Prabhas as Bhairava in 'Kalki 2898 AD'.
Credit: Special arrangement
‘Kalki 2898 AD’ is a movie which the Indian cinema has been looking forward to. It brought with it the promise of the next level of filmmaking. Set in a dystopian world where humankind is confined to one city, Kasi, ‘Kalki 2898 AD’ merges Hindu mythology with futuristic science fiction. In a battle of good vs evil, we see the stark difference between the people of Kasi and those residing in Shambala, a haven of rebels hoping to save the world.
An ensemble star cast of Prabhas as Bhairava, Amitabh Bachchan as Ashwatthama, Deepika Padukone as Sum-80 aka Sumathi, and Kamal Haasan as Supreme Yaskin promise a lot on paper but have been underutilised. While Prabhas headlines the movie, it is Amitabh Bachchan who is the true star.
The first half is slow, with the introduction of Prabhas dragging forever. With a three-hour runtime, the multiple characters and sub-plots seem unnecessary.
The makers seem to be inspired by Hollywood movies like ‘Dune’, ‘Mad-Max’, ‘The Hunger Games’, ‘Avatar’, ‘Star Wars’, et al, as Bhairava, the righteous yet confused bounty hunter dreams of entering the ‘complex’ by amassing a million ‘units’.
Within the complex, which has a semblance of what the world used to be, there is an ongoing secret project, where fertile women are artificially inseminated. The serum from their wombs sustains Supreme Yaskin.
It falls upon Ashwatthama to protect Sum-80, who escapes from the lab and in whose womb the saviour of the world grows. A standout is the sequences involving him, as we see why he is one of the greatest talents ever.
This mega starrer begins slowly but picks up the pace towards the end, with the promise of an even better sequel.