Indian 2 - a rant not a review!

Indian 2

Tamil - Drama

165 mins/ Netflix

Disclaimer - Indian 2 is an absolute slur on the creative genius of the Director. In fact, it should most definitely be a black mark on the actor , the music composer and generally everyone associated with the project. You are of course welcome to watch the movie, just like i did - inspite of knowing that it was absolute trip into the Dante's Inferno. Sometimes you need a rant to clear your system! - Here is mine! - Long post alert.

Shankar  has been one of my my most favourite Indian directors. His depiction of social issues, politics and personalities (some times excessive no doubt),  vigilantism (almost a trademark) , interesting screenplay choices and brand of big screen film making has always been something to look forward to.

Some reasons why! - (this list is not even even half complete!)

• 12 of his 14 movies have had outstanding music scores (11 by A.R. Rahman) - Gentleman, Kaathalan (what an album!), Jeans, Boys, Mudhalvan (Nayak), Indian, Sivaji, Enthiran , 2.0, I....). This is a partnership which does not get the same credit of A.R and Maniratnam.  Anniyan is among Harris Jayaraj's best work.
• The opening train robbery sequence in Gentleman, the terrific VFX (for that time - double roles) in Jeans, the make up/flash back and the double role sequences in Indian, the one day CM and the slow mo fight sequence with Mudhalvan (Nayak), the entire presentation of Rajinikanth in Sivaji, the VFX and concept of Enthiran and 2.0, the unique methods of judgement in Anniyan (villain pakora!)
• The song presentations - "Randaka Randaka" (Anniyan, Painted trucks? - genius!), The 7 wonders song in Jeans, Australia in "Telephone Manipol and the VFX heavy "Maya Macchindra" (Indian), "Azhagana Rakshasiye" (Mudhalvan), the Beauty and the Beast tribute "Ennodu nee iranthal" and "Pookalae" (I), the glass house (wow!) in  "Sahaana" (Sivaji), the Robot song in Enthiran , the Prabhudeva silhoutte in Kaathalan, the hip music video style sequences in Boys, so many more that i am not even mentioning!
• Actors across industries wanted to work with him - he got them to  to play some very interesting characters. Some famous non Tamil actors / stars in his movies -  Girish Karnad (Kaathalan), Nedumudi Venu, Manisha Koirala, Urmila (Indian), Aishwarya Rai in Jeans, Danny Denzogpa (Enthiran), Akshay Kumar (2.0), Manisha Koirala (Mudhalvan), Suresh Gopi (I) and many more.
• Shankar  knows his way around screenplay and story writing.  After his first couple of movies, , a very big part of his success was also his collaboration with writer Sujatha - Indian, Boys, Muthalvan, Enthiran, Sivaji. 
• Most of his movies have been blockbusters, because he seems to know what audiences want! - One more of the reasons why  he is rated as one of India's biggest directors.

I fondly remember seeing the FDFS of Indian in May 1996. These were times of no internet and trailers/previews were almost exclusively limited to being attached with other movies. Unless you were reading tamil magazines, not much was known about the background of the movie (the posters did not reveal much) . My major attraction was of course the legend Kamal Hassan  and the songs (who doesnt remember a Dashing Kamal and Manisha (in red) against the Sydney Opera house!). 

After the breezy first half of humor and some killings and some good music you are kept waiting - As the second half reveals the whole back story of Senapathy, Indian "thatha",  Shankar and Kamal Hassan at their peak - outstanding dialogue, great acting, direction and an unheard of killer  climax. The father believing that his ideals are far more important that his own blood!.  

Yes, some of the comedy wouldn't stand in today's world (racist and crass),  the two leading ladies were merely ornamental - leave out all that - the core of the movie was solid story,  outstanding make up (you cannot possibly know it was Sukanya,  without watching the second half) . Backed by good VFX (at it's time), outstanding music score by A.R Rahman, Indian is  one of the classics from that era. 

With all the above said - 

When Indian 2 was announced - i was neutral -  at that time Kamal Hassan's box office magic was clearly waning and he was doing some really lousy projects satiating his vanity. This was still a Shankar movie!, so there was hope. The movie had been in making for almost a decade -  (as many as 5 supporting actors passed away during the making - and were replaced by AI/VFX ). There were on set accidents - no one saw the signs? 

The story (or the lack of it) is absolute potty. Outrageous sequences have  Senapathy segwaying his way through Chennai non stop and doing Olympic level twists and flips as well!  One villain has so much money that he has his own private Zero G Moon experience!. The dialogue is stuff even i can write better (definitely ChatGPT ) . The music is an absolute stinker (am sure most of it is from Anirudh's famous do not use list) .  

There are so many good actors like Delhi Ganesh (reduced to blabbering), Zakir Hussain - trotting like a horse!, the writer/composer actor Piyush Mishra (wallowing in zero gravity in his own fluids!) and above all Gulshan grover changing sexual identity - all due to different variations of the Varmam, which Thatha unleashes. The true essence of Indian was Senapathy, the mysterious  art of "Varmam" and in this movie - both are reduced to a joke!

The image above  (a screen grab ) tells the sordid tale of this embarrassment of a movie! Actors dancing to a typical Anirudh kuttu song dressed in whites and wigs and around Indian bobble heads - i rest my case!

It makes you wonder - was it so much pressure of the Shankar and Kamal Hassan brand, that these two giants of Cinema, could not sense the abysmal product that they were making - Could they not scrap this project?  Vanity has a price to pay!

Ps:- i will still watch Indian 3 😁, hopefully it sees the light of day - Surely will be my 2025 rant!