2.0 (film)

2.0
First look poster
Directed by	S. Shankar
Produced by	Subaskaran Allirajah
Written by	S. Shankar B. Jeyamohan
Starring	Rajinikanth Akshay Kumar Amy Jackson
Narrated by	Rajinikanth
Music by	Background Score: Qutub-E-Kripa Original songs: A. R. Rahman
Cinematography	Nirav Shah
Edited by	Anthony
Production company	Lyca Productions
Release date	25 January 2018 (2018-01-25)[1] [2]
Country	India
Language	Tamil Telugu Hindi[3][4][5][6]
Budget	₹4.5 billion[7]

2.0 is an upcoming Indian science fiction film written and directed by S. Shankar, co-written by B. Jeyamohan, and produced by Subaskaran Allirajah, founder of Lyca Productions.^[8] A sequel to the 2010 Tamil film Enthiran, the film will feature Rajinikanth reprising the roles of Dr. Vaseekaran and Chitti, alongside Akshay Kumar and Amy Jackson.^[9] The film will be released simultaneously in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi.^[3][4][5][6] With an estimated budget of ₹450 crore (₹4.5 billion), it is the most expensive Indian film ever made.^[10] The film is expected to be released worldwide on 25 January 2018.

Cast

• Rajinikanth as Dr. Vaseegaran and Chitti
• Akshay Kumar as Dr. Richard^[11][12][13]
• Amy Jackson
• Sudhanshu Pandey as Bohra Junior^[14]
• Adil Hussain^[15]
• Kalabhavan Shajohn^[16]
• Riyaz Khan^[17]

Production

Development

The commercial success of Enthiran (2010) prompted the makers of the film to immediately consider making a sequel. By March 2011, the original film's cinematographer, Rathnavelu, revealed that initial pre-production work on a sequel had begun with the same technical team.^[18][19] S. Shankar, the director of Enthiran, moved on to work on Nanban (2012) and I (2015) and planned to reunite with the same producers as the original was released, with Shankar revealing that he was unsure if the film "will happen at all" during an interview in 2014.^[20] While finishing the production of I, Shankar drafted the scripts of three more feature films, including that of a sequel to Enthiran.^[20]

Pre-production work for the film was reported to have started in June 2015 with Lyca Productions deciding to finance the project. Along with Shankar and Rajinikanth, composer A. R. Rahman and editor Anthony remained on the development team for the sequel, while Jeyamohan was added to help write dialogues. Shankar also began briefing the film's art director T. Muthuraj and visual effects supervisor V. Srinivas Mohan about their involvement in the film.^[21][22] Shankar had initially inquired about K. V. Anand's availability. This was before Nirav Shah joined the technical team as a cinematographer in mid-2015 and visited specialist studios in the United States to research filming methods for 3D shoots.^[23][24][25] Jeyamohan finished work on the script of the film in September 2015 and revealed that the story would be a direct continuation of the 2010 film, with filming only set to start following the completion of Rajinikanth's commitments in Kabali (2016). The original film's dialogue writer, Madhan Karky, helped Jeyamohan on some of the more technical dialogue in the script.^[26][27] A press release coinciding with the start of the film's shoot also revealed that Resul Pookutty would handle sound designing, Legacy Effects would take care of animatronics work, and Mary E. Vogt would design special costumes. Stunt choreographer Kenny Bates and visual effects specialists John Hughes and Walt Jones were also signed to work on the film.^[28] In June 2016, Pookutty revealed during film production that it would not serve as a sequel to Enthiran but rather a spiritual successor.^[29][30]

Casting

Shankar held initial discussions with Kamal Haasan, Aamir Khan, and then Vikram about portraying a further role, though none of the three actors signed on to appear in the film.^[31][32] Subsequently, the team held talks with Hollywood actor Arnold Schwarzenegger for the role, who agreed to work on the film for a record remuneration.^[33][34][35] The makers then opted against signing Schwarzenegger, though there have been conflicting reasons regarding this decision.^{[lower-alpha 1]} British actress Amy Jackson signed on to work on the film in October 2015 and visited Los Angeles as a part of the team's pre-production work.^[38] In late November 2015, Rajinikanth also travelled to Los Angeles to meet the film's producers and complete costume trials and initial motion capture effects work for the film.^[8][39] After further negotiations with actors including Hrithik Roshan and Neil Nitin Mukesh, the makers signed on Akshay Kumar to portray the role for which Schwarzenegger was initially considered.^[40]

Sudhanshu Pandey joined the cast of the film during March 2016 and revealed that he would portray a scientist who is the son of Professor Bohra from the original film. Adil Hussain began working on the film in July 2016, and, as a part of his role, undertook extensive research into the life of news reporters.^[14][41] In September 2016, Malayalam actor Kalabhavan Shajohn confirmed that he had tried out for a role in the film after Shankar was impressed with his performance in Drishyam and had signed him on.^[16]

Filming

The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi, where a football sequence is filmed.

An official launch event was to be held on 12 December 2015, coinciding with Rajinikanth's birthday. However, the team chose to avoid publicity as a result of the 2015 South Indian floods.^[42] Instead, the team held a low key launch event at the AVM Studios on 7 December, with the director and the producers in attendance. Titled 2.0, the film then began its first scheduled shooting on 16 December 2015 at a set erected in the outskirts of Chennai at EVP World.^[43][44][45] On the first day of the shoot, a scene featuring Rajinikanth and several dwarf actors was shot at the erected set, while the team's principal cast and crew also assembled for a photo shoot.^[46] The first schedule of the film, consisting of Rajinikanth and Amy Jackson, continued in Chennai until 30 December 2015.^[47] The team then worked on a second schedule throughout the middle of January 2016 in Chennai and shot scenes featuring Rajinikanth at Mohan Studios and by Madras Boat Club.^[48] Shankar continued filming portions not involving the lead actors throughout February 2016 in Chennai, with a car chase sequence shot in Royapettah.^[49] Another schedule to shoot a song was initially set to be held at Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia but was canceled due to bad weather, and the team opted not to travel to the country.^[50]

Akshay began shooting for the film in Chennai at the beginning of March 2016 and took part in a schedule held at the EVP Film City studio in Chennai. A set of a mobile phone store was built on site, while night scenes involving robotic equipment and military tanks were also canned.^[51] The team subsequently moved to Delhi to hold a forty-five-day schedule, continuing on from the same scenes with military tanks that were shot in Chennai.^[52] Subsequently, the team filmed sequences at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium depicting an Indian Super League match between Chennaiyin FC and Mumbai City FC, with hundreds of junior artists recruited to act as supporters. Actors Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan visited the film's set at the stadium with the media reporting that the pair were set to make cameo appearances, though the claim was later denied by the team.^[53][54] Rajinikanth then joined the team in Delhi at the end of March to continue shooting for the project, with the climax sequences being filmed. Action scenes incorporating robotic equipment were filmed throughout early April in Delhi, with cinematographer Nirav Shah using helicams to capture sequences involving the three lead actors.^[55][56]

Another ten-day schedule took place in May 2016 in Chennai, with scenes being shot at the EVP Film City studios as well as at The Forum Vijaya shopping mall.^[57] During the shoot at the studios, the visual effects designer Srinivas Mohan digitally converted a green screen sequence into locations including the Red Fort and the Parliament from Delhi after the team were unable to secure shooting permission there.^[58] By June 2016, Shankar revealed that after one hundred days of shooting, scenes including the climax and two major action sequences had been completed and that the film was fifty percent complete.^[59] After plans of filming a song portion in Morocco fell through, Nirav Shah did a test shoot for the song "Roja Kadhal" in Ukraine during June 2016 at locations including the Tunnel of Love.^[60] Adil Hussain and Kalabhavan Shajohn began their work in the film during July 2016 in Chennai, while the rest of the cast were given an extended break after Rajinikanth fell ill.^[61][62] Production continued throughout August and early September 2016 without the lead actors in Saligramam in Chennai, where the team shot action sequences of luxury cars being blown up.^[63] Following his illness and subsequent recovery, Rajinikanth returned to the sets of the film in early October after a break of close to four months. He shot for scenes alongside Amy Jackson in Chennai, where he was featured fighting huge birds created using animatronic technology with actor Riyaz Khan also joining the cast. Soon after the schedule finished in early October, Shankar revealed that the film was two-thirds complete, following one hundred and fifty days of shooting.^[64][65]

Another schedule began in early November at EVP Film City in Chennai with all of the lead cast and continued throughout the month.^[66] All filming has been completed except for a song, for that a set has been erected in Chennai, Amy has been given dance practice for 10 days by the choreographer Bosco. This song is to be filmed in August 2017 and in 3D as rest of the film.^[67][68]

Music

A. R. Rahman is slated to compose the music of the film. While the soundtrack will include at least five songs, only one song will be played in the film.^[69]

Release

In November 2016, it was revealed that 2.0 was scheduled for release during Diwali on 18 October 2017.^{[70][71][72][lower-alpha 2]} In April 2017, one of the producers, Raju Mahalingam, announced that the film's release had been postponed to 25 January 2018 citing better incorporation of visual effects.^[1][74]

Notes

References

External links

• 2.0 on IMDb
• 2.0 on Facebook