"Indian 2" and "Indian 3" are Indian Tamil-language vigilante action films directed by S. Shankar, who co-wrote them with B. Jeyamohan, Kabilan Vairamuthu and Lakshmi Saravana Kumar. They are jointly produced by Lyca Productions and Red Giant Movies. The sequels to "Indian" (1996), they serve respectively as the second and third instalment of the "Indian" trilogy. Kamal Haasan reprises his role from the first film as Senapathy, an ageing freedom fighter turned vigilante who fights against corruption, with Siddharth, S. J. Suryah, Kajal Aggarwal, Rakul Preet Singh, Bobby Simha, Vivek, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Gulshan Grover, Samuthirakani and Nedumudi Venu joining the ensemble cast.
The films had a troubled production history, undergoing major changes before and during production. "Indian 2" was announced in September 2017. Sri Venkateswara Creations was initially on board, but opted out a month later. Lyca entered the production thereafter. Principal photography commenced in January 2019, and occurred sporadically over five years, before wrapping by March 2024. Both parts were shot back-to-back, with filming locations include Chennai, Rajahmundry, Bhopal, Gwalior, Tirupati, Vijayawada, Johannesburg and Taiwan. In 2020, an accident that killed some crew members and the COVID-19 pandemic delayed filming for two years until Red Giant Movies entered as co-producers. The technical crew 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.
Development.
During the production of "Indian" (1996), its lead actor Kamal Haasan asked the director S. Shankar to make a sequel, but Shankar did not have a concrete story idea then. In September 2011, Shankar said many people asked him to make a sequel following Anna Hazare's anti-corruption crusade, and A. M. Rathnam, producer of the 1996 film, urged him to do so. In May 2015, Ratnam confirmed that he and Shankar discussed making a sequel but doubted the project's viability as the director was busy with the production of "2.0" (2018). Despite delaying starting the sequel due to "2.0", Shankar continued working on a story theme for it, under the tentative title "Indian 2". On 30 September 2017, Haasan, the host of the first season of the Tamil reality television show "Bigg Boss" in Chennai, publicity announced the project during the season finale. Haasan was confirmed as the lead actor, reprising his role, and prominent Telugu film producer Dil Raju's Sri Venkateswara Creations was announced to fund the venture, thus marking his debut in Tamil.
In October 2017, Raju backed out, reportedly due to increased production costs. Shortly thereafter, Allirajah Subaskaran, header of Lyca Productions, took over as the film's producer. The project marks the reunion of Shankar with Haasan after a hiatus of 24 years. The director chose Anirudh Ravichander to score the music, marking their first collaboration, rather than his regular collaborator A. R. Rahman, who also scored music for its predecessor. Anirudh's inclusion was confirmed in late December 2018. cinematographer Ravi Varman, editor A. Sreekar Prasad and production designer T. Muthuraj were hired to be a part of the film's technical crew. Shankar collaborated with Jeyamohan, Kabilan Vairamuthu and Lakshmi Saravanakumar to co-write the film's script and dialogues.
Despite several proposed announcements of starting dates, the film's shoot was delayed throughout 2018 owing to Shankar's commitments with "2.0", which also faced significant production delays. Haasan also decided to use the time to release his long-delayed "Vishwaroopam II" (2018) and commit to his political career. In August 2018, Shankar and Haasan, announced that the film's shoot will commence that December, The production house later publicly announced the project on 7 November, coinciding with Haasan's birthday, confirming its inclusion as the producers. Muthuraj began working on the production design the same month, as the film's shoot was scheduled to start in late that year; however the delay in its set work, made the team to postpone its shoot to early 2019. Haasan would receive around () as renumeration for the film, the highest in his career. Shankar reportedly decided to take the revenue sharing model, receiving a small amount as advance, and a chunk of the profits would be given to him as his remuneration in order to benefit the film's production.
Casting.
In December 2018, Kajal Aggarwal was announced as the lead actress. For her role, Aggarwal learnt the basics of the Indian martial arts form Kalaripayattu. Siddharth was confirmed to play another role in the film, after the team had initially held discussions with the likes of Silambarasan, Dulquer Salmaan and Arya for the same character. Initially Sivakarthikeyan was considered to play Siddharth's character in the film but declined the role due to his prior commitments. In January 2019, South Korean actress Bae Suzy was in the talks to play a pivotal role in the film but it was proven false. Ajay Devgn agreed to play the antagonist in the film, but production delays meant that he could not commit dates for the films. Akshay Kumar, Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham were considered as replacements, but neither actor was signed. Other actors including Delhi Ganesh and RJ Balaji were also signed to portray supporting roles in the film; the film also marks Ganesh's final film role before his death on 9 November 2024. However, Balaji opted out of the film in October 2019. Nedumudi Venu was also set to reprise his role from the first film, but died in October 2021 after post COVID-19 complications.
Closer to the start of the second schedule, actors Vidyut Jammwal and Bobby Simha were reportedly signed on for roles. While Simha confirmed his role in the film, Jammwal denied such claims. Rakul Preet Singh also joined the film to star opposite the character played by Siddharth. Aishwarya Rajesh was expected to join the film, but due to call sheet issues, she was replaced by Priya Bhavani Shankar. Vivek confirmed that he will be a part of the project, collaborating with Haasan for the first time, where he plays the role of a CBI officer in the film. It was considered to be one of his posthumous films following his death in April 2021. Actors Samuthirakani and George Maryan also joined the cast in supporting roles.
In November 2022, Gulshan Grover confirmed his presence in a principal role. British actor Benedict Garrett was confirmed as a part of the cast, while Kalidas Jayaram also joined the film in a prominent role during the film's shoot in Taiwan in April 2023. S. J. Suryah was reported to play the film's antagonist, and officially confirmed his participation in the film in September 2023. The film also marked the posthumous appearances of Manobala and G. Marimuthu following their respective deaths in May and September 2023.
During a press meet prior to release of the film, Shankar gave credit and acknowledgement to prominent Chinese martial artist Lu Zijian by indicating that Zijian is the source of inspiration he took when committing to direct the sequel part, where he developed a mindset to portray Senapathy Indian thatha as a martial arts expert even at the age of 106 highlighting the longevity of Zijian's calibre. Shankar was reportedly saying “There is a martial arts master in China. His name is Lu Zijian. At the age of 120, he is performing martial arts. He is flying, kicking, and doing all the stuff.” Shankar made such statements when queried and questioned about how Kamal Haasan's Senapathy character in the film could perform such action packed sequences even at an age of 106.
Filming.
Principal photography began on 18 January 2019. A week-long shoot was held at a memorial home near Government General Hospital in Chennai, before the team also shot scenes at a nearby film studio. However the film was again delayed after the makers had trouble with the created sets. The shoot was pushed further owing to the Indian general election in May 2019, where Haasan's political party participated. Throughout the development process in 2018 and early 2019, the makers regularly denied media reports that the film had been shelved. Later, the shooting was resumed in May 2019, post elections. Owing to the long break between the schedules, cinematographer Ravi Varman also left the project after becoming committed to Mani Ratnam's "", and was subsequently replaced by R. Rathnavelu who previously worked with Shankar in "Enthiran" (2010).
The second schedule began on 12 August 2019, at MGR Film City in Chennai, with scenes featuring Rakul Preet Singh being shot. Siddharth and Priya Bhavani Shankar too joined the sets on 16 August, and later Haasan too joined the sets on mid-September, where his portions being filmed. Haasan and team, later moved to a city hotel in T. Nagar, to proceed the shoot further. By 12 September, the second schedule which took place in Chennai had been completed. On 19 September, the team went to Rajahmundry, shoot the film's sequences featuring Haasan. Later on 23 October, Haasan and his team went to Bhopal to shoot the film at its third schedule.
On 25 October 2019, it was reported that a massive political rally along with a fight sequence, involving Haasan and 2000 junior artistes was shot in Bhopal at the cost of crore (). On 30 October 2019, it was reported that the makers head to Gwalior for a 12-day long shoot schedule, which was completed within seven days. Post the completion, the actor went to Chennai, to attend a felicitation ceremony for his 60 years in Tamil cinema, followed by a surgery on 22 November to remove an implant that was performed after he met with an accident in 2016. Scenes without featuring Haasan were canned, to complete major portions of the film, and planned to shoot his portions, after his recovery. On 21 January 2020, it was reported that Haasan will shoot for the film post his recovery, and it will take place at the EVP Film City, Chennai which will last for 35 days. It was reported that the film's team will change the location from China to Italy, due to fear of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Accident in the sets.
On 19 February 2020, during the shooting of the film, a crane carrying a heavy flash light fell on the sets, resulting in the deaths of three crew members, including an assistant director and leaving ten more injured. Haasan, Shankar and Aggarwal had narrow escapes. A case was filed against Lyca Productions, along with three other persons by the Chennai police in connection with the accident on 21 February; The crane operator Rajan who absconded post the incident, was arrested and booked under three sections, the same day. Later Haasan and Shankar were summoned by the CBI, to investigate the accident during the sets.
On 26 February 2020, a week after the incident, Haasan wrote a letter to Lyca Productions regarding to conduct a safety audit for the prevention of any unfortunate events. The very same day, Subaskaran released a statement on Twitter, stating the shoot was held completely under the supervision of Haasan and Shankar. On 28 February 2020, Shankar announced that a donation of crore () will be given to the family of the deceased. Following the accident, the team planned to shift the shooting location from EVP Film City to Binny Mills.
COVID-19 shutdown and further delays.
Filming was further delayed to the COVID-19 restrictions that came into effect during March 2020. Haasan planned to resume shooting in January 2021, after hosting the fourth season of "Bigg Boss". In September 2020, Haasan also signed Lokesh Kanagaraj's "Vikram" during the intermediate timeline, and Shankar also felt disappointed with the production house for not taking a call on the resumption of the shoot. According to "The Times of India", a spokesperson from the production team told that:
 ;templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" / ;"Shankar and his team were hoping that they would resume the shoot once the government allows film shoots with a larger crew. But now, the production house wants to bring down the cost further to make up for the losses as a result of the lockdown. But Shankar, who has already brought down the budget from `400 crore to ` 220 crore after their first disagreement, feels it would be very hard to make the film as he has envisioned with further budget cuts. So, the production house decided to play the waiting game and stayed mum on the resumption of the project. Meanwhile, Kamal Haasan has committed to Lokesh Kanagaraj's film. He