“Indian 2” (also marketed as “Indian 2: Zero Tolerance”) is a 2024 Indian Tamil-language vigilante action film directed by S. Shankar, co-written with B. Jeyamohan, Kabilan Vairamuthu, and Lakshmi Saravana Kumar. Jointly produced by Lyca Productions and Red Giant Movies, the film is the second installment in the Indian trilogy, following the 1996 film “Indian.” Kamal Haasan reprises his role as Senapathy, an aging freedom fighter turned vigilante battling corruption. The ensemble cast includes Siddharth, S. J. Suryah, Rakul Preet Singh, Bobby Simha, Vivek, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Gulshan Grover, Samuthirakani, and Nedumudi Venu. The story picks up years after the events of “Indian,” with Senapathy returning from abroad to support Chitra Aravindhan and her team, who expose corrupt politicians through online videos.
The project was announced in September 2017. Initially, Sri Venkateswara Creations was involved but opted out a month later, with Lyca Productions stepping in. Principal photography began in January 2019 and was intermittently carried out over five years, concluding in March 2024. Filming faced delays due to a fatal accident in 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic, pausing production for two years until Red Giant Movies joined as co-producers. The technical team includes musician Anirudh Ravichander, cinematographers Ravi Varman and R. Rathnavelu, editor A. Sreekar Prasad, production designer T. Muthuraj, and visual effects supervisor V. Srinivas Mohan.
“Indian 2” was released worldwide on July 12, 2024, in standard and IMAX formats. Critics gave it negative reviews, comparing it unfavorably to its predecessor and criticizing the writing for being outdated and lacking emotional depth, though Haasan’s performance was praised. Due to its final runtime exceeding six hours, the film was split into two parts, with “Indian 3” scheduled for release in 2025.
| Directed by | S. Shankar |
|---|---|
| Written by | S. Shankar |
| Dialogues by | B. Jeyamohan |
| Kabilan Vairamuthu | |
| Lakshmi Saravana Kumar | |
| Screenplay by | S. Shankar |
| Story by | S. Shankar |
| Produced by | Subaskaran Allirajah |
| Udhayanidhi Stalin | |
| Starring | Kamal Haasan |
| Siddharth | |
| Rakul Preet Singh | |
| S. J. Suryah | |
| Cinematography | Ravi Varman |
| Edited by | A. Sreekar Prasad |
| Music by | Anirudh Ravichander |
| Production | Lyca Productions |
| companies | Red Giant Movies |
| Distributed by | see below |
| Release date | 12 July 2024 |
| Running time | 180 minutes [a] |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
| Budget | ₹150–300 crore |
Cast:
- Kamal Haasan as Veerasekaran Senapathy / “Indian”
- Siddharth as Chitra Aravindhan
- Rakul Preet Singh as Disha
- S. J. Suryah as “Sakalakala Vallavan” Sarguna Pandian
- Bobby Simha as Pramod Krishnaswamy
- Vivek as Elango[d]
- Priya Bhavani Shankar as Aarthi Thangavel
- Brahmanandam as Ramana Reddy
- Samuthirakani as Varadharajan
- Kalidas Jayaram as Nilesh Krishnaa
- Nedumudi Venu as Inspector Krishnaswamy[d]
- Delhi Ganesh as Krishna Mohan
- Manobala as Nanjunda Moorthy[d]
- Jagan as Thambesh
- Rishikanth as Harish
- Gulshan Grover as Amit Agarwal
- Zakir Hussain as Darshan Bhai
- Piyush Mishra as Kishan Singh
- Akhilendra Mishra as Madanlal Mehta
- G. Marimuthu as Chitra’s uncle[d]
- Vinod Sagar
- Yograj Singh as Amit’s Bodyguard
- Renuka as Kanagalatha Thangavel
- Thambi Ramaiah as Thangavel
- Kalyani Natarajan as Chitra Varadharajan
- C. Ranganathan
- Ravi Venkatraman as Corrupt officer
- Cheranraj as Police officer
- Demi-Leigh Tebow in a cameo appearance as a model in the song “Calender Song”
Production:
“Indian 2,” a sequel to the 1996 film “Indian,” was announced on September 30, 2017, by Kamal Haasan, the lead actor of the original film. Haasan would reprise his role, with S. Shankar returning to direct. Initially, Sri Venkateswara Creations was set to produce the film; however, the studio backed out the following month due to increased production costs. Subsequently, Allirajah Subaskaran, head of Lyca Productions, took over as the film’s producer. The technical crew includes music composer Anirudh Ravichander, cinematographer Ravi Varman, editor A. Sreekar Prasad, and production designer T. Muthuraj. Shankar collaborated with Jeyamohan, Kabilan Vairamuthu, and Lakshmi Saravanakumar to co-write the film’s script and dialogues. Principal photography began on January 18, 2019, and was completed by March 25, 2024.
Theatrical Release:
“Indian 2” was released worldwide on July 12, 2024, in both standard and IMAX formats. In April 2023, Udhayanidhi Stalin mentioned that they were planning to release the film in theaters during the summer of 2024 (April–June), as the film featured extensive visual effects that needed to be completed by the end of 2023. A year later, on April 6, 2024, the production houses officially announced a June release date. However, the film was subsequently postponed to July 12 due to some unfinished post-production work, with the makers emphasizing their commitment to quality. “Indian 2” became the first Indian film to be released in the 4DX format in Saudi Arabia.
