INDIAN 2 MOVIE REVIEW
Cast: Kamal Haasan, Siddharth, Bobby Simha, Rakul Preet Singh, SJ Suryah, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Samuthirakani, Gulshan Grover
Director: Shankar
In a world where corruption scandals trend on Twitter before they hit the streets, Indian 2 drags its centenarian hero out of retirement with all the grace of a rusty knife. Kamal Haasan returns as Senapathy, summoned by a group of millennial YouTubers who clearly skipped their history lessons. What follows is a three-hour sermon on morality that’s about as subtle as a punch from Senapathy’s creaky fist.
Shankar, never one for restraint, cranks his signature style up to 11. The result is a visual cacophony that assaults the senses but rarely engages the mind. A Bolivian musical number, Varma Kalai fight scenes that defy both gravity and logic – it’s all there. The story follows a group of YouTubers named Barking Dogs with their #ComeBackIndian trending on social media. Senapathy (Kamal Haasan), the ‘Indian Thatha’, heeds the call and returns back from Taiwan to beat up fraudsters. The narrative thus follows these two groups and their fight against corruption.
Kamal Haasan commits fully to his geriatric vigilante, even if the script forgets to explain how a 100-year-old man can parkour across Chennai. The supporting cast, including Siddharth as a wide-eyed crusader, are left to flounder in underwritten roles. Siddharth is good on screen, while Bobby Simha is decent. The rest all including Rakul Preet Singh, SJ Suryah, Priya Bhavani Shankar and Samuthirakani are adequate. It was nice to see Vivek a couple of times.
Indian 2 occasionally stumbles into relevance, like a scene where a quack doctor attempts surgery via YouTube tutorial. But these moments of acuity are quickly buried under an avalanche of heavy-handed moralizing and stereotypes. Anirudh, who usually delivers some hits, has no memorable songs here. The reuse of AR Rahman’s original score will provoke some hope.
In trying to update its predecessor’s righteous anger for the social media age, Indian 2 ends up feeling hopelessly outdated. It’s a bloated, bewildering spectacle that mistakes excess for relevance.