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Indian 2

Farhad Dalal
By-
Farhad Dalal
Rating
1.5 Star popcorn reviewss

Introduction

Ok picture this! At the ridiculously weird interval block of Indian 2, you have the protagonist Senapathy showcasing his highly skilled moves of Varma Kalai on a character resembling either Ad*ni or Amb*ni, even as that character inexplicitly begins to gallop on the streets of Gujarat in what was an unintentionally hilarious scene. In a separate scene, you see the protagonist facing off with a character in a space-like environment wherein he uses his saliva to communicate a message to the viewers. And I am not even making this up, even as I am cracking up while penning this review. I remember watching Indian as a kid on cable TV in the 90s, and was quite bowled over by the fast cutting visuals and a grounded storyline that clearly demarcated the territories of good versus the evil. It was quite honestly unlike anything that I had watched during the day while the character of Senapathy, a freedom fighter slowly gaining cult status over the years. If you remember in that film, Senapathy had left nation promising to return to fight corruption if it exists in the country. And almost 28 years later, the man returns to the silver screen while again teaming up with director Shankar for the next chapter of the series. Even though its trailer was slightly over the top, I was quite looking forward to watching Kamal Haasan back in action after a superb cameo In Kalki 2898 AD. But little did I know that the next 3 hours of my life would be absolutely a roller coaster with cringe personified and doses of unintentional laughter. So then does the Tamil PAN India film Indian 2(aka Hindustani 2) manage to impress, hell no but stick around for the full roast review.

Story & Screenplay

Indian 2 follows the story of a group of youngsters who decide to trend ‘#ComebackIndian’ on twitter in order to send an SOS to Senapathy in the wake of the growing corruption that is prevalent in the country. And Senapathy obliges(while I wonder why🙈). The story here is absolutely nonsensical and just so fragmented even from a storytelling point of view. The outdated treatment reeks of its hungover from the 90s and early 2000s, while the evolved taste of the viewers is just not taken into account. I mean if you have women scantily dressed dancing out in a song that comes out of nowhere then you know that you are doomed while watching the film. The issue is not the dress here but a song that has no relevance to the story, the instances of which are true at regular junctures in the screenplay standing at over 3 hours. And if the protagonist does tell you that the best is yet to come in Indian 3, then I literally had nothing more to add.

I have had a lot of respect for Kamal Haasan and Shankar but this drama is absolutely atrocious. It begins on a faulty note with an assortment of corruption on display even as you are introduced to a few of the characters who make parody videos while addressing these issues. In a turn of events, they post a hashtag in order to send an SOS to the protagonist, and voila! They are successful. Watching this drama made me realise on what a boomer take it is on the social media given that everything that you post on it doesn’t go viral. Soon you are introduced to the protagonist in the most embarrassing fashion wherein he presents his skills of Varma Kalai, only for a male character to begin reacting like a woman. I swear this is true and totally cringe worthy. As it turns out that protagonist is Senapathy, a most wanted ‘criminal’ in India hunted by the CBI who are nothing but a bunch of morons in a film who cannot nab a person who is walking scot-free while nonchalantly posting on social media that he would be coming live.

The proceedings are just so random and so scattered that there was nothing that could save this drama that was nothing short of being bullsh*t. The drama lacked a cohesive script with some focused writing even as it tackled corruption related issues with issues at a PAN India level. Remember how the conflict of Senapathy having to deal with his corrupt son was such an interesting conflict that was focused with the writing? No such luck here as characters appear and disappear even as the writing jumps from one event to another which have no real relevance to one another. The drama was totally devoid of transition scenes while completely crossing the line in terms of the looney antics of characters, something wherein I burst laughing even in a scene that supposedly had a serious tone to it.

The drama momentarily found me in its second hour with a subplot involving Siddharth’s character and the trauma that he faces after ratting out his father in a corruption case. But that joy of seeing a drama build on it was short lived even as the proceedings broke into a chase sequence featuring Senapathy on a single wheel across the streets of Chennai in what was quite an elaborate period of laughter for me. During this sequence, you see Senapathy(who by the way would be only a year younger than Baa from Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi) shirtless while being laughed upon, until washboard abs suddenly appear on his body, even as he retaliates even as the clueless body of CBI(with whom the original chase began) were nowhere to be seen. I was further speechless when Senapathy used a rolling pin to exhert Varma Kalai on a character that had be in splits while facepalming myself. I mean how far would you go to embarrass yourself? The screenplay here is just so bad that I am curious on what they might offer in the immediate next outing whose glimpse was shown during the mid credits.

Dialogues, Music & Direction

The dialogues are so cringe worthy and poorly written that also at times comtribute to the unintentional humour of the film. The music just doesn’t leave a mark and was quite an insipid outing by Anirudh. Even the BGM exudes of the silliness that is prevalent in the drama. The cinematography marginally impresses during the finale chase sequence and in a couple of songs but other than that, not quite. The editing was horrible too, while the creative decision of dividing a 6 hour draft into 2 parts has baffled me to no bounds. Director Shankar had definitely changed the grammer of filmmaking in the 90s and 2000s with his elaborate and innovative style of filmmaking that did tackle the subject of corruption rather well. But he misses the mark and how here! Suddenly, his style of filmmaking seems so outdated that it borders on being silly. The direction is so bad that it made me wonder whether this is the same person who had previously directed films like Aparachit and Nayak. And I am not sure if this is a minor blemish or the aftereffects of a filmmaker who is way past his prime.

Performances

The performances are atrocious to say the least. There are so many cameos from actors like Piyush Mishra, Zakir Hussain, Gulshan Grover, Kalidas Jayaram and Rakul Preet Singh, but not one actor stands out. Even an actor like SJ Suryah is reduced to a caricature. Rishikanth as Harish and Jagan as Thambesh just about manage to hang on. Priya Bhavani Shankar as Aarthi has so little to do as well. Hell, even Siddharth as Chitra is reduced to a side character although he remains the best actor on display, emoting wonderfully in the funeral scene outburst. Bobby Simha as Pramod is unbelievably bad and does a horrendous job. Kamal Haasan as Senapathy also doesn’t rise above the insipid script. The trappings are such that his character which was iconic and did not need to be touched, is reduced to such a caricature that it was embarrassing to watch him in so many scenes. This is an outing that should well be forgotten in his filmography which is otherwise a wonderful to study and witness.

Conclusion

Indian 2(aka Hindustani 2) has got to be the most fragmented film of the year and a pale shadow of the first film with such outdated writing and execution, that it is infact embarrassing to witness. After a point I was literally like, ‘Please Don’t Embarrass Yourself Further’, even as the drama ran in all directions like a headless chicken while providing bouts of unintentional humour. And I can’t be baffled enough to think that this was just the beginning, as Indian 3 arrives next year! Oh Lord, please forgive me for my sins! Available in a theatre near you.

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