2.0: Why Kamal Haasan would have been the ideal antagonist in Rajinikanth-starrer

In his twenty-eight year-long career, Akshay Kumar never applied prosthetic makeup, but for his look as the evil fifth force in 2.0, the actor had to patiently wait for three hours to get into the skin of the character. Without a doubt, Akshay’s Pakshi Rajan can neither be categorised as a hero nor a villain, but has been received well by the critics and general audiences alike. Having said that, Kamal Haasan should have ideally played Pakshi Rajan, the aging vigilante who wants revenge for a good cause. Because though Akshay’s got a moving backstory which also sounds morally right, when he fights against the mighty Rajinikanth, the battle doesn’t seem convincing enough. From a Tamil movie fan’s point of view, it’s Rajinikanth who steals the show throughout the film and not Akshay. Moreover, Pakshi also seems like an extension of Kamal’s role as Senapathy in Indian. Spoilers ahead All the three forms of Rajinikanth —Dr Vaseegaran, Chitti, 2.0 and 3.0 have to join forces to defeat Pakshi Rajan. However, the battle is not powerful enough, because Akshay is just another antagonist from Bollywood. What if Kamal Haasan had played Pakshi Rajan instead? [caption id=“attachment_4194955” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Kamal Haasan. Image via Firstpost[/caption] Be it Enthiran or 2.0, the biggest attraction is not the VFX or the budget but the way Shankar showcases the histrionics of Rajinikanth. Several Rajinikanth fans and audiences say they had missed the swag, style and screen presence of Rajinikanth in Kabali and Kaala. Now_,_ they are thanking Shankar for bringing back their superstar. While the hero has been flawlessly glorified, the antagonist, Pakshi, doesn’t have any such pleasing moments—he only sounds evil and deadly but there aren’t enough applause-worthy moments for Akshay. Had Kamal played the same role, Shankar would have sketched his character with elements loved by his fans and the actor would have got powerful punchlines. Although a majority of young Tamil movie fans on the Internet like either Vijay or Ajith, they also equally admire Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, the two biggest superstars of Tamil cinema. We all know that Rajinikanth and Kamal share a good friendship but there is an underlying cold war between their fans. Considering these two factors, imagine a film where Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan go head to head - the battle would be no less than an epic. For those who don’t know, Pakshi Rajan was originally written keeping Kamal Haasan in mind. The film’s writer Jeyamohan who named the antagonist Pakshi Rajan, says “The character was originally written for Kamal Haasan. In fact, we made the character discuss a lot of historical facts and hereditary-related issues keeping Kamal in mind." Kamal Haasan also has an off-screen image as a socially responsible citizen who talks about the pride of Tamil people, ancient culture, therefore both Shankar and Jeyamohan wanted him to play Pakshi Rajan. With due respect to Akshay’s hard work and heartfelt performance, Kamal Haasan would have lifted the emotional flashback scenes in 2.0 to a different level. In the film, Akshay has a scene where he recalls a classic Tamil line written by ancient poet Nammalvar but the dialogue lacks soul because it was performed by an actor who doesn’t know the language. Known for his crystal clear Tamil pronunciation and powerful voice, Kamal would have created a bigger impact in that scene. [caption id=“attachment_5497781” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Akshay Kumar as the cell-phone robot antagonist in Rajinikanth-starrer 2.0. YouTube screengrab[/caption] Also, whenever Kamal plays as an antagonist, he creates shivering moments. Be it Fletcher in Dasavatharam or Nandu in Aalavandhan, Kamal’s villainy avatars are a class apart. If a director like Shankar had handled Kamal Haasan in such a powerful negative role, the impact would have been even more exceptional. In his various interactions, Shankar has said that he wanted Kamal Haasan to play Akshay’s role but the actor was more excited for_Indian 2,_ so he had to approach other actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger, who also opted of the project due to a contractual disagreement. The irony is that Shankar’s initial choice for Enthiran was also Kamal Haasan but the project got dropped due to budget constraints. Being a filmmaker with an amazing commercial sense, Shankar would have given equal scope to Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan in 2.0. In the current version, the badass 2.0 and the naughty 3.0 utter catchy punchlines whereas Akshay doesn’t have any such moments which may not have been the case unless Kamal had given his nod to the film. Imagine the scene where the antagonist’s soul or aura (as they call it in the film) gets into Vaseegaran’s body. The quick transformation of Rajinikanth to Kamal Haasan would have been the best moment ever witnessed by a Tamil moviegoer. Forget the aforementioned scene and the film. A poster featuring Rajinikanth as Chitti and Kamal Haasan as the Pakshi Rajan would have created a sensation in Tamil film industry. However, there is no point in blaming Shankar alone because he wanted Kamal Haasan to play the particular role but the actor politely declined the offer citing various reasons. While Kamal and Rajinikanth are gearing up to serve the people of Tamil Nadu, fans wait with bated breath for the actors to come together on screen. To sum it up, _2.0 i_s indeed a costly miss for Tamil audiences who are longing to watch both Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan share screen space. 2.0, the costliest film ever made in Indian cinema could have been a perfect farewell to the fans of Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan because both the actors will soon put a full stop to acting and get into full-fledged politics.