Deepika Padukone

Fresh from watching the latest pan – India movie on the horizon, Kalki 2898 A.D. here are my thoughts. (It is a review, actually!)

Kalki 2898 AD

Directed by : Nag Ashwin

Released on : 27 June 2024

Starring : Prabhas, Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Kamal Hasan, Shobana and many more!

The movie starts with the final glimpses of the battle of Mahabharata. Aswathama, the only son of Acharya Drona, who was born with a diamond on his forehead, is cursed by Lord Krishna to lead a long life of immortality, to pay for his crime, of shooting a Brahmastra, onto the belly of a heavily pregnant Uttara, (wife of Veera Abhimanyu, son of Arjuna)

Lord Krishna removes his omnipotent diamond on the forehead and he has to live on, in exile, waiting for the last and final avatar of Krishna, Kalki to take birth. (I have little to no claim on the rumour, but it is said that Aswathama is still alive somewhere in the Himalayas, along with many sages and Rishis, Hanuman and the God of future, Kalki Bhagwan) As everyone knows it, Aswathama is played by thespian Amitabh Bachchan (probably his best role yet, after Piku!)

After more than 6000 years since Mahabharata, in a depleted and dry holy city of Varanasi, the story progresses. It is a general knowledge in Hindu culture, that once the Dharma is overtaken by Adharma, Kalki Bhagwan will take birth and lead the humanity. So, in 2898 A.D, the people are selfish, lazy, money minded and can kill each other for petty reasons. There is little to no good in the world.

There is a divide among the people, the ones who get to stay at the complex and the others who live outside it. The complex is under the rule of Supreme (Kamal Hasan). I loveeeeed the look of Kamal Hasan. Just when I thought he couldn’t surprise me, he did! Even with his limited screen time in the first part, we can sense that he is a really powerful villain. I am happy for him. Getting a juicy role is any actors dream come true and watching great actors is an audience’s dream! Although, his faithful servant is the villain in this movie, played by Saswata Chatterjee.

Apparently, a pilot (Dulqeer Salman), who fostered Bhairava (Prabhas) as a child and taught him everything, like a teacher, sells him off for a better life at the complex. Interestingly, Bhairava, manages to one – up him and beat him at his own game, by handing pilot away to bounty hunters, for some units, which is their currency. (That is how the director wishes to show us that it is indeed the time for Kalki to appear, adharma is on the rise!)

The complex mainly works to get fertile women and girls, to use them for their experiments in collecting fetal serum! I liked how a scientist, who knows about the misdeeds of Supreme, tried to kill him off, to save the test subjects. (A little Dharma still exists in the world.)

Deepika Padukone, as Amma / Sumathi, one of the test subjects, is 5 month pregnant, apparently, with Kalki Bhagwan. She is not a fierce warrior or a great fighter. She can hardly kill someone. She is patient and loving, may be that is the reason, she was chosen by the God Himself, to be His mother. (I was expecting her to be like Lara Croft, but that wouldn’t have made sense.) She is meant to give life, not take from anyone, as per the words of Aswathama!

Once the fetus is 5 month old, Aswathama starts sensing It. The fight sequence between the 8 foot tall, over 6000 year old Aswathama and the lazy 6 foot bounty hunter Bhairava, is to be watched on the screen to enjoy. It was fun. I loved to see a very angry Amitabh, protecting Amma from a goofy Prabhas.

The first half was a bit of a drag at some places. There were cameos by Ram Gopal Varma, Rajamouli, Avasarala Srinivas, Brahmanandam, Disha Patani which were totally unnecessary, but were fun to watch. (It was like a guessing game, who will appear next kind.)

The second half is about how Amma is taken into a secret location , Shambala among the mountains, apparently, it was the location where the battle of Kurukshetra had been fought, during Mahabharata.

Once again there is a fight sequence of Aswathama and Bhairava and it is later revealed that Bhairava is indeed the reincarnation of Karna, the eldest son of Kunti, with Vijay Deverakonda as Arjuna.

Finally, Sumathi is captured by Bhairava, who is on the run and Aswathama is helpless(He is surprised that Karna had reincarnated).

The movie ends with Supreme, who decides to pursue Sumathi, himself, to abort Kalki Bhagwan, before He is born. Let’s see how the sequel holds up. Fingers crossed for a Kamal and Amitabh fight sequence!

P.S:

I loved how the director portrayed the diverse cast. You can find foreigners, people from all corners of India, everyone, gathered on both sides, the good and the evil. It shows, in the future, the geographical differences mean nothing, on the face of destruction. It may also imply that, every other place had been destroyed on the earth, except the holiest of the holy place, Kasi. So the surviving man-kind had gathered at Kasi. (That is my interpretation)
The director has played to his strengths. If you look closely at all his films, he has a strong sense of selecting star cast for his roles. He doesn’t slip in that area. If it is Amitabh as Aswathama or Deepika as Sumitra or Kamal Hasan as Supreme or Prabhas as Bhairava / Karna, he aces it. (He proved it through Mahanati, by selecting lesser known Keerthy Suresh for Savithri and Dulqeer Salman as Gemini Ganesan.) All the actors have done justice to their roles, which is most important for the success of a movie. Half the battle is won if the star cast is perfect.
I was sure that no one can show Lord Krishna on-screen, better than the one done in Karthikeya 2. But, the director Nag Ashwin showed us Lord Krishna not in the human form, but as a dark aura in the shape of a human. (It would have been better if the aura had been Blue or Purple, indicating the Neela Megha Syama.) Like they say, humans can not see the God with their eyes, they can only perceive His aura.
Lord Krishna and the white horse in the background is the precursor for the Kalki Bhagwan
I enjoyed the fight sequences between Aswathama and Bhairava a lot. (I was once told that, Aswathama was indeed a cyborg, since Indians were technically advanced in those days. The diamond on the forehead is apparently which brings power to Aswathama.) This little detail had been used, unsurprisingly by Marvel in creating their own super hero, VISION! Apparently, there is a temple for Aswathama in Kerala, to be exact, the famous Ananthapadmanabha Swamy temple. If you happen to go to Kerala, do visit it and see for yourself.
It is interesting to see people from all industries work for this movie and they dubbed for their own roles. This is a subtle hint to show people from different locations have migrated to Kasi and its surroundings and have all begun to talk the same language, albeit with their own accents!
In the movie of Avatar by James Cameroon, the Na’avi people were indeed designed after the Indian mythological creatures of Vanara or monkey people! May be we should just ask James Cameroon about it, to confirm this particular rumour.
The movie looks like it is heavily inspired by Star Wars franchise. The personnel of Supreme look similar to the army of Darth Vader!
There is the introduction scene of Aswathama in a Shiva temple. I thought it was the clever idea of the CGI team to have only the temple gopuram visible and the temple buried deep under sand, because there is a ban on Gods in 2898 AD! But turns out, it is true and not fiction. The said temple indeed exists as Perumallapadu Temple in Nellore which was buried by the flood waters of River Penna, approximately 80 years ago and came to light, in the recent years, during the period of Corona!
Encouraging tourism, the Kalki 2898 AD way (Featuring real life historic sites in the movie!)
The only drawback that was apparent is the CGI of a young Amitabh Bachchan as Aswathama. It could have been better.

As I mentioned earlier, all the opinions in the post are my own and are as per my perception. The images have been freely copied from the internet and I take no credit for the same.

Till the next post, cheerio, dearies!

As usual, at 1 o’clock in the afternoon, I was eagerly waiting for the return of GBee from his school. Just as he put his foot inside the hall, I saw his face. It was covered partially with green colour on his cheeks and forehead. That was when it hit me that tomorrow is Holi!

The rectangular thing in my hand is supposed to be a cell!

Looking at GBee in colours reminded me that, gone are the days when I would look forward to Holi!

I remember the days when we used to return to school with traces of gulaal (pink colour) in our hair, faces and hands. The more pink one appeared, the more proud we would feel. Being pink meant, we had played and enjoyed the festival!

QB with pink highlights in hair and some random classmates talking about Holi

There used to be this gang of rowdy boys, who would come to our apartment every year on Holi, They would catch hold of the guys in our apartment and brush their teeth with gulaal and blue colours! (Yuk!Who would want dirty colours in their mouth and teeth? Beats me!) They would also throw eggs at us kids. Phew, who would want smelly eggs on their heads, mixed with bunch of colours? Double yuk! If you are being chased by someone with an egg in hand, suddenly sit down on the floor and you probably would avoid being hit!

Trying to avoid an egg on the head? Just sit down suddenly!

Those were the days, we would drench each other in buckets of gulaal water and begin to shiver. To stop the shiver, we would stand under the Sun, in the middle of the road! (Who even does that now?)

Even the uncles in the apartment would play Holi. I remember one particular incident when someone brought silver colour to play and the next day, my father and I had severe rashes on our faces. (Silver is danger!)

The ladies in the apartment would play with the good old kumkum and haldi. We even had fun scaring away the domestic helps, who would come to their respective flats to work. We would sneak attack! If we sneak attack now, we may get beatings, people are less forgiving these days.

During one Holi celebrations in my schooling days, I had taken an egg in my hair, from K, who was younger to me. (How dare he mess up with a senior!) I waited in the verandah, till my mom had hot water ready for my bath . Meanwhile, I was fed lunch, by my dad. What fun!

I pity the generation of kids who have no idea how to spend time away from a t.v. or cell. They have no idea of how safe our world was and how carefree we were, while we played on the streets, away from deranged people who lay hands on innocent kids or the violent stray dogs or the lack of traffic and vehicles on streets. Those days can never come back!

P.S:

Before going out to play Holi, it is better to apply oil on your face and hands. This way, you won’t look like a pink alien in office. This is for all those who hate looking like they drank gulaal!
My favourite Holi song is Arey Jaa re Hatt from Navrang, a very old Hindi movie, directed by Shantaram. Not everyone likes it, but check it out. The dancer Sandhya acts as both boy and girl in the song. It was a sensation in those days. (Let me be your DJ for Holi and suggest grooving to these songs…)