Indian (1996)

Indian is the kind of big, bold mainstream cinema that still dares to carry a moral thunderclap: a righteous fury against corruption, staged with Shankar’s grand sense of scale and showmanship. It plays like a slick thriller with a patriotic pulse, balancing tense investigations and sharp confrontations with the lavish, larger-than-life style that makes every set piece feel like an event. At the center is Kamal Haasan in formidable form, transforming the film from mere vigilante fantasy into something weightier—an old warrior’s anger made flesh, unsettling and oddly moving. It’s not for viewers allergic to heightened melodrama or maximalist spectacle, but if you want a commercial entertainer with bite, conviction, and a star performance that commands the screen, this one earns its reputation.

Indian is clearly trying to be a thunderous anti-corruption statement piece, mixing vigilante justice, police procedural intrigue, and big, crowd-pleasing Shankar-style spectacle with Kamal Haasan going all-in on a dual-role showcase. The problem is that its moral stance can feel queasy: it wants you to cheer the “clean-up” while skirting the uglier implications of the murders, and that blunt messaging can come off more preachy than persuasive. It’s also a bit of a tonal jumble—part thriller, part social sermon, part melodrama—so if you need tight plotting and consistent logic, you may find it messy rather than thrilling. Watch it if you’re in the mood for maximalist 90s Tamil cinema with a powerhouse lead and bold themes; skip it if you’re sensitive to films that flirt with justifying violence as the answer to corruption.