When director PS Mithran's Sardar came out in 2022, the spy action thriller starring Karthi set the Diwali box office on fire. Four years later, the director and Tamil star reunited for its sequel - Sardar 2 - that is set to hit theatres on September 10.
In an exclusive chat with NDTV, director PS Mithran says Sardar 2 will be bigger in scale and deeper in its exploration of its central character, Karthi's Sardar.
While the first film dealt with the world of espionage, the sequel delves further into the personal and psychological costs of being a spy.
"Sardar 2 is bigger than the previous one. So, obviously, scale is something that you can expect," Mithran begins.
More importantly, he says, the sequel explores Sardar himself in greater depth.
"We have dug in deep into the personal character of Sardar and the psychological effects of what a mission does to a man."
For Mithran, this is ultimately what Sardar is about: the relationship between a spy and the missions he undertakes.
"In a way, you can say that Sardar is a story about a relationship between an agent and his mission. No matter whether it's a success or failure, every mission takes something away from you," he says.
With a number of recent films, like Dhurandhar and Dhurandhar 2, exploring spies, missions and national security, Mithran believes his Sardar 2 has a somewhat different approach.
Although patriotism is an important element, he is keen to distinguish the film from overtly jingoistic narratives.
"This film is also about patriotism, but it's not about jingoism. It's about patriotism; it's about the country," he stresses.
"The sequel though is primarily interested in the individual behind the spy. This is a more personal film, you know, about the personal stakes of a spy, rather than what it does to a nation and the relationship between the nation and the spy."
SJ Suryah plays the antagonist in Sardar 2, but Mithran hints that his character is considerably more complex than a conventional villain.
"SJ Suryah will bring in what usually SJ Suryah does - in this film his character has a lot of class and he's not the typical villain. He's one of the most important characters in the film but I can't reveal much about the character now," he smiles.
Reuniting with Karthi for the sequel after a few years was, according to Mithran, a seamless experience.
"When I started shooting, it didn't feel like a different film set. Same producer, same hero. So, it's like I'm just continuing where I left off. Karthi understands the character that he plays well, very deeply. Based on his understanding of the character, we thought that maybe we can just delve deeper and he can pull something off. And that's what he has done," he says.
Mithran says the average performance of some of Karthi's previous films has little bearing on the pressure he feels as a filmmaker now.
For him, every film carries enormous personal pressure because of the time, energy and resources invested in making it. "Even if Karthi says all previous films have worked well, still the pressure will be there because every film is a pressure for me," he says.
"I take a lot of time and effort, energy, and expense. For me, personally, making a film is a humongous and herculean task, given the amount of effort that I put into it. So, I put a lot of pressure on myself. The pressure I feel now is no different than when the first Sardar was made, despite Karthi coming off the back of successful films such as Ponniyin Selvan and Viruman. This pressure I feel will be the same for every film of mine."
Sardar 2 features Ashika Ranganath, Malavika Mohanan and Rajisha Vijayan, with Mithran stressing that all three women play significant roles in the narrative.
"All three women are very important for the plot," he says. "Ashika is playing the key character in the present, in the sequel part of the film.
And Malavika is playing the most important character in the prequel part of the film. Rajisha is the heart and soul of the film," he says. "All of my female characters in all of my films will have agency. I don't write any character in the film if it doesn't have any sort of agency - women or men. This is fundamental to my writing. Every character has to be part of the story. They have to be part of the plot."
The director is someone who is fascinated by technology and its impact on society and these have been recurring themes in his films. He says his interest stems from the way technological change inevitably transforms human behaviour, "Society changes with its own technologies," explains Mithran. "Before the steam engine, society was different. After the industrial revolution, society is different. After the information revolution, digital revolution, society is different."
The social media revolution, he adds, has created yet another major shift.
"We all adapt our behaviours and our lives based on what technology is in our hands. It changes us. It changes society. So, I like to focus on that," explains the Hero director. AI, however, does not feature in Sardar 2 but Mithran says he nevertheless expects artificial intelligence to have a significant impact on cinema and society. "100% AI is going to be a big part of cinema. It's going to be a big part of a lot of things. I think AI has already become a big part of our lives. AI is here to stay. Now we need to figure out if AI is going to control us or we are going to control the AI," he adds.
Mithran also addresses the possible Hindi-language project backed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, starring Dhanush and Kareena Kapoor Khan, that he has spoken about to the media.
"It is just in talks. We have not finalized anything yet. After the release of Sardar 2, we'll have to look into where the talks are going to lead us. It's a long way to go," he says, adding that he was never particularly focused on entering Hindi cinema, but if the project materialises, the experience would present a different kind of challenge - not necessarily in terms of filmmaking itself, but because of the industry's working culture. "I don't see a Hindi film as a challenge. I probably think the industry is more of a challenge. Because it's a new industry; a new type of filmmaking culture, new people - it's totally different. I think Bollywood is very producer-centric. Here, Tamil films are very director-centric. So, there's going to be a lot of cultural differences is what I feel."
For now, Mithran says his attention remains firmly on Sardar 2. "Right now, Sardar 2 is the only thing on my mind. So, after that, we'll see how things fall into place," he signs off.
