When Vipul Shah was listening to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the nation on Tuesday night, when he announced demonetising Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes in a bold attempt to counter the black money in the economy, the filmmaker was struck by a feeling of déjà vu. His second upcoming sequel after Force 2, Commando 2, targeting a January 6 release, also revolves around black money and was scripted two years ago.

His director, Deven Bhojani, who has co-written the script along with Pink writer Ritesh Shah and Vipul, shares that Vidyut Jammwal who returns as the commando is on a mission to trace black money which has been siphoned to banks abroad. “Commando was a simple, well liked film, when we decided on a sequel, the idea was to combine action and intelligence in an espionage thriller. Ritesh touched on the subject of black money during a brainstorming session and both Vipul and I agreed that the subject was relatively unexplored and timely. Little did we know it would prove to be so timely,“ Deven laughs, admitting that like many others across the country, his family too got a little paranoid after the PM's breaking news till he pointed out that they had till December 30 to exchange the defunct notes and weren't hoarding extra cash.

So are there any politicians in their film? Vipul admits there are. And is there a PM who wants to bring about change? Deven acknowledges there is. And will they incorporate the current scenario into their plot? “No, the film is ready and Vidyut has already cut his hair and moved to his next so there's no chance of incorporating anything,“ says Vipul. “But I'm all for Modiji's brave step and those who are cribbing about long queues and no exchange at petrol pumps should remember a malice like this can't be eradicated overnight. As part of our research, we learnt how black money is generated and made to disappear from the system. The whole modus operandi is explained as the money travels from one country to another in an important sequence in the film.“