In the original Indian, a freedom fighter turned a criminal after suffering a personal loss as a consequence of corruption and understanding how it is destroying the very nation he tried to preserve. When he realizes there may be a weed in his own home, in the form of his crooked son, he plans to kill him as an example to others.
After traveling to Hong Kong at the end of Indian, Senapathy (Kamal Haasan) is currently in Taiwan, the country where his hero Subhas Chandra Bose passed away. Bose returned to his native India as the outcome of a group of YouTubers who became disillusioned with corruption and developed an online movement called #ComeBackIndian. Nevertheless, those who were waiting for his return were never able to see this. Although everyone expected him to use his belt buckle knife to exact justice, he first urges the youthful population of the nation to expose lying people in their own dwellings because, as they say, "cleaning starts at home."
The attempt made in Indian 2 to expose those who are responsible for corruption and the fallout when people turn on their loved ones—lives are lost and relationships are shattered—is likely the film's greatest lesson. The sheer notion of dwelling on the fallout from being as straight as an arrow—something Shankar played with Senapathy's daughter's death in the first part—creates a charming behavioral conundrum that our "Indian" and "Indians" who depend on him had to face. However, unlike Senapathy's knife, this concept only goes so far.
What's left are the themes and trappings from Shankar's earlier films that we used to adore, such elaborate sets, songs set in far-off places, and massive action sequences. We had been hoping for the veteran to abandon those components for a while. Were you offended by the disgusting depiction of the transgender cosmetics artist in I? This scenario, which involves our hero using his varma kalai to make a womanizer/rich man act effeminate, is needlessly troublesome. Do you recall Mudhalvan's "kuppathu porikki pasanga" stereotype? These days, they appear to be young folks with colorful hair who abuse others online while hiding behind the confidentiality of the Internet. Have you ever used the government's freebies, or welfare programs? In any case, the movie makes you feel bad for collecting bribes to ignore poor leadership.
In contrast to Indian, the follow-up fights corruption nationwide. When the official warnings against drinking and smoking are substituted with the statement, "Corruption causes cancer to the nation," you know the movie isn't messing around. Even if the movie features a who's who of stateside villains who engage in everything from recruitment scams to granite scams, none of the penalties inflicted upon them felt as therapeutic as those in the first movie. Their range of actions, from singing nonstop till they pass out to racing like a horse and making neighing noises until they pass out from tiredness, isn't quite as terrifying as the villains in Shankar's other works.
