Indian 2 (also marketed as Indian 2: Zero Tolerance) is a 2024 Indian Tamil-language vigilante action film directed by S. Shankar, who co-wrote the script with B. Jeyamohan, Kabilan Vairamuthu and Lakshmi Saravana Kumar. The film is jointly produced by Lyca Productions and Red Giant Movies. It is the second installment in the Indian film series and a sequel to Indian (1996). Kamal Haasan reprises his role as Senapathy, an ageing freedom fighter turned vigilante who fights against corruption, alongside an ensemble cast including Siddharth, S. J. Suryah, Rakul Preet Singh, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Bobby Simha, Vivek, Nedumudi Venu, Kalidas Jayaram, Samuthirakani, Manobala, Gulshan Grover, Brahmanandam, Jagan, Guru Somasundaram and Deepa Shankar. In the film, Senapathy returns to India from abroad after over two decades to aid a group in dealing 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 after that. Principal photography commenced in January 2019, and occurred sporadically over five years, before wrapping by March 2024. In 2020, an accident 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,[c] editor A. Sreekar Prasad, production designer T. Muthuraj and visual effects supervisor V. Srinivas Mohan.
Indian 2 was released worldwide on 12 July 2024 in standard and IMAX formats. The film was compared unfavorably to the original, with critics highlighting the runtime, characterization, and the lack of emotional depth in the screenplay, while Kamal Haasan's performance received praise. The film grossed a total worldwide collection of ₹151 crore and became the highest grossing tamil movie of 2024 by the end of its theatrical run. Due to its length of over six hours, the film was split into two parts, with the latter part titled Indian 3: War mode being aimed for release in 2025.
Chitra Aravindhan, along with his three friends, Aarthi, Thambesh, and Harish, runs a YouTube channel called "Barking Dogs" in Chennai. They focus on creating parodies and political satires, which garner them lakhs of views. However, when a young lady dies by suicide, the team discovers that corrupt officials caused her death. In response, they protest, demanding justice. The police arrest them, but they eventually get bailed out by Chitra's girlfriend, Disha. She lectures them that they cannot single-handedly change the country. Soon, they launch a campaign titled "Come Back Indian," believing that only Senapathy, alias "Indian Thatha" (transl. grandfather), can put an end to the corruption once and for all.
Nilesh, one of Chitra's friends, spots Senapathy in Taipei and discovers that he is running a martial arts school there, teaching Varma Kalai. Nilesh persuades him to return to Chennai, which he eventually does, by using his senior mentor's passport. CBI officers Pramod and Elango attempt to capture Senapathy upon his arrival in India but fail. Senapathy initially starts targeting corrupt individuals in Gujarat and Odisha. Then, he urges his followers and the public to expose corrupt individuals in their respective states through peaceful means, inspired by Gandhi's principles, while he will uphold the ideals of Subhas Chandra Bose. He emphasises that people should prioritise addressing corruption at home before tackling external issues. Senapathy also tearfully mentions that he had killed his own son, Chandrabose "Chandru", in 1996 as he too was a part of the corruption in the country back then and was directly responsible for the deaths of 40 school children due to a brake fault in their school bus. This results in everyone getting motivated; Chitra and his friends then start monitoring their parents' activities to uncover any wrongdoing. 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. They report their findings to the Anti-Corruption Vigilance Team (ACVT), leading to their parents' arrest.
Meanwhile, Senapathy targets corrupt officials who have embezzled lakhs of rupees from the government. Chitra follows his father, Varadharajan, who works at the Anti-Corruption and Vigilance Commission (ACVC) but finds no evidence of wrongdoing. However, Aarthi's father, Thangavel, reveals to Chitra that the young woman who died by suicide was actually a victim of his own father's corruption, not the officer's. Initially sceptical, Chitra investigates and discovers the truth: Varadharajan had accepted bribes from the officer. Chitra reports this to the ACVC, leading to Varadharajan's arrest. Overwhelmed by public shame and ridicule as the wife of a corrupt officer, Chitra's mother commits suicide by hanging. Chitra gets blamed for this and he is unable to do even the last rites for his mother, and Varadharajan too beats Chitra with his slippers due to anger, without any mercy. Devastated by the incident, Chitra meets Senapathy in person near the graveyard and blames him for his mother's death and starts a campaign titled "Go Back Indian", which too becomes viral worldwide, leading Senapathy to earn the wrath of the local people.
On his way to the Chennai metro railway station, Senapathy gets attacked by rowdies but fights them back with his Varma Kalai. However, after witnessing the fight, a mob (consisting of police, criminals, corrupt servants, people who believe he caused the death of Chitra's mother, and those who support #GoBackIndian) attacks Senapathy with slippers and cricket bats without listening to his pleas, as they still think that Chitra's mother committed suicide only due to his arrival. Pramod and Elango eventually arrive and capture Senapathy, but he uses Varma Kalai on Pramod to escape his capture, leaving Pramod paralysed. Upon admitting him to a hospital, the chief doctor informs Pramod's father, Krishnaswamy, a former CBI officer, with whom Senapathy had a conflict 28 years ago, that only Senapathy can save Pramod, as he can reverse the tissue and nerve damage that Varma Kalai inflicts on the victim, otherwise, he would die within three hours. Krishnaswamy then takes the paralysed Pramod to the court where Senapathy is being judged. Senapathy offers to rescue Pramod in exchange for his release, to which the judge reluctantly agrees. Senapathy then takes Pramod with him and leaves the court in an ambulance, promising that he will come back again.
In the end credits scene, Senapathy introduces his parents, Veerasekaran Balram and Dhakshayini, to his followers, who, like him, were also freedom fighters during the British Raj in the 1890s. Their back stories will take place in Indian 3.
Indian 2, a sequel to the 1996 film Indian, was announced on 30 September 2017 by Kamal Haasan, the lead actor of the original. He would be reprising his role and S. Shankar would return to direct, with Sri Venkateswara Creations producing;[9][10] however the studio backed out the following month, reportedly due to increased production costs. Shortly thereafter, Allirajah Subaskaran, header of Lyca Productions, took over as the film's producer.[11][12] The technical crew includes music composer Anirudh Ravichander,[13] cinematographer Ravi Varman, editor A. Sreekar Prasad and production designer T. Muthuraj.[14] Shankar collaborated with Jeyamohan, Kabilan Vairamuthu and Lakshmi Saravanakumar to co-write the film's script and dialogues.[15][16] Principal photography began on 18 January 2019,[17] and was completed by 25 March 2024.[18]
The soundtrack album and background score are composed by Anirudh Ravichander, who is working with Shankar for the first time.[13] He replaces Shankar's frequent collaborator A. R. Rahman, who scored the 1996 film.[19] This will mark the second collaboration of Anirudh with Haasan, after Vikram.[20] After the offer came his way in November 2017, Anirudh started composing for the songs during December 2017, and it took a year to complete the album. He remarked that the delay in the release of 2.0 gave him more time to work on the film's songs.[21]
In November 2023, it was announced that the audio rights for the film were acquired by Sony Music India. The album was officially released on 1 June 2024, which coincided with a promotional event held at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai, with the presence of the film's cast and crew and all the other celebrities.[22]
The film's final trailer was released on 25 June 2024. It received unfavourable response from viewers, with particular criticism towards Haasan's makeup, Shankar's direction and the dialogues; some rued the absence of deceased writer Sujatha, whose contributions to the 1996 film were instrumental in its success. Viewers also questioned the title character's seemingly flawless agility and reflexes, despite him being over 100 years old.[23][24]
Indian 2 was released worldwide on 12 July 2024 in standard and IMAX formats. Apart from its original Tamil language, it was also released in the Telugu and Hindi languages. In April 2023, Udhayanidhi Stalin stated that they were currently planning on releasing the film in theatres during summer (April–June 2024), as it featured extensive visual effects and needed to be completed within the end of 2023.[25][26] Following a year, on 6 April 2024, the production houses officially announced that the film would theatrically release worldwide that June.[27][28] However, after a month, the film was revealed to have been postponed to 12 July, due to a few unfinished post-production works and the makers not wanting to compromise on the quality.[29][30]
Asian Suresh Entertainment LLP and Sri Lakshmi Films acquired the distribution rights of the film in Telangana for ₹22 crore (US$2.6 million).[31]
In July 2023, it was announced that the film's digital streaming rights were purchased by Netflix for a price of ₹120 crore (US$14 million).[32][33] The film began streaming on Netflix from 9 August 2024.[34]
Indian 2 grossed ₹65 crore (US$7.8 million) on its opening day, which was the highest first day gross for a Tamil film in 2024, with over ₹32 crore (US$3.8 million) from India.[35] The film became the second highest opening day gross for both Haasan and Shankar, behind Vikram and 2.0.[36] In its first weekend the film went on to gross ₹109 crore (US$13 million) worldwide with domestic collections of ₹59 crore (US$7.1 million).[37][38] In its first week the film grossed ₹70 crore (US$8.4 million) in India and ₹120 crore (US$14 million) worldwide.[39][40] In its final run, the film grossed ₹151 crore (US$18 million).[8]
Indian 2 received generally unfavorable reviews compared to its predecessor from the critics, who highlighted the film's length, changes in characterization compared to the original, direction, and the lack of emotional depth in screenplay, while Kamal Haasan's performance received praise.[41]
Devash Sharma of Filmfare gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "It's Kamal’s film all the way and his screen presence and acting chops make you forget the haphazard screenplay. Siddharth too is in fine form as a young man with a conscience who wants to do the right thing but is unsure of his actions afterwards. Rakul Preet Singh plays the supportive girlfriend to a T and perhaps would have a better arc in the sequel."[42] Titas Chowdhury of News18 gave 2/5 stars and wrote "Hindustani 2 is a great attempt but it loses itself in its own ambitions. Known for taking risks, S Shankar chooses to stay in his comfort zone with this film."[43] Bollywood Hungama gave 1.5/5 and wrote "Hindustani 2 has its share of mass moments. But due to illogical scenes, long length and limited recall value of the first part, it will have a tough time at the box office."[44] Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in wrote "The aim is to be “pan-Indian”. The result is a bloated, brutish film that rejects non-violent solutions to corruption (“elections do not represent change but an exchange). Senapathy’s tactics didn’t failed the first time round. The success rate is even lower in the sequel."[45]
Goutam S of Pinkvilla gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "The film trying to appeal to a younger audience seems to do random things for the sake of being meta. However, the true essence of the movie still has the potential to be uncovered, especially with the next instalment."[46] Arjun Menon of Rediff.com rated 2.5/5 stars and observed, "The saving grace of Shankar's expanded universe is the masterful precision with which Kamal Haasan drops himself into a messy setup, only slightly to elevate the pulpy tendencies of Shankar's vision."[47]
M. Suganth of The Times of India gave 2/5 stars and wrote "The problem with Indian 2 is that it is filled with writing that lacks nuance and characters who are caricatures. Even in terms of scenes, all the visual excesses that Shankar throws at them - grand sets, visual effects, and frames filled with people - hardly touch us as there's no emotional connect."[48] B. V. S. Prakash of Deccan Chronicle gave 2/5 stars and wrote "Director Shankar used Senapathy to trigger the consciousness of youngsters and motivate them to fight corruption but falters in execution since four people is a bit too much since it sidelines Senapathy feats."[49] Anusha Sundar of OTTPlay gave 2/5 stars and wrote "Indian 2 is a film that has Shankar’s stamp visually all over. Kamal Haasan may not have gotten a glorious comeback as he did in Vikram (2022), but the actor tries to save the film as much as possible. But alas, there is only so much an actor can do."[50]
Janani K of India Today called it the "the weakest entry in director Shankar's filmography", describing it as "weak in every aspect."[51] Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave 1/5 stars and wrote "Indian 2 is nothing but a three hour time suck, where I was bored out of my wits. The end credits tell us that there’s going to be a third part. Help."[52] Siby Jeyya of India Herald gave 1/5 stars and wrote "Unlike the first installment, Indian 2 lacks a fundamental core narrative that elicits strong feelings. Surprisingly, Senapathy's nostalgic part is also somewhat underrepresented. Here, even Kamal's highly praised 'Indian Thatha' outfit from the predecessor is a major letdown. There is absolutely no work by Anirudh."[53] Latha Srinivasan of Hindustan Times wrote "Indian 2 desperately tries to combine the old and the new, to present to us a story that’ll be appealing to the younger audience. Kamal Haasan says he’s fighting for India’s second Independence in the film. But the audience is left fighting to figure out what’s good in this misfire of a film."[54] Gopinath Rajendran of The Hindu wrote, "What hurts the most are two aspects: how the grandeur Shankar is known for falls like a house of cards when not backed with a sturdy plot and how the very character of Senapathy is altered to make the umpteen theories that floated online before the film’s release sound better".[55]
In response to the reviews, particularly criticism towards the three-hour lengthy runtime, 20 minutes of the runtime was removed on the second day of the film's release and began screening in theatres on the third day, leaving the final runtime as 2 hours and 40 minutes.[4]
On 9 July 2024, a case was reportedly filed against the makers seeking a ban on the film. Aasan Rajendran, the head teacher of Varma Kalai, had claimed that he trained Haasan for the first film, and mentioned in his complaint that his techniques was used in the sequel as well. He also mentioned that he had not given permission.[56] The court dismissed the case after the makers of Indian 2 submitted video evidence that Prakashan Gurukkal was the film's primary martial arts instructor.[57]
Although being a single film during production, in June 2023 Udhayanidhi stated that they had discussed plans for a sequel.[25] The following month, it was reported that the film would be split into two-parts, as the final footage for the film was over six hours long; the latter titled Indian 3, was being shot simultaneously.[58] In October 2023, Ananda Vikatan said around 80% of the footage had been shot for Indian 3, and only 25 days were needed to complete it.[59] On 24 March 2024, Haasan confirmed the third installment in the franchise; he stated that Indian 3 was shot alongside Indian 2.[60] In May, Haasan said they were aiming to release Indian 3 in January 2025, six months after the release of the predecessor.[61] At the launch of the trailer of Indian 2, Shankar stated that the split was done because he was impressed with all that was shot and cutting the film to a shorter length would affect its quality.[1] A glimpse of Indian 3 was shown by the makers as a mid-credit scene in Indian 2.[62]
