Kalki 2898 AD First Day First Impression: A Visual Spectacle That Doesn’t Leave Much Room For Emotion

Writer and Director: Nag Ashwin

Cast: Prabhas, Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Deepika Padukone, Disha Patani, Keerthy Suresh

Duration: 181 minutes

Available in: Theatres

• Kalki 2898 AD might be a film that is set in a land of dacoity and doom way into the future, but the film begins with the Kurukshetra war fought between the Pandyas and Gourvavas as detailed by the Hindu epic Mahabharata. Nag Ashwin filters through all the incredible detail in the mythology to shine focus on the story of a man’s dalliance with redemption and immortality — Ashwatthama (who is fittingly played by Amitabh Bachchan). It is easy to see why Ashwatthama’s immeasurable strength and internal struggle drew Nag to use him and his curse as the starting point. And this, in a way, also becomes the film’s strength because it doesn’t just use a character of such rigour, it also makes use of an actor like Bachchan to anchor a story of ambitious dystopia.

• Nag shows us his take on the world’s descent into Kaliyuga, 6,000 years after Kurukshetra. It is a world where water isn’t free, god is banned (the deity of Kaasi is aptly forgotten thanks to memory rust), “units” replace “rupees” as form or currency, and the world is ruled by Supreme Yaskin, a disfigured floating creature (played by Kamal Haasan) who resides in a guarded colony known as the Complex, a kingdom that requires a person to carry a million units to be cleared entry. The world-building is intricate, and we see this through costumes, weapons of choice, and abodes. But is that enough? We never get answers for the “why” of it all. We’re never told “why” water is a precious commodity (like in Dune), for instance. Kaliyuga, on paper, sounds like a brilliant jumping-off point to capture on film, but Kalki 2898 AD seems to have missed an opportunity to really dig deep.

• If there is a dictatorship, there is obviously a rebel gang on the brink of revolution. The rebels in this movie reside in Shambala. But this is a gang — picture a less intense Bene Gesserit from Dune if you will — waiting for their messiah or the rebirth of “God” to save them from doom. Veeran and Mariam (Pasupathy and Shobhana) play leaders on this land, who guide Deepika Padukone’s oblivious and pregnant Sumathi to enlightenment. It dawns on Sumathi very quickly that she is here to give life, and not take one. And as convincing as Padukone is in the role, she is still reduced to being a woman whose autonomy over her body doesn’t just remain hers. 

• While we would’ve liked to see action queen DP whoop some ass, most of the ass-kicking is reserved for the men in the film (except for a brief sequence with Anna Ben), and most primarily the film’s lead, bounty killer Bhairava (Prabhas). And Bhairava isn’t your selfless mass hero and Nag wants to make this pretty clear from the get-go. Yes, he will use all the weapons at his disposal (including his tiny robotic voice assistant Bujji), along with his big guns to fight, but he will choose to take a nap and sneak into the complex, any chance he gets. Of course, until he finds his purpose. But what happens between his introduction and this winding coming-of-age is where the film visibly slips.

• Yes, Bhairava is fun and cheeky and has multiple run-ins with high-profile cameos to crack some jokes. But what makes this bounty killer unique? What makes his climactic realisation important and what ties him to the fate of Ashwatthama and Sumathi? While we eventually get straightforward answers to these questions, we never really really see the flesh and bones that make up this character. Bhairava’s backstory involves instances of abandonment and fatherhood, elements that evoke immediate intrigue, which are promptly ignored to instead steer our focus on a song-and-dance with Disha Patani at the frightening Complex.

• The lack in character development is something that plagues most of the film’s inhabitants. An actor of Kamal Haasan’s eminence playing the bad guy — something that the legend was actually known for in his formative years — should’ve been terrifyingly impactful. But all we get are a few customary, empty close-ups. Nag Ashwin tries to make this world his by infusing in it some interesting detail: no fertile woman in the Kaliyug is free, for instance. This immediately makes Kalki 2898 AD gripping. But what explains scores of women being lined up for insemination? What do these women — divided harshly into “positive” and “negative” according to their fertility scale — go through? Interesting concepts such as these, that can only be explored in such a genre, go unexplored. 

• Despite these shortcomings, if the world of Kalki 2898 AD is largely convincing, it is because of Nag’s adept understanding of the fabled mythology and his eye for placing the film’s full credibility and strength on its VFX department. It doesn’t matter if the world feels derivative, Kalki 2898 AD transports us into a world we’ve grown up imagining, and been told stories about — a world that feels tangible and inventive. And this feels like an achievement in itself.

• In the end, even if the film might be emotionally weak, its dark-horse-shaped Ashwatthama largely redeems its journey for audiences. Bachchan brings depth to this wounded character, making us feel his pain beyond just his wearied face and 8-feet structure. It helps that his natural acting chemistry with Deepika Padukone is already established, so anytime they grace the screen, we fully buy their stories in this twisted world. Even if we yearn for a lot more to be felt. Here’s hoping the sequel doesn’t leave much to be desired.