Director Shankar and Kamal Haasan have come together once again for ‘Indian 2’, which releases in cinemas in three languages ​​today, July 12. In an exclusive interview with India Today, the unique filmmaker spoke at length about working with Kamal Haasan in ‘Indian 2’ and ‘Indian 3’, creating his own world and more:

Excerpts from the conversation:

Q: Has working with Kamal Haasan and using new techniques after 25 years eased the burden?

A: The burden on the audience is increasing as they are getting exposed to new technology and they compare the makeup or VFX with Hollywood films. But they need to understand that we lack the budget.

Q: How did you feel about bringing back Commander?

A: Seeing Senapathy back on the sets after so many years gave me goosebumps. The feeling was totally different, and stayed with me till the last day of the shoot. I was able to see him not as Kamal (Haasan) but as Senapathy, an angry old man.

Q: How did Kamal Haasan feel about coming back as Senapathi?

A: He was charged up. He loved the script and once he loved the script, he would give his all for the film. He spent three hours a day getting makeup done. For 70 days, he wore makeup and after the shoot we would leave, but he would have to stay for an hour to remove the makeup and he would be the last person to leave the set. He couldn’t eat solid food while wearing makeup because it would cause the prosthetics to crack. He endured all this because of his passion.

Q: Tell us about AR Rahman’s music for ‘Indian’ and Anirudh Ravichander’s work in ‘Indian 2’?

A: You usually have two types of friends. One will be the calm one while the other will be the jovial one. AR Rahman is the calm friend, while Anirudh is always jovial. Anirudh is really nice. Even when I approve a song, he asks me for a rating and if I say 80 per cent, he goes back and works on that tune till he gets a 100 per cent rating from me.

Question: Tell us about ‘Indian 2’ and ‘Indian 3’?

AIt is thrilling to see Senapathy coming back and the things he is doing. After ‘Indian’, everyone knows who Senapathy is and is speculating about his age, family, his Varma art and the special knife he keeps in his belt. So I cannot repeat the same in the coming parts. However, his anger has increased, and you can see him dealing with much bigger problems beyond Tamil Nadu. In the third part, there is a period portion. The sequel is bigger than the first part in terms of concept and emotions.

Watch the trailer here:

Q: What was your idea behind including the late cartoonist R.K. Laxman as a common man in the film?

A: I was very happy to reveal the character after getting the necessary permissions. We created it in 3D animation. I used the character as a tool to tell the story, and it was played by Guru Somasundaram. He did the performance capture. Although his face did not appear in the film, he was very excited to play the character.

Q – Do you have any idea of ​​creating your own universe?

AWhen I was shooting for ‘Robot’ (‘Enthiran’), an idea came to my mind. I called my assistants and told them I wanted to bring together Kamal Haasan’s Senapathi, Rajinikanth’s Sivaji and Arjun’s Pugazhendi from ‘Mudhalvan’. They looked at me and walked away. I thought the idea probably wouldn’t work and I dropped it. Two years later, I watched ‘Avengers’ and realised I had the right idea, but I didn’t develop it because it wasn’t appreciated. When you have an idea, work on it immediately or else someone else in some other part of the world will have the same idea and will make it. That’s what I keep telling my assistants. When the idea comes again, I will definitely make it.

‘Indian 2’ stars Kamal Haasan, Siddharth, Rakul Preet, Priya Bhavani Shankar, SJ Suryah and Bobby Simha in lead roles.