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.
[14][15] 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.
[16] While finishing the production of
I, Shankar drafted the scripts of three more feature films, including a sequel to
Enthiran.
[16]
Pre-production work for the film was reported to have started in June 2015 with
Lyca Productions deciding to finance the project. Along with Shankar and
Rajinikanth, composer
A. R. Rahman and editor
Anthonyremained on the development team for the sequel, while
Jeyamohan was added to help write dialogues. Shankar also began briefing the film's art director
T. Muthuraj and visual effects supervisor
V. Srinivas Mohan about their involvement in the film.
[17][18] 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.
[19][20]
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 dialogue writer,
Madhan Karky, helped Jeyamohan on some of the more technical dialogue in the script.
[21][22] A press release coinciding with the start of the film's shoot also revealed that
Resul Pookutty would handle sound designing,
Legacy Effects would take care of
animatronics work, and Mary E. Vogt would design special costumes. Stunt choreographer Kenny Bates and visual effects specialists John Hughes and Walt Jones were also signed to work on the film.
[23]In June 2016, Pookutty revealed during film production that it would not serve as a sequel to
Enthiran but rather a
spiritual successor.
[24][25] Unadjusted for inflation,
2.0is the
most expensive Indian film.
[7]
Casting
Amy Jackson plays a female humanoid robot.
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.
[26][27] Subsequently, the team held talks with Hollywood actor
Arnold Schwarzeneggerfor the role, who agreed to work on the film for a record remuneration.
[28][29][30] The makers then opted against signing Schwarzenegger, though there have been conflicting reasons regarding this decision.
[a]British actress
Amy Jackson signed on to work on the film in October 2015 and visited
Los Angeles as a part of the team's pre-production work.
[33] 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.
[1][34] 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.
[35]
Sudhanshu Pandey joined the cast of the film during March 2016 and revealed that he would portray a scientist who is the son of Professor Bohra from the original film.
Adil Hussain began working on the film in July 2016, and, as a part of his role, undertook extensive research into the life of news reporters.
[10][36] In September 2016,
Malayalam actor
Kalabhavan Shajohnconfirmed that he had tried out for a role in the film after Shankar was impressed with his performance in
Drishyam and had signed him on.
[12]
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.
[37] Instead, the team held a low key launch event at the
AVM Studios on 7 December, with the director and the producers in attendance. Titled
2.0, the film then began its first scheduled shooting on 16 December 2015 at a set erected in the outskirts of Chennai at
EVP World.
[38][39] 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 photo shoot.
[40] The first schedule of the film, consisting of Rajinikanth and Amy Jackson, continued in Chennai until 30 December 2015.
[41] The team then worked on a second schedule throughout the middle of January 2016 in Chennai and shot scenes featuring Rajinikanth at Mohan Studios and by
Madras Boat Club.
[42] Shankar continued filming portions not involving the lead actors throughout February 2016 in Chennai, with a car chase sequence shot in Royapettah.
[43]Another schedule to shoot a song was initially set to be held at
Salar de Uyuni in
Bolivia but was canceled due to bad weather, and the team opted not to travel to the country.
[44]
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.
[45] The team subsequently moved to Delhi to hold a forty-five-day schedule, continuing on from the same scenes with military tanks that were shot in Chennai.
[46]Subsequently, the team filmed sequences at
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium depicting an
Indian Super League match between
Chennaiyin FCand
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.
[47][48]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.
[49][50]
Another ten-day schedule took place in May 2016 in Chennai, with scenes being shot at the EVP Film City studios as well as at
The Forum Vijaya shopping mall.
[51] 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.
[52] 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 percent complete.
[53] After plans of filming a song portion in
Morocco fell through,
Nirav Shah did a test shoot for the song "Roja Kadhal" in
Ukraine during June 2016 at locations including the
Tunnel of Love.
[54] 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.
[55][56] Production continued throughout August and early September 2016 without the lead actors in
Saligramam in Chennai, where the team shot action sequences of luxury cars being blown up.
[57] 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. 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.
[58][59]
Another schedule began in early November at EVP Film City in Chennai with all of the lead cast and continued throughout the month.
[60]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.
[61][62][63] Principal photography wrapped on 22 October 2017.
[64]
In November 2016, it was revealed that
2.0 was scheduled for release during
Diwali on 18 October 2017.
[70] In April 2017, one of the producers, Raju Mahalingam, announced that the film's release had been postponed to 25 January 2018 citing better incorporation of
visual effects.
[71] The release date was later moved to 14 April 2018.
[72] The release date was once again moved to 27 April 2018 but instead
Kaala took that spot resulting in another delay of the film.
[73] The making video of the film was revealed on 25 August 2017.
[74]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.
[75] The film is slated to be released on 29 November 2018.
[76]
The teaser of
2.0 was released on
Ganesh Chaturti, 13 September 2018, in both 3D and 2D.
[77] The 3D version was positively received, while some expressed disappointment with the 2D.
[78] Its 2D teaser video has been viewed over 32 million times in 24 hours.
[79] The film topic was trended and top searched queries on
Google Trends for a week.
[80] 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."
[81] In addition to its original language, the film will be released in 14 other languages with dubbed versions.
[82][83][84]
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