A classic example of irony dying a thousand deaths would be Kamal Haasan’s Indian 2. Part-time politician Kamal Haasan, a man in bed with the DMK in real life, donning the cap of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose to fight corruption in reel life as ‘Indian’. It’s not just ironic but also moronic.
Indian (1996) became a blockbuster and still remains a cult classic not just because of Kamal Haasan, the star. There was a genuine attempt to bring out the angst of a common Indian against the corrupt system, that he/she deals with on a day-to-day basis. There was a strong storyline with a fine character arc for Senapathy – from a freedom fighter to a vigilante who wouldn’t hesitate to kill his own son to uphold justice. Exposing the audience to Varma Kalai and a gripping screenplay hooked the audience. Powerful dialogues mouthed by Kamal Haasan struck a chord with people because Kamal wasn’t the hypocrite back then, as he is today. Today people can see through the hypocrisy and propaganda coming from a man who has pledged his soul to the DMK.
The film itself is shoddily made. The team has experimented with multiple looks for Kamal Haasan, none of which add value. The long hair-do of Kamal Haasan seems as realistic as the wig of one Dravidian politician. The screenplay is as loose as the morals of a Dravidianist. And the dual mission theme unnecessarily drags the film to three hours. Nothing, I repeat, nothing at all works in the film. Shankar’s same old wine in a new bottle is not ageing well and has in fact become toxic like the methanol that gets formed in bootleg liquor. The effects of watching Indian 2 will be the same as consuming bootleg liquor – your eyes go blind seeing Kamal’s shoddy make up, your ears will stop working due to the loud noise scored by Anirudh, your mind will go numb due to the non-sensical screenplay, you will feel nauseous on listening to Kamal’s dialogues, you will have trouble breathing because of the obnoxious levels of logic of Varma Kalai.
Picture this – there’s a scene where Kamal performs Varma Kalai on a villain and he gallops like a horse. Seriously? To add to the torturous experience is the virtue-signaller Siddarth who has kept his mouth shut on social issues ever since the DMK came to power. His very presence in the movie is repelling and makes the entire film uninteresting. By the time the film ends you wish Indian Thatha had died along with his son in the first part so that we would’ve been spared this nonsense. The fact that you will stay alive after enduring this celluloid torture will haunt you for the rest of your life.
Shankar should consider retiring from film-making and stick to praising good films on Twitter as his films are becoming cringeworthy that are overshadowing his previous blockbusters. Whether it was I, Endhiran 2.0 or Indian 2, it is evident that his filmmaking has reached saturation. He has no original ideas, no imagination, no writing skills. You begin to wonder if he would’ve become this ‘grandeur’ director if not for Sujatha and Balakumaran. And of course, now that he’s chosen to become an agent to further Dravidian propaganda, he will be able to save the respect he’s earned for himself all these years if he stops making films.
Shankar playing to the gallery of DMK gets exposed when he shows all kinds of freebies except the ‘colour TV’. There’s the usual demonization of Gujaratis, parroting the Dravidianists in ridiculing wealth creators like Ambani and Adani. Shankar, Kamal and co have no guts to talk about the illegal river sand mining and quarrying happening in Tamil Nadu but will go all the way to Gujarat (a BJP ruled state) to touch the issue of illegal mining. Have some spine or a little bit of shame Shankar.
‘Indian 2’ will go down as the weakest film in director Shankar’s portfolio. It feels like a movie made out of a discussion from a woke 2K kid’s WhatsApp group.
Instead of spending your quality time and hard-earned money on this non-sensical film, you might as well consider sending it to the account of The Commune as a token of thanks for this write-up – Click here to pay. Your money will help us in the fight against the Leftist-Dravidianist ecosystem in Tamil Nadu.
Vallavaraayan is a political writer.
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