S Shankar’s brand of cinema boasts of vigilantes who fight against corruption in the country. Anniyan, Sivaji: The Boss, Mudhalvan, Gentleman and Hindustani (Hindi version of Tamil film Indian) are a few examples. His upcoming film Hindustani 2 is another addition to the list. For years, his fans have been expressing their desire of witnessing his cinematic universe and more so after the releases of Kaithi, Vikram and Leo that form a part of the Lokesh Cinematic Universe or Lokiverse.
Now in an exclusive conversation with News18 Showsha, Shankar reveals that he had this eureka moment even before universes came in vogue. “You won’t believe this. In 2008, when I was filming Robot, that idea came to my mind. I wanted to make a story that involves Senapathy (played by Kamal Haasan) from Indian, one-day chief minister (Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, played by Anil Kapoor) from Nayak and Sivaji (Rajinikanth) in one film,” he tells us.
Though he was exhilarated with the plan, it failed to meet with a good response from his team. “This one-liner of everyone coming together had come to my mind. I was so excited by the idea. I called my assistant directors and told them about it. I asked them what they thought of it and they just stared at me, scanning me from top to bottom,” he recalls.
Shankar further continues, “They thought, ‘Is he mad? He wants to bring three characters in one film!’ They gave me a look. I didn’t get any encouragement from them. I thought that I was thinking something stupid. I even went to some senior technicians. They were perhaps thinking that they don’t want to tell a director anything that makes him feel bad. They smiled at me mildly and just went off.”
A few years later, when he watched The Avengers, it reminded him of his idea of creating a universe. “A lot of ideas come to my mind and I share them with my family and friends. And since no one responded to me properly, I thought that it’s not a good idea. After a few years, I saw Avengers when it came,” states the Enthiran director.
Earlier this year, reports started doing the rounds that Hindustani 2, Hindustani 3 and Game Changer are part of the same universe and that their plots are interlinked. While there’s no confirmation on the same, Shankar says that he had a big takeaway from the 2008 episode. “I keep telling my assistants that in the future, if you’ve any film idea, you should do it immediately. There are so many creative people in the world who’re constantly imagining things. One should be the first one to do it if they come up with an idea,” he shares.
On a related note, Hindustani 2 is jointly produced by Lyca Productions and Red Giant Movies and also stars Siddharth, Kajal Aggarwal Kitchlu and Rakul Preet Singh. It is slated for a global theatrical release on July 12 in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
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