When Mythology Marries Science Fiction & Action

‘Kalki 2898 AD’ is a triangular love story of mythology, science fiction and superb action. Who is “the other woman” here or the third angle of the triangle? This decision will depend on how each member of the audience responds to which partner of the triangle.

This concocted entertainment formula devised in the Southern cinema with films like ‘RRR, Salaar’ and ‘Adipurush’, has worked once again like superb magic on the Indian audience.

Add to this, the believe-it-or-not casting, drawn generously from the most outstanding actors of Indian cinema comprised of none other than the 81-year-old Amitabh Bachchan, in the company of other greats like Kamal Hasan, Prabhas, Deepika Padukone, Shobana, Disha Patani, Saswata Chatterjee and many others. The film presents a galaxy of stars drawn generously from pan-Indian cinema’s star-studded sky.

Add to this the grandeur, the larger-than-life use of hi-tech razzmatazz and the incredibly mesmerising action. There must be a special mention of the fights in air, land and machine between the immortal Ashwathama and the muscularly young and handsome Vaibhav (Prabhas) that takes your breath away and drowns you in the magic of AI and Post-Apocalyptic beauty.

So the ultimate star is Naga Ashwin, the writer-director of this magnum opus made on an astronomical budget of Rs.600 crores.

‘Kalki 2898 AD’ reminds one of Adipurush released last year. Hindu mythology and Prabhas are the two common factors between these two films. The main difference between the two films lies in the superior production values of the former compared to the latter.

The director has tried and achieved a masterful synthesis between desire and its fulfilment. One can easily find glimpses of ‘inspiration’ from Western films like ‘Marvel Cinematique’, or ‘Transformer’, or perhaps ‘Mad Max : Fury Road’, ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Dune’. But these “inspirational” treks are so beautifully Indianised that not even the makers of the original films will be able to identify them.

‘Kalki 2898 AD’ begins with a gripping depiction of the aftermath of the Mahabharata war, when Lord Krishna cursed Ashwatthama (Amitabh Bachchan) with immortality. This sets the stage for a fictional narrative within a star-studded cinematic universe, deeply rooted in Hindu mythology.

A story about the tenth avatar of Lord Vishnu, foretold to arrive on a white horse, signalling the end of Kali Yuga. In the year 2898 AD, the tenth and final avatar of Lord Vishnu, Kalki, is poised to be born, heralding a new era amidst a dystopian world fraught with malevolent forces.

The film’s narrative details with stunningly imaginatively created scenes, visuals, sound effects and action scenes show 6,000 years following the end of the Kurukshetra war, how the evolution in nature has turned the wheels of civilisation backwards. There is complete destruction of the world’s physical environment, the river Ganges that once flowed along the city of Kashi has dried up completely with the washing away of the sins of human beings for ages, and the common man is completely deprived of the joys of nature. And nurture.

Within that darkness hides Ashwatthama, waiting for his sin of having killed Uttara’s unborn son, to be washed away. In the midst of all this is the futuristic world called Complex owned, ruled and controlled by Supreme Yaskin (Kamal Hasan) who is around 200 years old.

He controls his empire remotely through his top general Manav (Saswata Chatterjee), which mainly consists of killing and/or stopping the entry of any rebel into Complex. And of course, finding young and fertile women to impregnate and hold prisoner. This forms the core of the sketchy story of ‘Kalki 2898 AD’.

An inner sanctum is filled with young, fertile and beautiful women who are pregnant, not to deliver babies but to extract the serum of the foetus they are carrying, to be injected into Yaskin to make him young again. But no young maiden can carry a foetus for more than 120 days, and is then thrown into a well of fire to die.

Sumati (Deepika Padukone) or Sumi 8 in the futuristic tie-zone, is the only one who has carried her baby for 150 days, and is ripe for her foetus to produce enough serum for Yaskin to revel in youth, perhaps forever.

But she has a different role to fulfil. Into this strange world enters Bhairav (Prabhas) who comes along with his AI assistant Bhuji and fills the scenario with some entertainment.

But all this is likely to go right over the head of the mass audience, including yours truly. Naga Ashwin is intelligent enough to stun and almost hypnotise all of us with the glamour, grandeur, miraculous action scenes between Ashwathhama and Bhairav who are mistakenly pitted against each other in saving both Sumati and the baby she is carrying.

This baby, we are vaguely given to understand, is Kalki whose birth is awaited as it is believed that this will mark the end of Kaliyug and will bring peace, harmony and normalcy to the world all over again.

The film is in short, is a huge jigsaw puzzle, or, if one may be permitted to say so, it is like the Chakravyuha of Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna and husband of Uttara, which he entered but failed to come out of.

The film is practically spilling over with continuous action scenes on air, on desert sands outside the Complex, in Sambhala ruled by the matronly Mariam (Shobhana), mainly between Ashwathama and Bhairav each one trying to outdo the other in beautifully orchestrated fight scenes which really take your breath away. And remember, you are watching all this on 3D screens!

Acting wise, between the two, without an iota of doubt, one will concede that it is the senior Bachchan who runs away with the winner’s trophy. With all that prosthetic make-up to look very old, with body doubles for the electrically charged fight scenes, he is incredibly wonderful.

Kamal Hasan, who can hardly be recognised, except in the end, comes a close second. Prabhas manipulates the goings-on with his dose of humour in an otherwise violent film and story.

Saswata Chatterjee as the menacing Manas is very good, pitted against some of the top stars of Indian cinema. The role of Sumati or Sumi 8 could have been performed by any other actress, so Deepika Padukone’s histrionic talents are overshadowed by the tricks of Ashwathama and Bhairav. Sumati is actually the central figure in the entire film but has little to contribute in terms of characterisation and performance.

Some sensuality and titillation is attempted through the character of Roxie (Disha Patani). She seems to be smitten by Bhairav’s sex appeal but her scantily clad appearance does not really help in adding to the sex show in the film of which there is none.

The production design has glimpses of scantily clad lissome ladies hanging out of massive chandeliers from the ceilings in the Complex which speaks ill about the portrayal of women in 2898 AD. Why are all the young pregnant ladies dressed in black? One wonders.

All said and done, much much above the acting and especially the jigsaw puzzle of a script and story, the film wins your heart, if it is still beating normally after all that loudness, violence, gruesome deaths and all that. It is the hi-fi technology never seen before in Indian cinema that mesmerises you from beginning to end.

Cinematographer Djordje Stojiljkovic has put in all his talents in making the film incredible, convincing and beautiful. This film will change our long-held conceptions of beauty, entertainment and aesthetics.

Story takes a sad backseat where technologies like CGI, prosthetic make-up, sound effects and AI capture the scenario and make every single frame a larger-than–life image which, all said and done, is stunning but quite, quite scary. The script is the weakest point of the film and quite slow to begin with. The screenplay drags in the first and then picks up so rapidly that it makes you wonder what hit you!

Watch it once at least if only because it is the most expensive mainstream film ever made over the 100+ years of Indian cinema, and features an entire galaxy of stars you might never meet again within a single film. But I said that wrong because as I write this, news comes that 60% of the sequel to Kalki 2898 AD is already complete!

So, all we can do is wait and watch.