Indian 2: Shankar reveals he approached Anirudh Ravichander because AR Rahman was busy

When director Shankar and superstar Kamal Haasan come together on stage, there are fireworks. And given this was for the pan-Indian movie Indian 2, there was a lot that the media wanted to know about this film. (Also Read – Kamal Haasan clarifies he ‘likes Indian 3 more': Not that I don't like Indian 2)

One of the most interesting questions was posed by Indian 2 actor Siddharth himself. He asked Shankar how he had managed to work on not one or two, but THREE pan-Indian films simultaneously – Indian 2, Indian 3 and Ram Charan’s Game Changer. This was a feat no other director in the world had possibly achieved.

Shankar smiled and replied, “Thanks to the Covid pandemic, I had more time than expected. I sat down and finished the scripts for Indian 2 and 3 and completed all the pre-production work. All we needed to do was go on set with a camera and shoot. That prep work really helped and since I had time, I worked on other scripts as well (Game Changer). When we went to shoot, it became easy to work on these films at the same time.”

There has been a lot of chatter on social media about AR Rahman, who scored the music for Indian, possible being a better choice for Indian 2 than Anirudh Ravichander. Shankar replied candidly, “When we started work on Indian 2, AR Rahman was already working on the BGM of 2.0 and I needed the songs soon. I didn’t want to overburden him with Indian 2 and I also liked Anirudh’s music. His music was really popular and I thought why not sign him on.”

The ace director apparently told Kamal Haasan that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) liked Indian 2. Kamal Haasan said that the CBFC usually does not like any film, but if they liked Indian 2 then it’s a good sign.

Indian 2 releases in theatres on July 12 worldwide. It is produced by Lyca Productions and Red Giant Movies and stars Kamal Haasan as Senapathy or Indian Thatha.