CHENNAI: The neta-in-a-hurry is going to be an abhineta again. After indicating a year-end deadline to launch his political party, actor Kamal Haasan is ready to wear grease paint for a sequel to his 1996 blockbuster Indian.
Rumours about the new movie, Indian 2, with director Shankar, known for his big-budget films, were doing the rounds on social media for the last few days. On Saturday, a tweet from the official handle of Shree Venkateswara Creations, a production house run by Hyderabad-based Dil Raju, confirmed the news. And Kamal made a formal announcement of the new film during the finale of the Bigg Boss reality show on a TV channel. The movie is only expected to go on the floors next April.
Kamal is expected to use Indian 2 to refurbish his image as an anti-corruption crusader. In the 1996 film, Kamal played the role of a freedom fighter who is willing to give up anything to avoid paying bribes, which even leads to the death of his on-screen daughter in a government hospital. The protagonist, played by Kamal, then goes on a killing spree of corrupt government officers and does not stop even though one of them is his own son.
Incidentally, Shankar is currently directing Enthiran 2.0 starring actor Rajinikanth, another superstar who is speculated to make the political plunge. It is not clear how politician Kamal would find the time to shoot a movie.
Kamal though is not the first Tamil actor to take recourse to a movie to build a popular anti-corruption image. In 2002, Vijayakant’s box-office hit Ramana, in which also the protagonist goes on a killing spree of corrupt government officers, is believed to have helped Vijayakant’s popularity just ahead of the launch of his party DMDK.
Kamal taking a leaf out of Vijayakanth’s book could do a whole lot of good, but one can only hope that he uses the law to take on corruption in real life unlike his character in Indian, who punishes the offenders by targeting their key centres using ‘Varma Kalai’. His Vishwaroopam 2 is awaiting release.