Indian 2 review: Kamal soars, yet his anti-corruption saga goes for a toss

Direction: S Shankar

Rating: 2/5

Legendary actor Kamal Haasan showcased traces of his acting brilliance in his latest offering ‘Indian 2’, but couldn’t salvage a contrived plot, and also the lengthy screenplay tests the audience's patience. Undoubtedly, it was a much-awaited sequel to ‘Indian’ (Bharateeyudu) released in 1996 since it was a trailblazer of sorts as an aged freedom fighter–a vigilante to eradicate corruption by punishing tainted government officials. But this time, ace director Shankar turned over-ambitious. He extends his protagonist killing spree to business tycoons and politicians who looted the wealth of the country from Gujarat to Punjab and Chennai and the film loses its track. However, Senapathy who is in Taipei is asked to come back by four youngsters who run YouTube which is led by Siddharth and Priya Bhavani and two others. Senapathy inspires them to expose corrupt people at home which would eventually make a corruption-free society. It is a very good idea on paper but goes awry as four people begin to expose their kin but it drags beyond point, while Senapathy is busy killing people in other states. Although the CBI officer(Bobby Simha) is hell-bent on arresting him, his investigation is slow-paced and lacks conviction. Finally, when Senapathy meets Siddarth and his team, he finds them dejected. Yet again, Kamal manages to escape from the clutches of law and promises to return as ‘Indian 3’, hope he comes back with a better mission and engaging screenplay. Another big flaw was doing a sequel for an iconic film like ‘Indian’ after 26 years is too late and exhaustive since the sequel doesn’t have the ‘uniqueness’ and spirit of the first part and falls short of expectations.

While ‘Indian’ was well-balanced between the two Kamal Haasan while the younger one was corrupt yet engaged the audience with his love track with Manisha and made it commercially viable, while the senior was removing weeds in society. But this time, it is just lengthy preaching, and also a few anti-corruption movies like 'Tagore' have come in between to take the sheen out of the sequel.

Siddharth and his team run a YouTube channel and are popular for their honest trolls and messages. Siddarth is shocked when a girl jumps from the rooftop after being denied a teacher job since she is reluctant to pay a bribe. Another youngster goes under a train after his family is harassed by collection agents when he fails to pay his education loan. Helpless Siddharth runs a hashtag comeback Indian and receives loads of support and 100-year-old Kamal Haasan listens to their requests and plans to return to India after eliminating an alleged liquor baron who usurped public money and enjoying his life in Taipei after declaring himself bankrupt. He arrives in India in a new getup but finds a CBI officer closing in on him. He manages to escape and begins his mission.

After the blockbuster ‘Vikram,’ Kamal Haasan returns to the Telugu audience with ‘Bharateeyudu 2’ and performs his role to perfection but his mission is wrongly targeted and he tries to make up for it, with his performance and varied looks but in vain. The energy and spirit of Senapathy who was rocking in the first part doesn't carry enough meat in the second part, despite playing an aged role, barring a few moments and fight sequences. Siddharth does a good job as an upright youngster who exposes his family members and faces a lot of brickbats. Bobby Simha as CBI officer is just ok, while late comedian Vivek's jokes fail to evoke laughter. The cinematography by Ravi Varman is good, but the music by Anirudh Ravichander is no match to A R Rahman’s work in ‘Indian’ and fails to enthrall viewers.

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. Besides, using Varma kala to trigger singing in a victim and also making another one gallop like a horse takes the sting out of his anti-corruption tirade of his protagonist.