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 Saravanakumar. The film is jointly produced by Lyca Productions and Red Giant Movies. It is a sequel to Indian (1996). Kamal Haasan reprises his role as Senapathy, an aging freedom fighter turned vigilante who fights against corruption. The film includes an ensemble cast, with Siddharth, S. J. Suryah, Rakul Preet Singh, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Vivek, Samuthirakani, Bobby Simha, Nedumudi Venu, Delhi Ganesh, Manobala, Jagan, and Gulshan Grover. Kajal Aggarwal and Kalidas Jayaram also appear in cameo roles. In the film, set years after the events in Indian, Senapathy returns to help Chitra Aravindhan and his team 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 up in 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 12th of July 2024 in standard and IMAX formats. The film received negative reviews, with critics highlighting the runtime and the lack of emotional depth in the screenplay, while Haasan, Siddharth and Suryah’s performance received praise. Despite under-performing commercially, the film grossed 150 crore worldwide and became the fifth highest-grossing Tamil film of 2024 by the end of its theatrical run. As the final footage ran for over six hours, the project was split into two films, with the latter part, titled Indian 3: War Mode, remaining unreleased as of 2026.
Plot
Chitra Aravindhan is an online media reporter living in Chennai with his mother, Chitra, and his father, Varadharajan, who works at the Anti-Corruption and Vigilance Commission (ACVC). Chitra runs a popular YouTube channel called "Barking Dogs" with his friends Aarthi, Thambesh, and Harish; the channel focuses on parodies and political satires. After a woman named Sunitha commits suicide, the four friends discover that a corrupt government official caused her death. In response, they stage a protest and are arrested by the local police. Chitra's girlfriend Disha bails the four out of jail and tells them that they cannot single-handedly fix the corruption problems of an entire country. In response, Chitra and his friends launch a "Come Back Indian" campaign, hoping to entice Senapathy, a retired vigilante who fought against corruption, to return to India and end corruption.
Nilesh, one of Chitra's friends, spots Senapathy in Taipei, Taiwan, and discovers that he is running a martial arts school, teaching Varma Kalai. Nilesh persuades Senapathy to return to Chennai using his senior mentor's passport. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officers Pramod and Elango unsuccessfully attempt to capture Senapathy upon his arrival in Chennai. In a viral Facebook Live video, Senapathy urges his followers and the public to expose corrupt individuals across India through peaceful means, inspired by Gandhian principles, while he will uphold the revolutionary ideals of Subhas Chandra Bose. Senapathy emphasizes that his followers should prioritize addressing corruption at home before tackling external issues. He also emotionally reveals that he reluctantly killed his son Chandru for accepting bribes. Senapathy's message motivates Chitra and his friends, who start monitoring their parents' activities. 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 relatives' arrest.
Senapathy targets and kills several corrupt businessmen engaging in embezzlement and financial fraud, including multinational corporation owner Amit Aggarwal and a Gujarati gold trader named Darshan. Pramod investigates the killings and formulates a plan to arrest Senapathy. Meanwhile, Chitra monitors his father Varadharajan, initially finding no evidence of wrongdoing. However, Aarthi's father Thangavel reveals that Varadharajan had met with the corrupt officer who caused Sunitha's death. Initially skeptical, Chitra investigates and discovers the truth: Varadharajan had accepted a bribe from the officer. Chitra reports this to the ACVC, leading to Varadharajan's arrest. After learning that Chitra is responsible for Varadharajan's arrest, Chitra's mother evicts him from their home. Senapathy congratulates Chitra and his friends for their courage, and plans to meet them in person. The next day, however, they learn that Chitra's mother has committed suicide out of shame, and Varadharajan has disowned him. Devastated by the incident, Chitra and his friends meet with Senapathy near a graveyard. Senapathy apologizes for what has happened, but Chitra blames Senapathy for his mother's death and for killing Chandru. He launches a new campaign, "Go Back Indian", which becomes viral and earns Senapathy the wrath of the local populace.
Pramod and Elango locate Senapathy and attempt to arrest him, but he flees on an electric unicycle. During the chase, Senapathy is attacked by a group of gangsters, but fights them off. However, a mob of angry onlookers, including police, criminals, and corrupt officials, surrounds and attacks Senapathy, ignoring his pleas. Pramod and Elango eventually arrive and arrest him, but Senapathy uses Varma Kalai on Pramod, who suffers a brain injury and collapses. Pramod is admitted to a hospital, where the chief doctor informs his father, Krishnaswamy, a retired CBI officer, that Pramod will die in three hours and only Senapathy can reverse the tissue and nerve damage Pramod has suffered. Krishnaswamy then takes the paralysed Pramod to a nearby criminal court, where Senapathy faces conviction for his crimes. Senapathy offers to save Pramod's life in exchange for his release, and the judge reluctantly agrees. Senapathy leaves the court and drives away with Pramod in an ambulance, promising that he will return.
Cast
Production
Development
During the production of Indian (1996), 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 (2018). 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, publicly 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, head 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 (2018) and commit to his political career. In August 2018, Shankar and Haasan announced that the film's shoot would 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 remuneration 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 before the 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 as 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.
Filming