Shankar clarifies Senapathy's age in Indian 2, compares to Superman and James Bond

Director Shankar addressed a press conference on Saturday, answering numerous questions about his upcoming movie Indian 2, which has tested his capabilities as a filmmaker on many levels. Since beginning production in 2019, Shankar has endured and overcome a series of challenges.

One of the logical questions bugging cinephiles about the Indian franchise is the age of Senapathy, aka Indian Thatha (played by Kamal Haasan).

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In Indian Part 1, released in 1996, Senapathy's birth year was mentioned as 1918. Based on that, Senapathy would be 106 years old in 2024 , leading many to wonder how a man in his early 100s could perform gravity-defying stunts.

Shankar took the opportunity to remind the audience that Senapathy is a work of fiction, and judging it in terms of human years was an exercise in vain.

"While creating Senapathy's character, we were required to include a date of birth for logical reasons in Indian. But I didn't know I would shoot part 2 after so many years, and now people are asking questions about his age," he explained.

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Shankar also cited examples of centenarians who defied age-related problems by following the path of discipline. He noted that Chinese grandmaster Lu Zijian continued to perform martial arts even at 118. "For such grandmasters, age is not a hurdle. And Superman doesn't have an age. And James Bond would be 102 years old now. But we don't think of such characters in terms of age. We just enjoy the show," he reasoned.

Shankar asked people to perceive Senapathy as a symbol and the manifestation of all the frustration and anger of the common man against a system that rewards corruption. "Such a character always needs to be powerful and strong," he added.

Shankar revealed that he tried to show the effects of ageing on Senapathy but didn't like what he saw and decided to treat him like the Superman character.

Indian 2 will hit screens worldwide on July 12.

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