Kamal Haasan reprises his role from the first film as Senapathy, an ageing freedom fighter turned vigilante who fights against corruption, with Siddharth, S. J. Suryah, Kajal Aggarwal, Rakul Preet Singh, Bobby Simha, Vivek, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Gulshan Grover, Samuthirakani and Nedumudi Venu joining the ensemble cast.
Both parts were shot back-to-back, with filming locations include Chennai, Rajahmundry, Bhopal, Gwalior, Tirupati, Vijayawada, Johannesburg and Taiwan.
In 2020, an accident that killed some crew members and the COVID-19 pandemic delayed filming for two years until Red Giant Movies entered as co-producers.
The technical crew includes musician Anirudh Ravichander, cinematographers Ravi Varman and R. Rathnavelu,[a] editor A. Sreekar Prasad, production designer T. Muthuraj and visual effects supervisor V. Srinivas Mohan.
[1] In September 2011, Shankar said many people asked him to make a sequel following Anna Hazare's anti-corruption crusade, and A. M. Rathnam, producer of the 1996 film, urged him to do so.
[2] In May 2015, Ratnam confirmed that he and Shankar discussed making a sequel but doubted the project's viability as the director was busy with the production of 2.0 (2018).
[3] Despite delaying starting the sequel due to 2.0, Shankar continued working on a story theme for it, under the tentative title Indian 2.
[4] Haasan was confirmed as the lead actor, reprising his role, and prominent Telugu film producer Dil Raju's Sri Venkateswara Creations was announced to fund the venture, thus marking his debut in Tamil.
[12] cinematographer Ravi Varman, editor A. Sreekar Prasad and production designer T. Muthuraj were hired to be a part of the film's technical crew.
[21] Shankar reportedly decided to take the revenue sharing model, receiving a small amount as advance, and a chunk of the profits would be given to him as his remuneration in order to benefit the film's production.
[23] Siddharth was confirmed to play another role in the film,[24][25] after the team had initially held discussions with the likes of Silambarasan,[26] Dulquer Salmaan and Arya for the same character.
[27][28][29] In January 2019, South Korean actress Bae Suzy was in the talks to play a pivotal role in the film but it was proven false.
[47][48] Aishwarya Rajesh was expected to join the film,[49] but due to call sheet issues,[50][51] she was replaced by Priya Bhavani Shankar.
He is flying, kicking, and doing all the stuff.” Shankar made such statements when queried and questioned about how Kamal Haasan's Senapathy character in the film could perform such action packed sequences even at an age of 106.
[68][32] A week-long shoot was held at a memorial home near Government General Hospital in Chennai, before the team also shot scenes at a nearby film studio.
[75] Owing to the long break between the schedules, cinematographer Ravi Varman also left the project after becoming committed to Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan: I,[76][77] and was subsequently replaced by R. Rathnavelu who previously worked with Shankar in Enthiran (2010).
[78][79] The second schedule began on 12 August 2019, at MGR Film City in Chennai,[80] with scenes featuring Rakul Preet Singh being shot.
[93] Post the completion, the actor went to Chennai, to attend a felicitation ceremony for his 60 years in Tamil cinema,[94] followed by a surgery on 22 November to remove an implant that was performed after he met with an accident in 2016.
[99] On 19 February 2020, during the shooting of the film, a crane carrying a heavy flash light fell on the sets,[100] resulting in the deaths of three crew members,[101] including an assistant director and leaving ten more injured.
[103][104] A case was filed against Lyca Productions, along with three other persons by the Chennai police in connection with the accident on 21 February;[105] The crane operator Rajan who absconded post the incident, was arrested and booked under three sections, the same day.
[107][108] On 26 February 2020, a week after the incident, Haasan wrote a letter to Lyca Productions regarding to conduct a safety audit for the prevention of any unfortunate events.
[118] In September 2020, Haasan also signed Lokesh Kanagaraj's Vikram during the intermediate timeline,[119] and Shankar also felt disappointed with the production house for not taking a call on the resumption of the shoot.
But after seeing the current deadlock, he did a photo shoot with celebrity photographer Venket Ram at AVM Studio a couple of days ago.
This has made Shankar realise that he might lose precious time if he keeps sitting idle, waiting for the producers of Indian 2 to take a call on resumption of the shoot.
[126] Later in February 2021, Shankar officially announced his debut directorial in Telugu, RC15 (later titled as Game Changer) with Ram Charan,[127] and also planned for the Hindi remake of Anniyan, with Ranveer Singh, which was later shelved.
[151][152] In November 2022, a minor schedule took place in Chennai with other supporting characters after Haasan was unavailable due to his commitments on hosting the sixth season of Bigg Boss.
[161][162] On 19 June 2023, a sequence was supposed to be filmed at the Chennai International Airport but was interrupted claiming that the crew did not obtain proper permission from the officials.
[170] A song was filmed for 10 days during early-March 2024 at the housing boards in Chennai painted with silhouettes of Senapathy and featured Siddharth and Priya Bhavani Shankar.
Although the team intended to complete the film prior to the tentative April 2024 release, the producers wanted to announce the date only after being assured from all the post-production units.
[195] At the launch of the trailer of Indian 2, Shankar stated that the split was done because he was impressed with all that was shot and cutting the film to a shorter length would affect its quality.