2.0 (film)

''2.0'' is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language 3D science-fantasy action film directed by S. Shankar who co-wrote the film with B. Jeyamohan and Madhan Karky. Produced by Subaskaran under the banner of Lyca Productions. As the second instalment in the ''Enthiran'' film series, ''2.0'' is a standalone sequel to ''Enthiran'' (2010), featuring Rajinikanth in a triple role as Vaseegaran, Chitti the Robot and Kutti, alongside Akshay Kumar as Pakshi Rajan (in his Tamil debut) and Amy Jackson. Sudhanshu Pandey, Adil Hussain, Kalabhavan Shajohn, and K. Ganesh appear in supporting roles. The soundtrack is composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics written by Madhan Karky and Na. Muthukumar. The film follows the conflict between Chitti, the once dismantled humanoid robot, and Pakshi Rajan, a vengeful avian human, who seeks vengeance upon cell phone users to prevent the death of birds due to cellphone radiation.

Production began in 2015, with principal photography conducted at AVM Studios later that year. The first schedule was filmed at EVP World. Scenes were primarily shot in India, particularly in Chennai's Madras Boat Club and Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Filming was completed by August 2017. The film is the first in Indian cinema to be natively shot in 3D, which was done by cinematographer Nirav Shah. The film was primarily shot in Tamil while Akshay Kumar and some actors' dialogues were shot in Hindi. Legacy Effects made their return to construct prosthetic makeup and animatronics, with visual effects supervised by V. Srinivas Mohan. Editing was handled by Anthony and production design was conducted by T. Muthuraj.

''2.0'' was released worldwide in both 3D and conventional format on 30 November 2018, along with its Hindi and Telugu dubbed versions. The film received mixed reviews, with praise towards the direction, performances of Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar, visual effects, action sequences, soundtrack and social message, although the screenplay received criticism. The film faced scientific criticism too, with Audubon society censuring this film for propagating this misinformation regarding the impact of mobile phone towers on birds, in an article debunking this misinformation. Indian scientists and wildlife experts, too, called out the conspiracy theory, which forms the core idea of the film. It became the highest-grossing Indian film of 2018 and highest-grossing Tamil film of all time.

Plot

Eight years after the events of the first film, Dr Vaseegaran creates an android humanoid assistant named Nila, which he introduces to a group of college students while reminiscing about Chitti, his previous creation, which he had to dismantle after the robot had gone on a murderous rampage. Shortly afterwards, all the cell phones in the city fly into the sky, causing a public panic. A council of politicians and scientists discusses the phenomenon, with Vaseegaran suggesting reactivating Chitti. However, a council member named Dhinendra Bohra opposes the idea, as Chitti killed his father.

The cell phones swarm and kill several people, forcing the Home Minister to allow Vaseegaran to reactivate Chitti. An upgraded Chitti fights the giant bird-shaped swarm as it wreaks havoc in the city. Chitti runs out of power and recharges on a space station. The swarm tries to follow, but the station's antennas repel it.

Chitti and Vaseegaran confirm that a concentrated mass of negatively charged ions with electromagnetic properties powers the phones, which the positively charged ions streaming from the antennas repelled. Vaseegaran builds a photon synthesizer and uses it to neutralise the charge of the bird with Chitti's help. The defeated phones take the form of a deceased ornithologist, Pakshi Rajan. Chitti converses with Pakshi and learns about Pakshi's past.

Pakshi was a passionate ornithologist who had a bird sanctuary at his house. He protested the excessive use of mobile phones, fearing that high-frequency electromagnetic radiation from cell sites threatens avian life. However, he lost all attempts to warn the public about the harmful effects of cell phone radiation on birds, which led to many of his birds dying. He reported it to some people in the cell phone industry, but they disregard the matter intentionally. Deeply frustrated, Pakshi hangs himself to death from a cell tower. His aura, combined with the auras of the deceased birds, turned into a vengeful aura made of negative energy that can control cell phones with electromagnetic radiation.

Sympathizing with Pakshi, Chitti tries to convince him not to harm the public, but Pakshi refuses, wanting to avenge the deaths of his birds. Chitti captures and contains Pakshi, earning praise from the country. The government commissions Vaseegaran to produce more robots to support the army. Angered at Chitti's victory, Dhinendra sneaks into the AIRD institute and releases Pakshi's aura from the containment circuit, which possesses Vaseegaran and causes chaos again. Chitti confronts a possessed Vaseegaran but refuses to harm him, allowing Pakshi to disassemble Chitti and fly away, converting himself into an avian humanoid. On Vaseegaran's orders, Nila retrieves the red chip that had caused Chitti to go on a rampage eight years ago. Nila restores Chitti and embeds the red chip in it after reprogramming it to make Chitti target only Pakshi and not the public. Pakshi traps thousands of people in a football stadium using cell phones and kills Dhinendra by focusing radiation from cell towers. Chitti, with an army of robots, arrives and fights Pakshi but eventually loses power. Pakshi creates bird drones to attack, but before he can kill the people in the stadium, Chitti's small robot, Kutti "3.0", intervenes. Hundreds of such micro-bots latch onto all the cell phone structures (including Pakshi's wings made of cell phones) and destroy them by exploding themselves.

After they free an injured Vaseegaran from possession, they lead Pakshi's aura to the space station, where he is fully absorbed and destroyed along with the station. Vaseegaran recovers in a hospital and suggests reducing and controlling cell phone radiation to protect living beings, and the Home Minister promises to take action. Chitti and Nila leave with the other robots to serve the government. In a post-credits scene, Vaseegaran's phone transforms into Kutti 3.0, calling itself his grandson.

Cast

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. 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. While finishing the production of ''I'', Shankar drafted the scripts of three more feature films, including a sequel to ''Enthiran''.

Pre-production work for the film had reportedly 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 write the screenplay. Shankar also began briefing the film's art director T. Muthuraj and visual effects supervisor V. Srinivas Mohan about their involvement in the film. 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.

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 screenplay writer, Madhan Karky, helped Jeyamohan on some of the more technical dialogue in the script. While the film does include characters and references to events from its predecessor, it is primarily a standalone sequel. Unadjusted for inflation, ''2.0'' was the most expensive Indian film at the time of its release.

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. Subsequently, the team held talks with Hollywood actor Arnold Schwarzenegger for the role, who agreed to work on the film for a record remuneration. The makers then opted against signing Schwarzenegger, though there have been conflicting reasons regarding this decision. 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. 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.

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'' (2013) and had signed him on.

Filming

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. 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 photoshoot.

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. The team subsequently moved to Delhi in order to hold a forty-five-day schedule, continuing on from the same scenes with military tanks that were shot in Chennai. 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. 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.

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. 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 per cent complete. 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. 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, but eventually he was not included in the final cast of the film. 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.

Another schedule began in early November at EVP Film City in Chennai with all of the lead cast and continued throughout the month. All filming was completed except for one song that featured a set erected in Chennai. Jackson was given ten days of practice by choreographer Bosco. Filming was completed in August 2017. Principal photography was concluded on 22 October 2017.

Music

A. R. Rahman composed the film's soundtrack and score, during the pre-production works of the film, in December 2015. Recording of the songs took place for nearly four years. In an interview with Archana Chandhok on Zee Tamil, Rajinikanth revealed that director Shankar wanted to make ''2.0'' without any songs. However, Rahman was still not convinced and felt that an album should have a minimum of four songs to provide listeners with a wholesome experience.

A promotional music event for the film was held at Burj Al Arab, Dubai on 27 October 2017, in a grand manner. And on the same day, two tracks from the film, "Endhira Logathu Sundhariye" and "Rajaali" were released, in Tamil and dubbed versions in Telugu and Hindi Madhan Karky and Na. Muthukumar provided the lyrics for the songs in Tamil. The third track, "Pullinangal" was included in the part of the soundtrack album on 6 November 2018.

The film score was released on 29 June 2019. Recording of the original score began in London and Rahman's Los Angeles studios in 2016. Unlike previous projects, Rahman began finalising the original background score six months back prior to release because he felt that the scenes were very heavy and it needed a lot of work.

Scientific inaccuracies

The film's premise of sparrows (and other birds) dying because of electromagnetic radiation from mobile phone towers, is a popular urban legend in India, which can be easily debunked by the fact that sparrows thrive in old parts of big cities with lots of nesting spaces and crevices, despite the high mobile phone tower concentration in those areas.

Dr. Asad Rahmani, who had headed the Indian parliamentary panel to study the impact of communication towers on wildlife including birds and bees, called out the film, saying, "There is no scientific proof between electromagnetic radiation and absence of sparrows”.

Steve Rousseau, writing for Audubon society, pointed out the impact of this film in spreading the falsehood linking radio waves and bird population decline. He mentioned that this film drove traffic to YouTube channels dedicated to conspiracy theories, which were actively spreading this pseudo-scientific theory.

In addition to the core idea of the film being based on pseudoscience, many of the facts and representations in the film, are inaccurate. Pakshi Rajan through his speeches and actions, seems like a bird trafficker or a charlatan, rather than a scientist.
*Arctic tern, which doesn't visit India, is mentioned as a regular visitor to Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary in India.
*Pakshi Rajan, the ornithologist in the film, mentions that the jacobin cuckoo brings monsoon rains to India, and claims that, if jacobin cuckoo skips migration to India the monsoon fails that year in India. While the bird's migration to North India happens before the monsoon, the birds can not impact the monsoon.
*Pakshi Rajan doesn't even know what scientific name is, as he says jacobin cuckoo is the scientific name.
*Common Indian birds that should be present in the geographical location of the film, are missing in the film. However, the birds that we see in the film are exotic birds such as toucans, macaws and cranes, kept in cages by Pakshi Rajan.

Marketing and release

In November 2016, it was revealed that ''2.0'' was scheduled for release during Diwali on 18 October 2017. In April 2017, Raju Mahalingam, the film's former producer, announced that the film's release had been postponed to 25 January 2018 citing better incorporation of visual effects. The release date was later moved to 14 April 2018. The release date was once again moved to 27 April 2018 but instead '' Kaala'' took that spot resulting in another delay of the film. The making video of the film was revealed on 25 August 2017. The film, which contains approximately 1,000 visual effects shots according to producers, was delayed numerous times while the computer-generated imagery (CGI) work was being completed by numerous effects studios. The film was finally slated to be released in cinemas on 29 November 2018.

The teaser of ''2.0'' was released on Ganesh Chaturti, 13 September 2018, in both 3D and 2D. Its 2D teaser video has been viewed over 32 million times in 24 hours. The film topic was trended and top searched queries on Google Trends for a week. But the teaser did not mention the release date. According to the source, "There may be a lot of VFX work left in the film and they do not want to delay things too much. This is why, the makers Lyca Productions seem to have put out the teaser so that they can keep the audiences busy." In addition to its original language, the film will be released in 14 other languages with dubbed versions. The film has recovered approximately from satellite, digital and music rights. This includes, but is not limited to, about for satellite to Zee Tamil and digital rights and for digital rights, the latter sold to Amazon Prime Video.

Ahead of the film's release, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) lodged a complaint, demanding that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) certificate of the film be revoked for "promoting anti-scientific attitudes towards mobile phones and cellular networks". The organisation alleged the producers "falsely depicting mobile phones and mobile towers as harmful to living creatures and the environment including birds and human beings". Meanwhile, a Lyca Productions spokesperson said, "We are under no obligation to toe the line and the film does not hunt or defames anyone."

In China, the film released on 6 September 2019. It was said to be released by HY Media in 10,000 theatres with 56,000 screenings, which includes 47,000 3D screenings, which is the largest release ever for an Indian film in the country in May 2019, with a Mandarin dub and subtitles, but the release was delayed to 6 September 2019 and released in about 48,000 screens. A dubbed Russian-language version of the film will also release in Russia on 25 July 2019.

An action mobile video game, ''Chhota Rajini Robot 2.0 Game'', was released as a tie-in for the film by Mobi2Fun.

Reception

Critical response

India

''2.0'' received mixed reviews from critics in India. Taran Adarsh gave the film five stars out of five and applauded Shankar as "a visionary... He hits the ball out of the park this time. Akshay Kumar is fantastic, while Rajinikanth is the boss". A critic for ''Bollywood Hungama'' gave it four and a half stars out of five and similarly commended Shankar, " isdirection is highly effective and he proves once again why he's one of our best filmmakers. He doesn't get overwhelmed by the technology available and makes correct use of it". S Subhakeerthana of ''The Indian Express'' gave it four stars out of five: "Shankar has raised the bar in filmmaking in terms of visualisation, grandeur, and every frame of his fascinates you as a viewer". '' Business Today''s Ramesh Bala gave it four stars out of five, and found Kumar to be the film's spotlight: "He has rocked both as Birdman and as a normal man in an emotional flashback".

Writing for ''Hindustan Times'', Raja Sen rated ''2.0'' three and a half stars out of five, terming Rajinikanth as "smarter than a smartphone" and counted him and Kumar among the film's strengths. A critic for the Indo-Asian News Service also gave three and a half stars out of five and wrote, "Unlike most science-fiction films, ''2.0'' takes the commercial route to entertain, thus does come across as illogical at places, but that's what makes it insanely fun". Devesh Sharma of ''Filmfare'' also gave three and a half stars out of five. M. Suganth of ''The Times of India'' gave it three stars out of five; he stated that there is a sense of "just going through the motions in the first half," but found that the action sequences and chemistry between the leads helped keep the film enjoyable for most of its run-time. Writing for ''Film Companion'', Anupama Chopra also gave the film three stars out of five: "''2.0'' is visually overpowering – the VFX are mostly first-rate – but the screenplay doesn't offer the seamless mix of romance, drama and comedy s the predecessor.

Janani K, film critic for ''India Today'', gave ''2.0'' three stars out of five and appreciated the film's theme, but felt it could be better presented, writing, "Though it is a much-need message, it could have been explained in an intriguing manner rather than the pedantic treatment it gets". Rajeev Masand also gave it three stars out of five. Shubhra Gupta of ''The Indian Express'' gave the film two stars out of five, describing it as "dull as ditchwater in the first half, perking up a little in the second, with a half-way watchable Akshay Kumar, and a Rajinikanth coming into his own right towards the end, for a bit". Pragati Saxena of ''National Herald'' concurred with Gupta and criticised the pace and dullness of the film. Writing for ''News18'', Rohit Vats also rated two stars out of five and criticised the writing, opining, " hankar'scharacters haven't evolved the way the world around them has". Saibal Chatterjee of ''NDTV'' also gave two stars out of five and said, "Bunkum is bunkum no matter how big the bucks behind it are". ''Ananda Vikatan'' rated the film 47 out of 100.

Overseas

Simon Abrahams of '' RogerEbert.com'' gave the film three and a half stars out of four and stated, "Against all reason–against all common sense–''2.0'' works, and in a big, big way". Shilpa Jamkhandikar of ''Reuters'' wrote, "This film certainly has the look and feel of a big-ticket Hollywood production, and that alone is worth the price of the ticket". Kumar Shyam of '' The National'' gave it three and a half stars out of five and wrote, "''2.0'' is a very clever spectacle not to be missed for its sheer audacity and scale". Rafael Motamayor of ''Polygon'' wrote, "2.0's biggest draw is its impressive use of visual effects, and the film doesn't waste a moment to showcase its budget". He felt " e effects eredetailed enough to stand against a $200 million-dollar American blockbuster". The movie was screened for the school students in Nepal.

Box office

''2.0'' was released in about 6900 screens in India and over 2000 screens overseas. On its opening day, ''2.0'' earned about gross collection in India (all versions), which was the second highest ever for an Indian film after '' Baahubali 2: The Conclusion'' (2017)'s . This was around 64 crore nett. Its worldwide gross was over , which was also the second highest worldwide collection for an Indian film on its first day after ''Baahubali 2''. On its second day, the film went on to be number one at the Australian box office. In Malaysia, the film had an all-time highest opening for any Tamil film at that time. On its second day, the film earned around 45 crore nett in India. The all-India business of ''2.0'' increased to 56–57 crore nett on Saturday (the third day) owing to positive word-of-mouth in North India, while the collections in South India saw a minor drop. Its all-India total increased to 165.5 crore nett. On its third day, the film earned around worldwide in all languages, including from overseas markets.

At the American box office, the film surpassed the lifetime business of Rajinikanth's previous film '' Lingaa'' (2014) in just two days. The film debuted at number 11 at the American box office, earning $4.09 million. The screen count was increased from 20 to 75 in Pakistan on its second day to meet the demand. 2.0 grossed US$14.75million (1.03billion) in first five days in overseas markets. On its fourth day, a Sunday, business picked up over India, which led the film to accumulate an opening weekend collection of around , the highest amount earned by any film in the week of 29 November to 2 December, ahead of '' Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald'' (2018). Collections in India, discounting overseas, were gross (229 crore nett) in all languages. This pushed it ahead of ''Enthiran'', which was the previous highest-grossing film from Tamil cinema with an earning of 205 crore nett in India. In its four-day opening weekend, the film opened at number one at the United Arab Emirates box office, earning $2.5 million, ahead of ''Creed II'' (2018).

On its fifth day, the film earned around ₹451 crore (US$56 million) worldwide in all languages, including ₹114 crore (US$16 million) from international markets. In North India, its Hindi version earned around ₹111 crore (US$16 million). Along with the sixth day business of 24 crore nett, the film earned 282.31 crore nett in India. It did record business in the southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. By the end of seven days, the film earned worldwide, which included in India and US$15million (1.18billion) in overseas markets. The extended first week worldwide collection was . The film has grossed over .

Accolades

Notes

References

External links

*
*
''2.0''
on Bollywood Hungama
*

{{Authority control
2010s fantasy action films
2010s science fantasy films
2010s Tamil-language films
2018 3D films
2018 controversies
2018 films
2018 science fiction action films
AA Films films
Avian humanoids
Enthiran
Films about androids
Films about animal cruelty
Films about birds
Films about drones
Films about reincarnation
Films about robots
Films about social issues in India
Films about talking animals
Films about technological impact
Films adapted for other media
Films directed by S. Shankar
Films scored by A. R. Rahman
Films set in Chennai
Films set in Delhi
Films set in the future
Films shot in Delhi
Films shot in Ukraine
Indian 3D films
Indian political action films
Indian science fiction action films
Tamil-language Indian films
Techno-thriller films