Yesterday, my wife and I accompanied my son visiting from abroad to see the movie, Kalki 2898 AD. As a rare moviegoer whose exposure to acting didn’t extend beyond school dramatics—my parents pushed me towards engineering—I’m poorly qualified to review a movie of such a high cast and cost. Yet, as a discerning viewer and passionate writer, I feel compelled to share my thoughts, particularly given my concerns about the direction our young people are heading.
The movie began well, depicting the aftermath of the Mahabharata war. Ashwatthama (Amitabh Bachchan), seeking revenge for his father Drona’s deceitful death, uses the formidable Brahmastra to target the unborn child of Abhimanyu’s wife Uttara. Lord Krishna punishes Ashwatthama by taking away the shining gem from his forehead, dooming him for ages until he reappears as Kalki, the tenth avatar of Vishnu, at the end of Kaliyuga—a time characterized by materialism, greed, and degradation of values. This sets the stage for a dystopian world in 2898 AD, where the Ganges has dried up, and humans compete to be enslaved by a new Supreme leader called ‘Yaskin’ (Kamal Haasan).
From this point, the storyline transforms into a poorly sequenced narrative, overshadowed by the genius of cinematographic art resembling a large-scale video game. The South Indian heartthrob Prabhas appears as Bhairav, who was in mythology responsible for the security of the ancient city of Kasi, now on the brink of extinction with the Ganges’ last drops. Bhairav’s extended fantastical and unnecessarily extended fight scenes to earn bounty and the Supreme’s ‘complex’ dominate the screen. In this dystopian future, fertile women are guinea pigs, artificially impregnated to experiment on altered DNAs as part of ‘Project K’. These women, and men traded into slavery, face horrific conditions. Deepika Padukone, living in the Complex, escapes detection and flees to the rebel city of Shambala to protect her unborn child from Yaskin’s evil schemes.
Writer-director Nag Ashwin creates a visually stunning world, thanks to his imaginative prowess and cinematographer Djordje Stojiljkovic. The city of Kasi is ruled by the evil Commander Manas (Saswata Chatterjee) and led by Yaskin, who resides in the mysterious Complex. Despite the visually captivating production design by Nitin Zihani Choudhary, the storyline strays through unnecessary detours and subplots, diluting the broader narrative. Prabhas’ character suffers from this, with futile attempts at comedy and an underdeveloped love angle with Roxie (Disha Patani).
In the second half with the entry of the ‘Big B’ the story picks up some pace when despite the special effects and computer animation, Bachchan manages to breathe some life into Ashwatthama’s character, showcasing his prowess and unmatched energy through his genius. Deepika Padukone displays commendable restraint with director restraining her to show the potential of her acting skills, while Shobhana supports well as the wise Mariam. Saswata Chatterjee’s Commander Manas appears somewhat of a caricature, but the veteran actor Kamal Haasan succeeded in delivering good performance as Yaskin. Special appearances by several actors (sorry for my ignorance about their names), fail to create the impact that the director might have intended.
Ultimately, Kalki 2898 AD is a larger-than-life visual spectacle, overshadowing its flaws by failing to engage viewers like me in its vividly imagined fantastical universe. For those who enjoy fantastical and confused mix of epic battles with Sci-Fi, the film offers a satisfying audio-visual experience, albeit requiring patience.
However, this commercial success reaffirms my concerns about the upbringing of today’s youth, who are increasingly ignorant of our rich cultural values. The preference for impactful but short-lived visual memories, over tried and tested methods, and the reduced mental exercise due to dependence on electronic gadgets adorned with AI, leads to a gradual submission to gadgets instead of human ingenuity. Where will all this lead to?
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