Proud To Be Indian: Indian (film)

Indian
Official DVD Cover
Directed by	S. Shankar
Produced by	A. M. Rathnam
Written by	S. Shankar
Starring	Kamal Haasan Manisha Koirala Urmila Matondkar Goundamani Senthil Nedumudi Venu Sukanya Manorama Aruna Irani Johnny Lever
Music by	A. R. Rahman
Cinematography	Jeeva
Release date(s)	1996 September 12, 2008 (Digitally Remastered)
Language	Tamil
Budget	9 Crore
IMDb

Indian is a 1996 Tamil film directed by S. Shankar. The film stars Kamal Haasan, Manisha Koirala, Urmila Matondkar, Goundamani, and Senthil. The film's score and soundtrack are composed by A. R. Rahman. Indian was nominated by India as its entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards in 1996. On September 12th, 2008, 12 years after it's original release, the film was digitally remastered and re-released at Amjikarai Theatre in Tamil Nadu, India. The Corruption Theme was later used in Mudhalvan, Nayak, Anniyan and Sivaji.

The film was later released (dubbed) in Hindi as Hindustani and in Telugu as Bharatheeyudu. When his Indian was dubbed in Hindi as Hindustani, Shankar shot all of Manorama's scenes with Aruna Irani, to give it a Hindi touch and also changed all the Tamil banners in the backdrop to Hindi.

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[edit] Plot

The story runs on two tracks. One is that of Chandra Bose alias Chandru (Kamal Haasan), a small-time broker outside the RTO (Road Transport Office) who gets people licences etc., by accepting bribes. He is supported in this work by Subbiah (Goundamani). Paneerselvam (Senthil) plays an officer in the RTO who has conflicts with Subbiah. Aishwarya (Manisha Koirala) and Chandru are in love with each other. Sapna (Urmila Matondkar) is the daughter of Paneerselvam. Her father promises to get Chandru a job of being an brake inspector in the RTO, if he runs errands for them. He agrees to work for them, and soon he becomes an brake inspector.

The other track is of Senapathy, alias Indian (Kamal Haasan), a 70-year-old man who kills top government officials (like Commissioners of Corporation etc.) in an extreme attempt to weed out corruption from Indian soil. Senapathy is also Chandru's father. Krishnaswamy (Nedumudi Venu) is an intelligence officer out to nab the Indian. He manages to somehow trace his way to Senapathy's house and finds Senapathy posing as an ex freedom fighter. Archived newspaper reports say that Senapathy was a soldier in the Indian National Army who was an extremist. Senapathy's wife (Sukanya) is asked what Senapathy did to deserve a freedom fighter tag, and at this point, we are taken to the 1940s. Rebellions against the British, atrocities etc are shown, culminating in Senapathy marrying Sukanya but leaving for Singapore to join Subash Chandra Bose as part of the INA. He returns after independence. Nedumudi Venu tries to arrest Senapathy, but his attempt is foiled, and Senapathy escapes with his expertise in the ancient martial art called Varmam.

Senapathy then goes on to commit a murder in front of television audiences by killing a corrupt doctor ('Nizhalgal' Ravi) who refused to attend immediately to Senapathy's daughter (Kasturi), who was suffering from third degree burns because he insisted on a bribe, which Senapathy refused. Chandru parts ways with his father because of his excessive insistence on honesty etc. and considers these values to be dead and worthless. How Senapathy evades the police and escapes arrest forms a major portion of the remaining part of the story. Public support is very high for the Indian because he exposes so many corrupt people. Senapathy does not do his son any favours either. Chandru had earlier taken a bribe and given a safety certificate to a bus with faulty brakes. The bus meets with an accident, killing school children it was carrying and thus Chandru is held responsible. Senapathy is bent on giving Chandru the same punishment as he gives others, i.e. death. After a few chase sequences, in the climax sequence in an airport Senapathy kills Chandru and apparently dies in an explosion. Krishnaswamy discovers through a video that Senapathy escaped moments before the jeep he killed his son in, exploded.

The epilogue shows Senapathy calling Krishnaswamy from a foreign land, indicating that he will be back should the need for him arise.

[edit] Cast

Kamal Haasan as Indian Senapathy and Chandru
Manisha Koirala as Aishwarya
Nedumudi Venu as Krishnaswamy
Urmila Matondkar as Sapna
Sukanya as Amrithavalli
Kasturi as Kasthuri
Goundamani as Subbaiyaa
Senthil as Panneerselvam
Nizhalgal Ravi as a corrupt doctor
Crazy Mohan as Paarthasarathy

[edit] Crew

Direction: S. Shankar
Production: A.M.Rathnam
Music: A. R. Rahman
Cinematography: Jeeva
Editing: B. Lenin, V. T. Vijayan
Stunt Coordinator: Vikram Dharma
Dialogues: Sujatha Rangarajan
Art: Thotta Tharani
Graphics:ST Venky
Production Executive: Udhayakumar
Lyrics:Vaali , Vairamuthu
Make-up man:Michael Westmore

[edit] Soundtrack

The soundtrack features 5 songs composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Vairamuthu & Vaali. For Hindi soundtrack the lyrics is written by P.K. Mishra.

Tamil: