Director Shankar blockbuster movies -Indian 1996

Indian Interesting Facts 

Graphic designer Venky noted that Indian was his most difficult project to date (in 1997) with a scene constructed to feature Kamal Haasan's character alongside freedom fighter, Subhas Chandra Bose. Venky had to remove blemishes on the film reel of Bose provided by the Film Division's archive before merging Kamal Haasan on to the shot to make it appear that the pair were marching in tandem.

Chosen as the official entry for the Oscars from India for the year, though it didn't get nominated.

It was the most expensive Indian film made then.

Senthil voice was dubbed by Laxmikanth Berde for the Hindi version Hindustani.

The climax of the scene was inspired from the death of freedom fighter Subash Chandra Bose showing a bus explode in plain crash killing Kamal Hassan.next scene he is shown calling Indian officials from Foreign land saying he will be back when ever Indians need him.

Kamal Hassan wanted the title "Indian" for the Hindi dubbed version. The rights of the title Indian lay with Sunny Deol. He refused to give it up to Kamal Hassan. That is when the film was titled Hindustani.

Shankar wanted Aishwariya Rai to debut in the film.As she was committed to her ad agency for some projects she couldn't do the film and Manisha Koirala was signed whose character in the film is called Aishwariya.

Hollywood makeup artist Michael Westmore worked on older look of Kamal Hassan.

First Indian film to use prosthetic makeup.

Manisha Koirala's voice is dubbed by a dubbing artiste in the Hindi version.

The song Telephone was sampled from Ace of Bass song "All She Wants". The same song was sampled for the song "Dil Ka Raja" in Himmatwala (1998).

Urmila was signed for the film after producers saw her in Rangeela 1995.

Latka from INDIAN/HINDUSTANI has beats ripped from Paul Young's "Love of The Common People) Extended Remix. Ajnabi's song "Mehbooba Mehbooba" at 1:15 also sampled the same song. In 1995, during a scene in Ravaan Raaj, the same music was used. Near the climax when Dolly runs down the stairs to escape, one can hear the same music with a slight variation. "Kyon Aaj Mera Dil" at 2:22 from Suneil Anand's Master,was has the same music. The original music source was taken at 2:09 from the CD/program Best Services XX Large 1500 Classic Drumloops.

Kamal Hassan in his 40s and Sukhanya in her late 20s had to look 70 years old in the film.In order to get the look perfect Kamal Hassan hired Hollywood makeup man Michael Westmore.

Indian was the first Tamil film to cross 50+ crores cumulatively in all the languages. It had managed to collect around 60 crores and created a wonder among all the film industries in India.

This film was the highest grossing Tamil film at the time of release making it the first 50 crore club movie in south India.

Kamal Hassan agreed to dub the film in Hindi . So he dubbed his own lines in the Hindi version. This was rare because in most Kamal Hassan Hindi dubbed movies, a different dubbing artiste was usually used .

Nedumudi Venu's voice was dubbed by Nasser.

A. R. Raman's "Latka Dikha Diya Humne" in HINDUSTANI (1996) has got the notes similar to "Har Nazar Mein Sau Afsaane" in SHABNAM (1964).

A flashback song was canned with four hundred dancers and a thousand extras at Gingee with Kamal Haasan and Sukanya, while another song featured shooting in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

Raadhika play the pair of the older Kamal Haasan in the film, but her television commitments meant that she was unable to sign a contract. Urvashi's sister subsequently replaced her, only for Shankar to throw her out for missing a day's schedule to attend her wedding. The role was finally handed to Sukanya.

Nassar was to play an important role in the film but couldn't do it due to other commitments.He then did voiceover for Nedumudi Venu..

Films unit was asked to maintain privacy on the film's shoot.Jackie Shroff who happened to be close near the film's location wasn't allowed to visit the sets.

Sequel to the the film went on floors in 2018 as Indian 2.

Shankar purchased camera from Las Vegas to shoot the film.

Namrata Shirodkar auditioned for Urmila's role but she could not agree on the costumes they wanted her to wear. She left the project .

A.R. Rahman used Cheb Khaled song "Didi" for inspiration for his song "Mere Dil Ka Woh" from Kabhi Na Kabhi. At the 0:20 mark of the song, A.R. Rahman uses the "Didi" tune/music . The exact part used from Cheb Khaled's "Didi" is at 0:59 to 1:12 mark of the song. A.R. Rahman had earlier used the same tune of "Didi" at the exact part and used it in his song "Telephone" at 1:38 mark, from the movie Indian (Hindustani). If one listen's very carefully and thinks ,A.R. Rahman took the basic rhythm/ tune of that part of "Didi" and recreated it with different instrument's. This gave A.R.Rahman's song more individuality and not seem like a rip off "Didi".

This film was the highest grossing tamil film until then collecting more than 50cr from the worldwide box office. The Tamil Nadu records were surpassed by Padayyapa and Ghilli in the following years collecting more than 50cr but the worldwide record of 58cr was surpassed 9 years later by Chandramukhi.

This film was the highest grossing Tamil film in Kerala collecting more than 3cr from the box office and was later broken by Chilli 8 years later collecting 4cr . The film has the longest record in kerala box office which wasn't broken for 8 years and is the first film to reach the milestone.

At 3:33 of the song "Latka" from Indian (Hindustani) the music was sampled from 2:06 from the CD/program Best Service XX Large 1500 Classic Drumloops. This was a program used by composers to sample sounds and music.

Shankar approached Shilpa Shetty for Urmila's role but she was too busy.

When Urmila's character comes to know about the love that young Kamal Haasan feels for Manisha's character then she sings a line - Kuchi Kuchi Rakama. This is from a song in the movie 'Bombay' which had the same music director -A.R. Rehman, and the same actress' character confesses her liking the hero- Manisha Koirala.

Music Director AR Rahman and Cinematographer Jeeva went to Australia before the film shoot to hunt for location in order to get better feel of the music.

The dubbed Hindi Version "Hindustani" had a theatrical release in Canada.

It was A R Rahman who recommended Urmila to the director Shankar. Rahman had seen some scenes of Rangeela and was very impressed.

In the scene where camel bites Koundamani, and Koundamani conveys this to Kamal and Manisha, SPB would have dubbed for Kamal just for the sentence "Adhukkita yenda stomach'a katina"

Kamal Hassan had reveled that during London schedule he was able to move free on the streets as nobody recognized him due to prosthetic makeup.

At 0:30 of the song "Latka" from Indian (Hindustani) was sampled at 2:09 from the CD/program Best Services XX Large 1500 Classic Drumloops.

Showing all 9 wins and 0 nominations

Awards Won

Cinema Express Awards, IN 1996

Filmfare Awards South 1997

National Film Awards, India 1997

Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, India 1996

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