Scripting Robinhoods

I am a common man who questions the wrongs around me, says director Shankar

- LAKSHMI SUBRAMANIAN

Tucked away on the outskirts of Chennai is director Shankar Shanmugam's home. The huge brown gate opens to let me in. Much like his films, the front hall is a picture of grandeur, with comfy sofas, colourful flower vases and bamboo fixtures. As I climb the stairs to his room, I spot Chitti-the humanoid robot in his Enthiran film series-standing tall in a black leather suit, as though he had walked out of his fictional world into the real one. I have still not taken my eyes off Chitti when Shankar arrives. Clad in a blue shirt and jeans, he looks calm as he awaits the release of his magnum opus, Indian 2. "Don't you feel the pressure?" I ask him. "It is all a part of life," he says with a shrug. "I am used to it."

Since the first edition of Indian released in 1996, every time Shankar read about corruption and bribery in the newspaper, he felt that Indian thatha (Kamal Haasan's character of Senapathy, an anti-corruption crusader in the film) should return. The thought was always in the back of his mind. "But the circumstances did not match," he says. "I had the one liner. But I was still looking for the story." Finally, it took shape during the lockdown, which Shankar calls a blessing because it gave him time to write the script. With Kamal onboard, there was no looking back. However, the one question he had to address was what Senapathy's age should be in the film.