Kamal Haasan wishes director Shankar Shanmugam on his birthday

Chennai, Aug 17:  Ahead of the release of his upcoming action-thriller film 'Indian 2', veteran actor Kamal Haasan wished director Shankar Shanmugam (or Shankar) on his 59th birthday.

Taking to his X account (formerly Twitter), the ‘Vikram’ actor sharing a picture of the two together tweeted: “Many happy returns of this day, Dear Shankar ji”.

Many fans congratulated the veteran Tamil director on his birthday while referring to the two as the ‘power-packed danger duo’. After his success with the 2022 version of his 1986 spy-thriller film ‘Vikram’, Kamal Haasan, who is now over 68 still has the same level of energy.

‘Indian 2’ is the sequel to Shankar Shanmugam’s 1996 Tamil vigilante action classic ‘Indian’ which also starred Kamal Haasan in the lead alongside Nedumudi Venu, Sukanya, Manisha Koirala and Urmila Matondkar.

The original movie followed the character of Senaputhy, a veteran freedom fighter from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’ Indian National Army, who turns into a brutal vigilante to root out corruption and crime, all the while sitting on the crossroads against his own son who is at the opposite end of the spectrum.

This time too, Kamal Hasaan will reprise his role as Senapathy and the movie will be set 26 years after the events of the first film, where Senapathy, though old, is still going strong on his mission.

Shankar is one of Tamil film industry’s most renowned directors, with his films typically focusing outside mainstream topics and instead hone in on issues related to corruption, crime, vigilantism, technology and more. He’s also known for his use of VFX and practical effects in movies such as ‘Enthiran’, ‘2.0’, ‘Mudhalvan’ and all three parts of the Vikram-starrer ‘Anniyan’ action-psychological-thriller trilogy.

Most details for the film have been kept under the wraps, though it is posing itself as another brooding and dark film with Kamal Hasaan bringing out his full ‘Vikram’ energy.