Rajinikanth was excited with Chitti’s comeback in 2.0, says director Shankar
In a recent interview, director Shankar spoke about his upcoming film 2.0 starring Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar.
Director Shankar’s 2.0 is one of the highly anticipated movies of the year. The fact that the film was shot in 3D, the promising cast that includes Rajinikanth, Akshay Kumar and Amy Jackson, and the grandeur that comes with any Shankar directorial, has kept fans on their toes about the movie. In a recent interview with Vikatan, the director revealed that 2.0 is more than just a 3D movie as there is also a heartwarming tale at the core of the movie. He also spoke about Rajinikanth and Akshay’s roles in the film.
“There are two things I want to say before anything. Firstly, the film’s big budget, the grandeur, the graphics are things that (we) should forget and come to the theatres to watch the heartwarming story that 2.0 is. Secondly, if you want to understand the hard work that has gone into making this film, then you need to watch the film in 3D,” he said.
Speaking of how superstar Rajinikanth received the concept of a sequel, Shankar said, “He was most excited about Chitti’s comeback in the film. The script also interested him. The fact that we would be doing it in 3D increased his excitement. This would be the first time for an Indian movie to be shot in 3D, and that 2.0 will prove that Indian cinema is capable of producing world-class films was an added incentive.”
From Arnold Schwarzenegger to Akshay, the role of the antagonist in the film was offered to three people. Shankar recalled how Arnold had been excited to play the part in the film and had even put aside days to shoot, but it was one of the clauses in contracts between Indian and international artists that did not match because of which the actor couldn’t come on board. He also said that the film was next offered to Kamal Haasan because he thought the two actors on screen together would be great, but Kamal was more interested in working on Indian 2. Akshay was approached by Lyca and not him, he revealed.
“Lyca was in talks with Akshay Kumar to do the remake of Kaththi in Hindi and that’s when they mentioned this project and he was interested. Once I narrated the story, he was excited. Akshay also doesn’t really play the villain in the film and his character had any dimension. Which is why he was interested in playing the part,” he said.
Shankar was also asked about the delay in the project and the reason behind it. “The film has 2,100 shots which need VFX. The company we had initially approached did not realise how detailed the project was, or how big and promised us a date. We announced the release date accordingly, but it was only later that they realised they would not be able to deliver. We then had to go to a bigger company to get this done, but to transfer from one place to another is a big deal. It will blow up the budget, there is a lot of effort. For instance, it is like uprooting a tree from one place and trying to plant it in a different place. This is the reason why it took us so much time,” he explained.
2.0 is slated to release on November 29 in India. The trailer of the film will be released on November 3. The music for the film is composed by AR Rahman and the cinematography for the project is handled by Nirav Shah.
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