Kalki 2898 AD Review
Movie: Kalki 2898 AD
Rating: 4.8
Cast: Prabhas, Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Deepika Padukone, Disha Patani, Rajendra Prasad, Shobhana, Swartha Chatterjee, Brahmanandam, Pashupati, Anna Ben, Malavika Nair etc.
Camera: Jorge Stojilijkovic
Editor: Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao
Music: Santosh Narayanan
Producer: C. Ashwini Dutt
Directed by: Nag Ashwin
Released: 27 June 2024
After "Mahanati", Nag Ashwin picked up this "Kalki", which was touted as the biggest budget project in the history of Telugu cinema, a completely different story.
A Pan India hero like Prabhas, Amitabh Bachchan as Ashwaththama, a character from the BC era, Kamal Haasan as the future character Yaskin, Deepika Padukone as a pregnant woman. More than interest, we want to see how such a huge project looks on screen. Doubt is more than anything, this huge experiment will get to the people!
So let's take a look at whether the first game released today met the expectations or raised suspicions.
The story is mainly three tracks. One Kashi, two Complex, three Shambhala. In 2898 Kashilo (Bhairava) lives with his high-tech car Buzzi. His wishes are to be forever settled in the complex (a Trishanku paradise ruled by Yaskin). For that he has to earn one million units. The rulers of the complex are arresting certain people and announcing that they will give 5,000 to 10,000 units in the name of bounty to those who bring them. Waiting for such bounties, Bhairava's aim is to acquire those million units and go to the complex.
Meanwhile, a pregnant Sumathi (Deepika Padukone) is a captive in the complex. She escapes from there. Aswaththama (Amitabh) of the Dwaparayuga takes it upon himself to save her when he learns that what is growing in her stomach is divine meat. Because her curse will be redeemed with the child she will bear.
In this order, the rulers of the complex will announce a bounty of five million if Sumathi is caught. With that, Bhairava gets caught and handed over to the complex.
Because of that, there was a fierce battle between Bhairava and Sumati's savior Aswathami.
What will be the story from there? What is the connection with Shambha? Who is Bhairava? What is the mission of complex lord Yaskin (Kamal Haasan)? The answers to these should be seen on the screen.
First let's talk about the draw backs and then what are the good things.
This story is harder to drive than you might imagine. Not only the director has to face that difficulty but also the audience. Especially the first half does not touch anywhere. It took a long time to establish the conflict point. The whole story seems to be moving here and there.
The future ambience of Taluk is well created through graphics, but the story is not cooked until the interval, so you have to watch it with a sigh. So far Bhairava, his James Bond-esque boozy, Marvel-style fights, won't appeal much to audiences other than those with a childish heart to watch.
Deepika Padukone's track is reminiscent of Samantha's heroine Yashoda. Here and there there are scenes reminiscent of Nag Ashwin's web movie "X Life". Everything feels like deja vu with the feeling of having seen it somewhere, but it doesn't feel fresh.
While the audience is thinking, "We expected a lot.. this is like this", the dialogue "I have given a lot of build up about you.. Le.." is heard as if it is adding harmony to their mood.
The director could not drive the story anywhere emotionally. There are no peak moments like in Rajamouli movies. The screenplay is also flat.
But all these complaints are prominent in the first phase.
When we come to the second half, partly because the story falls into a groove, partly because we get used to the theme.
Prabhas' role is mostly suited for action scenes. An average Indian viewer thinks that if he is a hero, he should have a heroine by his side. But there is no heroine here. If there is a direction to come and go like that for a song. She cannot be called a heroine.
Amitabh Bachchan dominated the movie . He has done various types of graphic fights as an eight-foot ashwathma. As one theory has it that the average height of Dwapara Yuga people is 8 feet, it is okay for six feet Amitabh to look eight feet tall!
Deepika Padukone is the completely serious character. A high budget movie should have a stardom, so there is not much to show acting talent for that role other than casting her.
Kamal Haasan as Yaskin is the guest star. It appears 3 times in the same location.
Sobhana is okay as Mariam of Shambhala country . Rajendraprasad appears for a while in Fastafu . Pashupati as Veeran and Swathana Chatterjee as Manas are suitable for their respective roles.
The face of Krishna is not visible. The dubbing is just as bad as some Hindi actor said.
Many actors appeared as cameos in this. Vijay Devarakonda as Arjuna is a surprise. Many cameos like Mrinal Thakur , Dulquer Salmaan, Ram Gopal Varma, Rajamouli come and disappear.
But in the entire film, except one Prabhas, all are serious characters.
Technically, more should be said about the graphics. They have followed what Singeetham Srinivasa Rao showed in Aditya369 that the entire surface of the earth will become desert in the future. It is a privilege that he is the mentor of this film.
The biggest minus of this movie is the music. If the songs are extremely boring, the background is nowhere near what it should be. Santhosh Narayanan's music could not bring even a single goosebumps moment. This is how a movie of this caliber should not be. If this craft had been done right, this film would have gone to another level.
But the admirable aspect of this story is that Mahabharata can be interestingly linked with the incarnation of Kalki. No matter how the whole movie seems, the climax is very interesting. I am excited to see the sequel.
The way Kamal Haasan's character is revealed at the end and the way Prabhas talks about the link between the character and the Mahabharata are interesting. It also made me wonder how the story will continue.
This story, which begins with the Kurukshetra war and continues 6000 years later, is the most expensive film drawn on the Telugu screen. If you watch this movie in OTT except on the big screen, you may not find anything visually great. Although it didn't quite live up to the expectations as a story, it managed to generate interest in the sequel with just the climax. In the film, the people of Shambhala wait for the arrival of Kalki, chanting "for tomorrow". Also, with the climax, the director made the audience wait for the sequel.
