Shankar's 'Indian 2' movie review: Even Kamal Haasan's acting mettle can't save this shoddy vigilante actioner

Cast: Kamal Haasan, Siddharth, S. J. Suryah, Rakul Preet Singh, Bobby Simha, Vivek, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Gulshan Grover, Samuthirakani, Piyush Mishra and Nedumudi Venu

Director: S. Shankar

Back in 1996, when Indian (Hindustani) was released, Kamal Haasan’s character Senapathy became everyone’s instant favourite. The freedom fighter turned vigilante, whose mission was to eradicate corruption from his state became relatable along with his swag and Varma Kalai martial art making him a part of emulation.

After 28 years, director Shankar has brought back his Senapathy and this time his mission is bigger, broader and tougher. While the trailer and songs have garnered immense response, does it fulfil the sky-high expectations of the cinegoers? Let’s find out…

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Just like the first part, the _Hindustani 2_ aka Indian 2 deals with societal issues highlighting corruption, loopholes in the education system and others. However, this time it is shown across the country. Chitra Aravindhan highlights all corruption stories around him through his YouTube Channel Barking Dogs along with friends.

Pissed with all the wrongdoings in the state, he and his friends trend #ComeBackIndian on social media, which turns out to be a social media revolution. Chitra’s friend discovers that Hindustani aka Indian is in Japan and asks him to return as corruption has become the biggest problem in the country.

Hindustani agrees and comes back to the country and starts assassinating all the corrupt personalities. Impressed by his actions, youth soon makes him an icon. Later, Hindustani tells his community to check whether there are any corrupt people in their homes in the form of their parents or relatives. Chitra along with his friends discovers that their close ones are doing corruption. Keeping the country above their bond with parents and relatives, Chitra and others register complaints against them to government officials.

However, due to this Chitra’s life takes a tragic turn, which changes his emotion to hatred for Hindustani. Soon, he and his community friends trend #GoBackIndian. So, will Hindustani win his community all over again while cleaning the country from corruption and other evil things?

Shankar is an amazing filmmaker and his filmography is enough to prove that, however, Hindustani might turn out to be his weakest movie as the topic itself is very dated. With a runtime of 3 hours, there are several scenes which make you feel absurd. While the film is strong in all the technical aspects, it fails to create high points or elevations.

Talking about the performances, Kamal Haasan is a legend and it’s commendable that after 28 years, he reprised the role of Senapathy with ease and finesse. Not to forget his charismatic charm on the big screen. Siddharth has done a fine job while Priya Bhavani Shankar and Rakul Preet put their best foot forward in the limited role.

It was sad to see actors like Gulshan Grover and Piyush Mishra getting wasted with negligible roles. While there is blink and miss appearances of Akhilendra Mishra, Brahmanandan and SJ Suryah, I am hopeful that the audience will see more of them in the third part.

Hindustani 2 is long and marred by a disjointed screenplay but I hope the third part, which will release in 2025 will be crisper and sharper.

Rating: 2 (out of 5 stars)

Hindustani 2 is playing in cinemas