Indian 2, the Kamal Haasan starrer directed by senior filmmaker Shankar hit the theatres recently. The movie, which was expected to recreate the magic of its prequel, the 1996 film Indian (which is now streaming on Aha Tamil), has been receiving negative reviews from audiences. The stretched narrative and lazy writing made the visually stunning film a tiresome watch. Now, it is safe to assume that the ‘forced sequels’ trend, which has been ruling the Indian film industry for the last few years, has reached the saturation point with Indian 2.

Indian 2 and the ‘forced sequels’ that reached saturation point

The highly anticipated Indian sequel, which marked the return of one of the Tamil cinema’s most iconic characters – Senapathy – failed to meet the expectations of audiences. The netizens are now pointing out that the fine writing, emotional core, and the epic music, that made the first installment special, are missing in Indian 2. Many of them even believe that director Shankar ignored these aspects of the film to make the second installment an out-and-out commercial venture. Following the trend set by SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali franchise, the Kamal Haasan starrer was eventually divided into two parts.

In one of his recent interviews, Kamal Haasan stated that he agreed to be a part of the second installment, just because he loved the second half of the story, which is now being made as Indian 3. From the veteran actor’s revelation, it has been confirmed that the Indian sequel was originally planned as a single film. However, following the ‘forced sequel’ trend which was further strengthened by major blockbusters including KGF, Pushpa, and Salaar, the Indian sequel was also divided into two parts.

Indian 2 and 3 – The sequel trend that went wrong

Well, to make the Indian franchise into a trilogy, the first half of the sequel was turned into Indian 2, while the second half became Indian 3. This creative move by director Shankar resulted in the Kamal Haasan starrer getting delayed for over four years. Indian 2 was further diluted to become a three-hour-long snooze fest, with many logic-defying scenes that unsuccessfully attempted Veerasekharan Senapathy, the legendary freedom fighter into a superhero. Even though the makers are now trying to do manage the situation by reducing the duration of the film, the damage is already done.

With Indian 2, the Indian film industry, especially South cinema has reached the saturation point when it comes to the ‘forced sequels’. If there is a lot of content that can't be fitted into a single film, and the writing and making are to the point, sequels will always work well. However, the massive star-led films are being made into franchises solely focusing on the immense financial opportunities it bring, it is only going to dilute the overall cinematic experience.

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