campaign titled "Go Back Indian", which too becomes viral worldwide, leading Senapathy to earn the wrath of the local people and Senapathy becoming heartbroken.
Pramod and Elango tries to arrest him but Senapathy escapes in a unicycle. During the chase, Senapathy gets attacked by a group of rowdies but he fights them back with his Varma Kalai. However, after the fight, a mob attacks Senapathy without listening to his pleas. Pramod and Elango eventually arrives, saves Senapathy and arrests him, but he uses Varma Kalai on Pramod to escape his capture, leaving Pramod having stroke. Upon admitting him to a hospital, the chief doctor informs Pramod's father, Krishnaswamy, a retired CBI officer, with who tried to capture Senapathy 28 years ago, that only Senapathy can save Pramod, as he can reverse the tissue and nerve damage that Varma Kalai inflicts on the victim, otherwise, he would die within three hours. Krishnaswamy then takes the paralysed Pramod to the court where Senapathy is being convicted. Senapathy offers to rescue Pramod in exchange for his release, to which the judge reluctantly agrees. Senapathy then takes Pramod with him and leaves the court in an ambulance, promising that he will come back again.
Cast
Production
Development
During the production of Indian, its lead actor Kamal Haasan asked the director S. Shankar to make a sequel, but Shankar did not have a concrete story idea then. In September 2011, Shankar said many people asked him to make a sequel following Anna Hazare's anti-corruption crusade, and A. M. Rathnam, producer of the 1996 film, urged him to do so. In May 2015, Ratnam confirmed that he and Shankar discussed making a sequel but doubted the project's viability as the director was busy with the production of 2.0. Despite delaying starting the sequel due to 2.0, Shankar continued working on a story theme for it, under the tentative title Indian 2. On 30 September 2017, Haasan, the host of the first season of the Tamil reality television show Bigg Boss in Chennai, publicity announced the project during the season finale. Haasan was confirmed as the lead actor, reprising his role, and prominent Telugu film producer Dil Raju's Sri Venkateswara Creations was announced to fund the venture, thus marking his debut in Tamil.In October 2017, Raju backed out, reportedly due to increased production costs. Shortly thereafter, Allirajah Subaskaran, header of Lyca Productions, took over as the film's producer. The project marks the reunion of Shankar with Haasan after a hiatus of 24 years. The director chose Anirudh Ravichander to score the music, marking their first collaboration, rather than his regular collaborator A. R. Rahman, who also scored music for its predecessor. Anirudh's inclusion was confirmed in late December 2018. cinematographer Ravi Varman, editor A. Sreekar Prasad and production designer T. Muthuraj were hired to be a part of the film's technical crew. Shankar collaborated with Jeyamohan, Kabilan Vairamuthu and Lakshmi Saravanakumar to co-write the film's script and dialogues.
Despite several proposed announcements of starting dates, the film's shoot was delayed throughout 2018 owing to Shankar's commitments with 2.0, which also faced significant production delays. Haasan also decided to use the time to release his long-delayed Vishwaroopam II and commit to his political career. In August 2018, Shankar and Haasan, announced that the film's shoot will commence that December, The production house later publicly announced the project on 7 November, coinciding with Haasan's birthday, confirming its inclusion as the producers. Muthuraj began working on the production design the same month, as the film's shoot was scheduled to start in late that year; however the delay in its set work, made the team to postpone its shoot to early 2019. Haasan would receive around as renumeration for the film, the highest in his career.
Casting
In December 2018, Kajal Aggarwal was announced as the lead actress. For her role, Aggarwal learnt the basics of the Indian martial arts form Kalaripayattu. Initially Sivakarthikeyan was considered to play Siddharth's character in the film but declined the role due to his prior commitments. Ajay Devgn agreed to play the antagonist in the film, but production delays meant that he could not commit. Delhi Ganesh, who has frequently acted alongside Haasan, and RJ Balaji were signed to portray supporting roles. However, Balaji opted out of the film in October 2019. Nedumudi Venu was also set to reprise his role from the first film, but died in October 2021 after post COVID-19 complications.Vidyut Jammwal said he was approached to act in the film but declined due to scheduling conflicts. Rakul Preet Singh also joined the film to star opposite the character played by Siddharth. Aishwarya Rajesh initially agreed to act in the film, but opted out due to call sheet issues; she was replaced by Priya Bhavani Shankar. Vivek confirmed that he will be a part of the project, collaborating with Haasan for the first time, where he plays the role of a CBI officer in the film. It was considered to be one of his posthumous films following his death in April 2021. In March 2023, British actor Benedict Garrett confirmed being a part of the cast, while Kalidas Jayaram also joined the cast in a prominent role during production in Taiwan in April 2023. S. J. Suryah officially confirmed his participation in the film in September 2023. The film also marked the posthumous appearances of Manobala and G. Marimuthu following their respective deaths in May and September 2023.
During a press meet prior to release of the film, Shankar gave credit and acknowledgement to prominent Chinese martial artist Lü Zijian by indicating that Zijian is the source of inspiration he took when committing to direct the sequel part, where he developed a mindset to portray Senapathy as a martial arts expert even at the age of 106 highlighting the longevity of Zijian's calibre. Shankar was reportedly quoted saying "There is a martial arts master in China. His name is Lu Zijian. At the age of 120, he is performing martial arts. He is flying, kicking, and doing all the stuff." Shankar made such statements when queried and questioned about how Kamal Haasan's Senapathy character in the film could perform such action packed sequences even at an age of 106.