‘Indian 2’ Movie Review: Kamal Haasan’s Senapathy Makes a Tedious Return in Shankar’s Worst Film to Date! (LatestLY Exclusive)

Indian 2 Movie Review: There have been some clips going viral, where Indian 2's lead star Kamal Haasan and director Shankar claim that Indian 3 is where the exciting stuff lies. Though they tried to clarify this was not the case in later interviews, the damage was done. Having now seen Indian 2 and having endured a three-hour slog of runtime to catch a glimpse of Indian 3 in the mid-credits, I agree with Kamal sir's honest confession. Indian 3 feels like the more promising film, which will come out in 2025. In 2024, meanwhile, you have to suffer through the bore of a middle-parter that is Indian 2. I am not exaggerating when I say that Indian 2 is Shankar's worst film to date. At least Vikram and the makeup were good in I. 'Indian 2' Review: Netizens Disappointed With Kamal Haasan and Shankar's Actioner, Call It 'Average'

In 1996, Senapathy (Kamal Haasan) fled to Hong Kong, giving his vigilante killing spree of corrupt officials, including his son, a break. Or so we thought. Two decades later, nothing has changed much regarding corruption. In fact, the situation has worsened. We meet a group of social media activists called Barking Dogs, led by Chitra Aravind (Siddharth). Chitra and his friends are frustrated by the levels of corruption in the city. When they realise their social media campaigns won't make much of a difference, Chitra has an idea: why not bring back 'Indian'? Senapathy would be a beacon of hope for the youngsters in these dire times, right?

Watch the Trailer of 'Indian 2':

They start a social media campaign under the hashtag #ComeBackIndian. Soon enough, Senapathy, who has settled in Taipei and occasionally kills corrupt billionaires like a runaway tycoon played by Gulshan Grover (in a terribly problematic manner), answers their call and agrees to return.

'Indian 2' Movie Review - The Decline of Shankar the Filmmaker

Since the '90s, Shankar has been an auteur in making anti-system movies with a protagonist who has a common man image but possesses an extraordinary moral compass and even powers. The 1996 film Indian is one of the more enjoyable Shankar films. Though some parts of the movie have aged like milk (the love triangle), its theme of the fight against corruption told through an anguished freedom fighter, the eroding father-son dynamic, and AR Rahman's brilliant music continue to make India relevant and watchable even today. But is that enough to bring back the protagonist for a sequel nearly two decades later?

Subject-wise, I don't think 'corruption' as a theme has become outdated. When Indian 2 lands in theatres, our social media timelines are filled with various scams, from scandals in government postings, poor civil infrastructure, unemployment, and frustration with the increasing rich-poor divide. Indian 2 even takes digs at ultra-rich weddings conducted by tycoons with no-expense-spared attitudes, and the nation is witnessing one right now. So, the central theme of Indian 2 isn't outdated.

There are also other ideas that, in hindsight, feel quite topical. For example, whether India can accept 'Indian' in times when revolutionaries are easily labelled anti-nationals by media and social media and immediately shunned by society, or how social media trends sway the moral acumen of the country's youth. The ideas aren't outdated here. ‘Hindustani 2’: Hindi Version of Kamal Haasan and Shankar’s Action Film ‘Indian 2’ Censored With U/A Certificate, Runtime Revealed.

What's outdated, though, is how Shankar approaches them in the movie. Since 1996, Shankar's formula has been tried and tested by other filmmakers, including his former assistants like Atlee, and some have succeeded at doing so. In fact, even better than Shankar these days. Atlee himself aced the formula with films like Theri, Mersal, and Jawan. While Shankar may have updated his visual narration, his storytelling abilities have declined in the last few years. Indian 2, unfortunately, suffers the worst of that consequence. Not to mention, there is a certain repetition of what is now seen as lazy Shankar tropes we have seen from Gentleman to 2.0, from scenes depicting students dying by suicide to hammy villains to a shallow understanding of social ills.

'Indian 2' Movie Review - Senapathy Being a Bore in His Own Movie

The film deals with two separate tracks that eventually converge near the third act. The first track has Senapathy going on a killing spree of greedy billionaires and corrupt high-ranking officials across the country. As the character played by the late Vivek puts it, the old man has gone 'Pan India'. He is being chased by CBI officer Pramod (Bobby Simha), who turns out to be the son of the old Senapathy hunter Krishnaswamy (the late Nedumudi Venu), but the cops are never able to catch him.

Before Indian 2 came out, there was a lingering doubt about how a 106-year-old man could perform stunts as Senapathy is shown to do in the trailers. I was one of those doubting Thomases. Now that I have watched Indian 2, let's just say that's the least implausible aspect of the film. What's more preposterous is how the old man pulls off his killing sprees and escapes. None of the sequences feel convincingly executed. The 'kills' felt repetitive and overstretched, with the villains dying in OTT deaths. Kamal's makeup feels inconsistent, and what's more, even the actor feels lost in those prosthetics, giving a very mechanical performance. His marma-kriya, which was a dangerous arsenal in the first film, feels like a convenient superpower this time around and takes away the realism from his fights. SJ Suryah, who is primed as the main antagonist, hardly has anything to do here apart from making occasional hammy entrances.

The third act involves an overstretched sequence of Senapathy being chased by Pramod and his team while riding a unicycle. Not only is the scene shot in the most unconvincing and illogical manner, but it also tests your patience as the chase moves from busy metro roads to metro trains. In between, the chase takes a break for Senapathy to go shirtless to show off those CGI abs and fight with other shirtless goons in a warehouse. Was it gratuitous? Yes. Was it necessary? Given the time it wasted of my life, no.

'Indian 2' Movie Review - A Melodramatic Parallel Track

The second track, meanwhile, involves the Barking Dogs gang whose social media campaign brought Senapathy to India. The moral conflict that Senapathy had regarding his son in the first Indian film is now passed on to Chitra and his three friends, along with his girlfriend Disha (Rakul Preet, wasted). Senapathy asks the youth of the country to begin the revolution within their homes first and call out the corrupt within their families. Funnily, there is an episode in The Boys that does the reverse - the villain organisation Vought makes a Christmas special asking kids and viewers to call out the anti-nation people within their folds.

Anyway, the youth listens to Senapathy's advice and begins to expose their own family members. Of course, this doesn't go the way they intended. There was an interesting idea somewhere that the 'sacrifice' Senapathy made with his son Chandru cannot be replicated every time without serious consequences. However, the melodramatic manner in which these sequences are executed ruins the impact and adds to the tedium of an already patience-testing runtime.

'Indian 2' Movie Review - Visual Disappointment Too

Even visually, Indian 2 doesn't impress. Save for the picturisation of the "Calender Song", the rest of the film feels dull, a strange adjective I never thought I would use for a Shankar film. There are some interesting concepts, like an ambush in a zero-gravity chamber that loses much of its sheen due to how hazily they are edited and shot. Anirudh's music also disappoints, as his score merely fills up every space of the film without improving it. The only time I felt something for the score was when it occasionally played the old Indian theme music.

'Indian 2' Movie Review - Final Thoughts

Indian 2 feels like a three-hour excruciating wait at a dingy restaurant. You expect to be served a scrumptious main course but are served salty nuggets instead. Once the wait is over, you are then told to your face to come next year for the full course. For a film that calls out cheaters in society, this feels like a tragic irony. The sad fact is there is nothing redeemable about Indian 2. Not even Kamal Haasan and that's saying something, considering the last time he donned the Senapathy uniform, he got a National Award.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 12, 2024 02:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).