Tamil star Rajinikanth’s sequel to Enthiran or Robot, which was recently announced, will henceforth be called 2.0, and it also happens to be the official title of the film. Lyca Productions, the makers of the project, have confirmed that it will made on a budget of Rs 350 crore, making it India’s biggest motion picture in terms of budget and, hence, superseding SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali in the process.
Speaking after meeting the press in Chennai earlier this week, a representative from Lyca said that the production cost of the film will be around Rs 350 crore. He also said that they are confident of recovering investment, thanks to the combination of Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar, who was brought into the project in place of Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Arnold, according to the representative, was really excited about the project and had even watched Enthiran. However, due to some contractual reasons (reportedly a very high remuneration of Rs 120 crore), he couldn’t come on board and the makers subsequently roped in Akshay, who will also be working with the producers in the Hindi remake of AR Murugadoss-directed Tamil blockbuster Kaththi, which has been titled Ikka.
Contrary to the rumours, 2.0 won’t feature another heroine apart from Amy Jackson, who has teamed up with filmmaker Shankar for the second time in a row after Vikram’s I. Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman has been roped in to compose the tunes, while Nirav Shah will crank the camera. The visual effects work will be taken care by Srinivas Mohan, who had earlier worked in Baahubali.
(Karthik Kumar is an independent film critic and journalist. He actively follows and writes on popular South Indian cinema and covers independent films too.)
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