'Vikram': 5 Kamal Haasan films referenced in Lokesh Kanagaraj directorial
Typically, spinoff movies are littered with Easter eggs for hardcore fans to find. So, it was not exactly a surprise when we saw director Lokesh Kanagaraj's Vikram have a good number of references to its predecessor Kaithi. But interestingly, the Kamal Haasan starrer had obscure references and fist-pumping callbacks to several of Haasan's previous movies. We list five such films.
The character played by Haasan in Vikram is an extension of his role in the 1986 movie Vikram. Starting from the theme music to Haasan's profession—everything had connections to the classic movie. In the newer version, Haasan is shown as a Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) agent, who was in hiding after the events that happened in the older movie.
This National Film Award-winning film had a dialog, which is popular even today. The dialog had Haasan's grandson asking him if he is a good or bad person. We saw Haasan breaking down saying he himself doesn't know the answer. In Vikram, Haasan's daughter-in-law asked him the same question, to which he rolled his eyes and said that her son will answer the question.
Michael Madana Kama Rajan, a comedy drama, had Haasan playing four roles. One of them was smuggler Michael where actor Santhana Bharathi played his foster father. When Haasan found out who his biological father was, Bharathi asked him, "Am I not your father?" In Vikram, Bharathi played a gun smuggler and Haasan's aide. Toward the climax, Haasan kept calling him "Appa" (father).
In Panchatanthiram, Malayalam actor Jayaram played Haasan's closest friend. In Vikram, Kalidas Jayaram (Jayaram's son) played Haasan's son. Though there were hints that would make one believe that he could be his biological son, the question has not been openly answered in the film. Jayaram's son had a heart condition in Panchatanthiram and in Vikram, the son of Kalidas's character had a heart condition.
One of the most epic Easter eggs in Vikram is again from this 1986 film. In the older version, Sathyaraj played the main antagonist. Throughout the film, Sathyaraj appeared with a pair of sunglasses, which was shaded only on one side. And in the newer film, Vijay Sethupathi, the main antagonist, loses one of the glasses of his goggles during an action sequence.
