Dinesh Kamath’s column ‘New movie released in Navi Mumbai (2.0) that was published in Newsband

New movie released in Navi Mumbai

By Dinesh Kamath

2.0

2.0 is a 2018 Indian 3D science fiction-action film directed by S. Shankar and co-written by Shankar with B. Jeyamohan. The film was produced by Subaskaran Allirajah under the banner Lyca Productions. A sequel to Enthiran (2010), it features Rajinikanth reprising the roles of Dr. Vaseegaran and Chitti, alongside Akshay Kumar and Amy Jackson. Sudhanshu Pandey, Adil Hussain, Kalabhavan Shajohn, and Dr K. Ganesh appear in supporting roles. In addition to its original language, the film would be released in 14 other languages with dubbed versions. The soundtrack was composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics written by Madhan Karky and Na. Muthukumar.

India faces a threat from Pakshi Rajan (Akshay Kumar), a human who mutated into a bird-like creature and uses cellphones as weapons. Vaseegaran aka Vasee (Rajinikanth) decides to help the government by reviving the superpowered andro-humanoid robot Chitti (also Rajinikanth) along with his newly invented andro-humanoid robot Nila (Amy Jackson) to eliminate Pakshi Rajan. This time around, Chitti is reloaded and primed to confront a force that is out to eliminate mobile phones and cellular transmission towers from Tamil Nadu. The battle between good and evil, between nature and technology, plays out over two and a half hours. The movie displays robotic and frenetic action sequences. The film talks at length about the sad reality of the sparrows vanishing from our metropolises. The film has flashy, impressive demo of animatronics, special effects and prosthetics. A mysterious power - its genesis is established in the film's opening sequence in which a man hangs himself from a cell tower - is out to eliminate mobile telephony from the face of the earth. Towers are uprooted and crushed. Handsets fly off the hands of their owners and turn into a destructive wave. A city is in the grip of complete mayhem. The army is called out but the soldiers draw a blank. The good scientist is roped in to stop the impending calamity. He advises bringing Chitti back from the dead. That is the only effective option in the fight against the new menace. His plan is resisted by elements in the administration but as matters begin to go out of control, Vaseegaran secures a free hand. Nila (Amy Jackson), another of Vaseegaran's creations. On the face of it, the lead actor plunges into the universe of the two pivotal characters - the invincible robot and his brilliant creator - with all his might. Akshay Kumar, in the second half of the film, is in the guise of an ageing ornithologist livid at the fast depleting bird numbers and then as a vengeance seeker for the avian deaths. The murderous crusade that Pakshirajan (Akshay Kumar) launches against mobile phone sellers and users is worth watchin. The comic-strip superficiality of his war manifests itself in the manner in which he kills a wholesaler, a transmission tower owner and a telecom minister: one blown to smithereens, the other squeezed to pulp, and another literally poisoned with a diamond-studded mobile phone. Amy Jackson as the super-efficient robot who is at the beck and all of her master is aptly mechanical but does just enough not to be swamped out of this sci-fi action film designed primarily for Rajnikanth's larger-than-life, crowd-pleasing screen persona. Adil Hussain is in the role of the home minister, a man charged with formulating a response to the attack of the mobile phones. But his agency is quickly taken away from him as Vaseegaran, Chitti and Nila take over as a powerful adversary threatens to overrun the city. There is a hint of a romantic entanglement between Chitti and Nila, both of whom are capable of feeling and expressing love. Thus The right-versus-wrong is what 2.0 depicts.

The film has Rajinikanth as Vaseegaran, Chitti, 2.0, and Kutti 3.0, Akshay Kumar as Pakshi Rajan, Amy Jackson as Nila, Sudhanshu Pandey as Dhinendra Bohra "Dhina", Adil Hussain as Vijay Kumar, Home Minister, Dr K. Ganesh as Jeyanth Kumar, Anant Mahadevan as a scientist, Mayilsamy as Telecommunication Minister's personal assistant and Kalabhavan Shajohn as Telecommunication Minister.

A. R. Rahman composed the music of the film. The original Tamil soundtrack has Hindi and Telugu dubbed versions. Lyricist is Abbas Tyrewala. In the Hindi version, the songs are "Mechanical Sundariye"          sung by Armaan Malik, Shashaa Tirupati, "Rakshassi" by Blaaze, Kailash Kher, Nakash Aziz and "Nanhi Si Jaan"          by Kailash Kher, A. R. Ameen, Suzanne D'Mello.