Exactly two years ago, on July 12, 2024, Indian cinema witnessed one of the most shocking collapses of a legendary filmmaker.
When Indian 2 was announced, expectations were naturally sky-high. It was the sequel to one of Tamil cinema’s most iconic films and reunited Shankar with Kamal Haasan after nearly three decades. Even those who were not expecting a masterpiece believed it would at least be a solid commercial entertainer.
Instead, audiences got one of the biggest disappointments in recent memory.
For many who watched it on the first day, Indian 2 was not just a bad film. It felt like nearly three hours of exhausting, outdated filmmaking. Weak writing, repetitive episodes, cartoonish villains, an overly preachy narrative, cringe-inducing scenes and performances, and an excessive runtime turned the theatrical experience into an ordeal.
What made the collapse even more shocking was the name behind it. Before Indian 2, Shankar was widely regarded as one of India’s greatest commercial filmmakers. From Indian and Mudhalvan to Anniyan, Sivaji, Endhiran, and even 2.0, he had built a reputation for mounting spectacular entertainers that blended social themes with mass appeal. Many fans even placed him alongside, or at times above, S.S. Rajamouli in discussions about India’s biggest commercial directors. Very few believed Shankar could deliver a film of such poor quality.
The disappointment extended to Kamal Haasan as well. Audiences struggled to understand how an actor renowned for his script selection approved a sequel that seemed to lack the soul and emotional weight of the original. The damage went far beyond poor reviews. Indian 2 ended up as one of the biggest commercial disasters in Tamil cinema, inflicting heavy losses on distributors and severely hurting the Indian franchise. Interest in Indian 3 reportedly dropped so sharply that even Netflix was unwilling to acquire it as a direct-to-OTT release.
Looking back two years later, Indian 2 feels like more than just a box office failure. It became a reminder that even the biggest filmmakers cannot rely on past glory alone. In the end, audiences do not judge a film by the reputation of its director. They judge it by what unfolds on the screen.
