INDIAN 2 Review

Indian 2 was in the making for about five years and beset by numerous challenges and even tragedies. The film was finally released worldwide on 12 July to largely negative reviews but positive takings at the box-office. Kamalhaasan and Siddharth head the cast, supported by Priya Bhavani Shankar, Rakul Preeth Singh, Bobby Simha, Samuthrakani, SJ Surya, Kalidas Jayaram,  and Jegan The film was a posthumous release for four members of the cast – Vivek, Nedumudi Venu, Manobala and G Marimuthu.

What made Indian work back in 1996 was the freshness of the plot, the deep insight into Senathipathy’s character and the motivation for him eventually killing people. The fierce loyalty of a former freedom fighter disillusioned by what his beloved motherland had become was unpeeled, layer by layer, exposing his soul to the audience so that the audience could almost sense his pain and sense of betrayal.

Unfortunately, the 2024 sequel to this film is completely devoid of all this, showing Senathipathy to be a killer with a perverted sense of justice, an almost sadistic killer who is selective about who his victims should be without the burning sense of patriotism that one got from the original.

The corrupt people in the sequel are simply that – corrupt people – and even the story arc involving Chithra Aravindan (Siddharth) is handled in such a casual way that the audience remains at a distance, unable to be drawn into the character or the situation.

There could be many reasons for the lack of impact of this much-hyped sequel, and this could include the five long years it took to film or the details of a story that required a third movie to complete, but the lack of impact is much more than the case of a disjointed movie without soul – The film exposes Shankar’s lack of attention to detail and realism that did appear sporadically in his previous films, but were largely hidden by the grandeur of the plot or the other expensive commercial gimmicks Shankar loves to use. In this film, the audience is not swayed by the plot or even the expensive visual effects, exposing the many holes in the screenplay and the annoying lack of logic or reasoning in many of the scenes.

Sadly, the film’s overall impact is so bad that it clouds the sheer intensity of Kamalhaasan’s spirited performance as Senathipathy. In addition to the plot loopholes, poor writing further weighs down his performance. Siddharth, who has proven his versatility in acting in numerous other films, comes across as one who relies on melodrama to drive emotion and is a role that he would like to forget.

Priya Bhavani Shankar is under-utilised and is often reduced to an on-screen spectator in crucial scenes. Rakul Preeth Singh is also handicapped by the poor writing Even brilliant actors like Samuthrakani and Thambi Ramiah are unable to boost the film. The late Vivek, in his only film with Kamalhaasan, is also a shadow of himself, However, the late Nedumudi Venu, despite the weakness of the script, still shows the calibre of actor he was, going even beyond his performance in the original.

Cinematographers Ravi Varman and R Rathnavelu capture the glamour of the film, but – like many in the cast – do so without soul. Music by Anirudh Ravichander does not make any positive contribution to the film.

Those who have not seen the original film will find it difficult to connect with this film and those who did would find the references frustrating. The concept would have been better if Shankar had combined Parts 2 and 3 into one film, as the glimpse into Part 3 at the end of the film does show a lot of promise.

Indian 2 scores 5 points out of 10.