Thoughts on Kalki 2898AD

Nagi gets indulgent, but I’m more than ready to indulge.

Well, the day has come. Yesterday, 27th June, 2024, I watched Kalki 2898AD, directed by Nag Ashwin, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Prabhas, Deepika Padukone, Kamal Haasan and many more. Going into the movie, I was pretty pumped. I tried my best not to hype myself too much because the jubilation of going from a 0 to 100 is greater than going from a 50 to a 100. Once I was seated in front of the screen though, it was a totally different story. The popcorn which me and my friend bought was served in a custom Kalki bucket and then as the ‘Special Thanks To’ cards and all rolled, I lost control of my neutrality and was smiling ear to ear. 

So yeah, this is my first time writing in this format. I wouldn’t call it a review, it’s more of a random thoughts dump. This one will not contain any spoilers, so don’t worry. I’ll write another spoiler filled one later. 

The first question most people ask is, “Did you like the movie?” YUP, I loved it. It’s the best movie I’ve ever watched. Number 1 on my all time favorites list. Seems like a bit too much, but I’ve got my reasons. It all started when I was 8 years old, I think. I don’t remember when, exactly. It was the time when my grandmother still had the energy to tell me stories every night. She narrated various popular books like ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’, ‘Vikram Betaal’ and also some stories from the old Chandamama magazines which she remembers. One fine night, she decided that it was time to blow my mind, and started telling me the tale of the greatest epic, Mahabharata. It took a long time to finish. And when it was done, a year or so later, I asked her to retell it. I didn’t know what it was called then, but the politics, the war strategies, and the layered characters had me spellbound. 

Another saga, this time from the west, also left me with the same feeling during these years. It was George Lucas’ Star Wars. When I was 6 years old, I went to China to meet my cousins. I have very faint memories of that trip, but I do remember for sure that it was there that my uncle bought me a set of 6 CDs. It was the set of the first 6 episodes of Star Wars. During the summer vacation, the first thing I did was to watch episodes 4, 5 and 6. Similar to the Mahabharata, Star Wars also had interesting politics, battles, and characters. Now I’d like to believe that my man Nagi also had similar fascinations and he thought of a possibility where both worlds collide. 

After watching the movie, for the first 2 or 3 hours I was buzzing. Then, after that initial period of enchantment, I looked at it objectively. The first thing that came to mind was some of the unnecessary scenes in the first half. Disha Patani, who looks like a total 10/10 baddie by the way,  has a 15 minute B-plot going on, but it doesn’t have any payoff later. There’s some scenes with Prabhas’ character Bhairava, which feel like they’re there because Prabhas is the lead, so to say. Then, I thought more and asked myself, “Did I enjoy it?” I did, and that was my answer. See, when the whole point of Nagi making this, and me hyping myself up for it, was to satisfy my inner child, why complain when that child has so much fun? The first half had that problem, but I was fine with it because I enjoyed it. To be honest, I didn’t expect the interval because everything before it was so fun and fascinating, that I didn’t know what the pace or direction of the movie was. Maybe that’s the reason people have complaints with that section. 

The second half takes a few minutes to settle in, but after that it was an absolute treat. I have no complaints about the second half, except that sometimes I wanted to see what was in the counselor’s room. I think he was called the counselor, right? The last 40 odd minutes were perfect. 

After the two trailers and Nagi’s constant statements on how he doesn’t want more content to be put out, I wondered why they’re so scared. But after watching it, I realize that there’s only so much content you can put out there without giving away too much. I saw a post on Reddit a long time ago which actually predicted a part of what would happen. This was before they started putting out the character intros and the trailers. So when people predict almost everything now, it makes it difficult to tease the audience with content instead of just giving it all away. 

The way I would pitch Kalki 2898AD is “Mahabharata meets Star Wars” and I think that was what Nagi was going for too. The influence of both is clearly visible. There’s even a few shots with a famed weapon (no, not the one in the trailer). This felt like a movie which a bunch of teens would make in their holidays if they were given the budget. There’s a lot of heart and soul, and sometimes the inexperience shows, but the bonkers ideas overshadow everything. It makes me wonder why the only publishing company which popularizes and presents our own epics as Marvel or DC comics is Amar Chitra Katha. There is so so much to explore once you delve into it. The Mahabharata itself has innumerable subplots and stories which capture one’s imagination. The whole promotional campaign and online buzz has only deepened my disappointment in the total ignorance of some people about the Indian epics. Somebody called Ashwatthama, Utthara’s son. Another called Ashwatthama a ripoff of Vision. I hope movies like this do to Indian mythology, what Percy Jackson did to Greek mythology (for me, atleast). 

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