Indian (1996 film)

Indian
Poster (Tamil version)
Directed by	S. Shankar
Produced by	A. M. Rathnam Jhamu Sughand
Written by	Sujatha (Dialogue)
Screenplay by	S. Shankar
Story by	S. Shankar
Starring	Kamal Haasan Manisha Koirala Urmila Matondkar Sukanya
Music by	A. R. Rahman
Cinematography	Jeeva
Edited by	B. Lenin V. T. Vijayan
Production company	Sri Surya Movies
Distributed by	Sri Surya Movies
Release date	9 May 1996 (1996-05-09) (Tamil) 23 August 1996 (1996-08-23) (Hindi)
Running time	185 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil Hindi

Indian ( pronunciation ) is a 1996 Indian Tamil vigilante film written and directed by Shankar and produced by A. M. Rathnam. The film stars Kamal Haasan in dual roles with Manisha Koirala, Urmila Matondkar, Sukanya and Goundamani appearing in other pivotal roles. The film's score and soundtrack are composed by A. R. Rahman, while cinematography was handled by Jeeva.

The film focuses on an ex-freedom fighter turned vigilante bent on rooting out corruption, and his son, who is at the other end of the spectrum by facilitating corrupt practices leading to some unfortunate events. He is well trained in Varmakkalai, an ancient lethal martial art used for close counter combat (Choreographed by Aasan R. Rajendran). ^{[1] [2]}

The film opened to positive reviews from critics on the way to becoming a commercial blockbuster in the Tamil film industry. Indian was selected by India as its entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards in 1996, but was not nominated.^[3][4] The film also went on to win three National Film Awards including that of Best Actor for Kamal Haasan's portrayal, while his performance also saw him win at the Filmfare Awards and the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. The film was dubbed and released in Hindi as Hindustani with a few scenes re-shot and also in Telugu as Bharatheeyudu. It was also the highest grossing Tamil film upon its release, beating the collections of Baashha until surpassed by Padayappa, three years later.

Plot

A series of murders take place in the district of Avadi in the same pattern; stabbing by a knife. Each time the victim is paralysed before being killed. Police suspect several people and they narrow down the killer by his age, which should be more than 70 years with the writing style based on the letter left behind by the killer while murdering his recent victim, an officer in the government treasury. The officer is killed by an old man who is later known to be Senapathy, a veteran Indian freedom fighter, for demanding a bribe to do his duty i.e threatening a poor old woman to bribe him to hand over compensation amount of Rs.10,000 given by the government as her husband got killed in a riot.

Chandra Bose a.k.a. Chandru (Kamal Haasan) is a small-time middle man stationed outside Regional Transport Office, who aids people in greasing the right officials inside the RTO for getting permits and licenses. His assistant Subbaiah (Goundamani), and Paneerselvam (Senthil), an RTO official, are engaged in regular tiffs while Aishwarya (Manisha Koirala), Chandru's love interest and an avid animal rights activist, also battle it out with Sapna (Urmila Matondkar), the daughter of an RTO official. Chandru is trying to hobnob to secure a job for himself at the RTO. Aishwarya is irked by the fact that Sapna (as well her mom) is exploiting Chandru's situation and gets him to do grocery shopping, laundry, and almost every household chore.

Meanwhile, Krishnaswamy (Nedumudi Venu), a Bureau officer, manages to trace his way to Senapathy's (Kamal Haasan) house. Senapathy is Chandru's father. Archived newspaper reports say that Senapathy was a soldier in the Indian National Army, who was an extremist. Senapati's wife Amirthavalli (Sukanya) details the story on their struggles during pre-independence India, the discrimination by British officials and the Indian Freedom Movement Rebellions against the British atrocities, etc., leading Senapathy to marrying Amirthavalli, but leaving for Singapore to join Subhas Chandra Bose to be part of the INA. He returns after independence and unites with his wife.

In the present day, when Krishnaswamy tries to arrest Senapathy, he escapes with his expertise in Varma kalai. Senapathy then goes on to commit a murder in front of television audiences by killing a corrupt doctor (Nizhalgal Ravi), who refused to attend immediately to Senapathy's daughter Kasturi (Kasthuri), who was suffering from third degree burns because he insisted on a bribe, which Senapathy refused in the past, thus killing her. Chandru parts ways with his father because of his excessive insistence on honesty and righteousness, and he considers these values to be dead and worthless. Public support surges for the Indian as he exposes so many corrupt people. Senapathy does not do his son any favours either. Chandru had earlier taken a bribe and given a safety certificate to a bus with faulty brakes, which eventually killed 40 school children it was carrying, plus the driver operating it, and thus, Chandru is held responsible. Senapathy is bent on giving Chandru the same punishment as he gives others, i.e., death. Towards the end, a chase culminates at the airport, where Senapathy kills Chandru and apparently dies in an explosion. However, Krishnaswamy discovers that Senapathy escaped moments before the jeep exploded, which killed his son while investigating the television footage at the airport.

The epilogue shows Senapathy calling Krishnaswamy from a foreign land (Hong Kong), indicating that he will be back should the need for him arise.

Cast

• Kamal Haasan as Senapathy (Indian) and Chandra Bose "Chandru"
• Sukanya as Amrithavalli "Amirtham"
• Manisha Koirala as Aishwarya "Ais" (voice over by Rohini)
• Urmila Matondkar as Sapna (voice over by Bhanupriya)
• Kasturi as Kasthuri
• Goundamani as Subbaiah
• Senthil as Panneerselvam
• Nedumudi Venu as Krishnaswamy (voice over by Nassar)
• Crazy Mohan as Parthasarathy
• Omakuchi Narasimhan as Lorry driver
• Ajay Rathnam as Freedom Fighter
• Manorama
• Aruna Irani (Hindi version only)
• Nizhalgal Ravi as Corrupt Doctor
• Bala Singh
• Ponnambalam
• Mahanadi Shankar
• Chokkalinga Bhagavathar
• Vikram Dharma
• S. Shankar in a special appearance

Production

Sydney Harbour Bridge seen in the song "Telephone Manipol".

In June 1995, producer A. M. Rathnam signed on Shankar, who had directed two blockbusters in Gentleman (1993) and Kaadhalan (1994), to make a new venture featuring leading actor Kamal Haasan in the lead role. The film was reported to be loosely based on the life of prominent Indian freedom fighter, Subhas Chandra Bose.^[5] Shankar tried to rope in Aishwarya Rai to make her debut and portray the leading female role but her commitment to her advertisement agency until October 1995 meant that she was unavailable to sign the film.^[5] Subsequently, Manisha Koirala, who appeared in the critically acclaimed 1995 Mani Ratnam film Bombay was selected as the lead heroine. The producers signed on Raadhika to play the pair of the older Kamal Haasan in the film, but her television commitments meant that she was unable to sign a contract. Urvashi's sister subsequently replaced her, only for Shankar to throw her out for missing a day's schedule to attend her wedding. The role was finally handed to Sukanya, who had previously appeared alongside Kamal Haasan in Mahanadhi.^[5] Hindi actress Urmila Matondkar was signed to play a role in the film after the producers were impressed with her performance and the success of her 1995 Hindi film, Rangeela. Nasser was chosen to portray an important character in the film; however, as he was busy with other films he could not accept the offer. Then Shankar hired Malayalam famous character artist Nadimudu Venu to play the role. The producers engaged Hollywood make-up artistes Michael Westmore and Michael Jones to work on the designs for the senior Kamal Haasan's and Sukanya's look in the film.^[6]

For production work, Shankar visited Las Vegas to learn about new technology and purchased cameras for the production. Furthermore, the director visited Australia alongside cinematographer Jeeva and music director A. R. Rahman to location hunt and to compose tunes.^[5] The film's unit were given strict orders to maintain privacy, with Hindi actor Jackie Shroff being notably turned away from visiting the shooting spot. A song for the film was shot at Prasad Studios featuring Kamal Haasan and Urmila Matondkar alongside 70 Bombay models.^[7] This led to a protest from the Cine Dancers Union who argued that Tamil dancers should have been utilised instead, with Shankar opting to pay them off to avoid further hassle. Another duet between Kamal Haasan and Manisha Koirala was shot near the Sydney Opera House in Sydney and Canberra for fifteen days.^[8] A flashback song was canned with four hundred dancers and a thousand extras at Gingee with Kamal Haasan and Sukanya, while another song featured shooting in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.^[5][6] Graphic designer Venky noted that Indian was his most difficult project to date (in 1997) with a scene constructed to feature Kamal Haasan's character alongside freedom fighter, Subhas Chandra Bose. Venky had to remove blemishes on the film reel of Bose provided by the Film Division's archive before merging Kamal Haasan on to the shot to make it appear that the pair were marching in tandem.^[9]

Release

The film opened in May 1996 to predominantly positive reviews from critics and went on to become a blockbuster at the South Indian box office.^[10] The film ran to packed houses for several months in Tamil Nadu and was dubbed and released in Telugu as ''Bharatheeyudu. Prior to the release of the film, the team also planned a Hindi version of the film, with a few re-shot scenes including Aruna Irani in place of Manorama. The Hindi version also fared well after its release in 23 August 1996.

A critic from India Today praised Shankar's script, noting that "with the right mix of pop patriotism, anti-establishment diatribes and other commercial cinema ingredients, Shankar's latest creation has south India applauding" before adding that "the real triumph of the film is the effective make-over that believably transforms the actors".^[11] Another film critic wrote that "Indian represents Shankar's best effort to date both in terms of the effectiveness of the message he conveys and the entertainment value of the movie as a whole", adding that "the movie features a hardhitting message as well as a great performance from Kamal as an old freedom fighter with a new agenda, impressive special effects and extravagant song sequences."^[12] The film went on to win three National Film Awards: Best Actor for Kamal Haasan's portrayal, Best Art Direction for Thotta Tharani's pre-independence sets and Best Special Effects for Venky's graphics work. It also achieved regional success, winning Best Film and Best Actor awards at both the Filmfare Awards and from the Tamil Nadu State.^[13] It also became the Indian submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1997, though eventually did not make the short list.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album includes five tracks composed by A. R. Rahman^[14] and was released in 1996 by Pyramid.^{[15] [16]} The soundtrack proved hugely popular upon release and was also released in Hindi as Hindustani by TIPS^[15] and in Telugu as Bharateeyudu by T-Series.^[15] The lyrics were written by Vaali and Vairamuthu for the original version, P. K. Mishra for Hindustani and Bhuvanachandra for Bharateeyudu. The song "Telephone Manipol" uses Ace of Base-inspired loops, but is an otherwise original song.^[17]

The soundtrack was also magnificent in sales and sold about 600,000 records within days of release.^[18]

All lyrics written by P. K. Mishra.

All lyrics written by Bhuvanachandra.

Sequel

In 2011, producer A. M. Rathnam discussed the idea of a sequel to this project as anti-corruption leaders like Anna Hazare were becoming active.^[19] In September 2017, a sequel was announced jointly by Shankar and Haasan, with Dil Raju handling production.^[20] It will enter production once Haasan completes work on Vishwaroopam II and Sabaash Naidu.^[21] The following month, Raju left the film which was then picked up by Lyca Productions.^[22]

References

External links

• Indian on IMDb
• Hindustani on IMDb