Hindustani 2 picks up topics that appeal to the common man and are coincidentally also in the news – an airport with bad infrastructure, politician-industrialist nexus, an ultra-rich businessman from Gujarat who is having the biggest wedding in town etc. With director Shankar at the helm of affairs, one expects fireworks when it comes to all these factors. Sadly, the end product is substandard. Some of the scenes of the protagonist teaching the baddies a lesson must have appeared great on paper. But on screen, it looks silly and childish. Also, the narrative gets repetitive and there’s no proper story flow. It’s only in the last 30 minutes that one feels engaged. By then, it’s too late. The film also ends abruptly as Indian 3 is in the offing (it’s already shot). Kamal Haasan, however, gives his all to the role and makes the film watchable. Siddharth plays to the gallery well. Rakul Preet Singh is good but is hardly there. Gulshan Grover, Zakir Hussain and Piyush Mishra ham. S J Suryah (Sakalakala Vallavan) is over the top. Bobby Simha (Pramod) and Nedumudi Venu (Krishnaswamy) leave a mark. Others do well. The soundtrack is also nowhere close to the legendary music of the first part. All in all, Hindustani 2 is avoidable.
My rating – ** out of 5!