[This is a critical essay I wrote for a publication. A general review of Kalki is already published here. This essay focuses on the positive elements and delves into how the film is an experimental success in the Indian film industry.]
Nag Ashwin ran a larger-than-life experiment in his pan-Indian directorial debut with an interpretation of the future to narrate an expansive lore from the Puranas. Thematical richness was granted to Kalki 2898 AD from the get go. In terms of narration technique, the film fumbles as it doesn’t resist from paying homage to the penchant for comedy and display of heroism to elicit fan responses, but Kalki 2898 AD allows an exploration of a cinematic universe that opens a crevice for the science fiction genre to truly enter Indian cinema.
With little to no tangible references to draw from, Nag Ashwin has envisioned the distant future where Kalki is prescribed to be born in the Puranas. The era of Kali or ‘Kaliyuga’ approaches its saturation point as the resources of the planet have fast dwindled and concentrated in what disheartening parts remain of an ancient civilization in Kasi in India. Time, regulated by Kali (portrayed as an embodiment in the film as Supreme Yaskin) is the inconspicuous anti-character that propels characters to either be in wait or in opposition of the birth of Kalki, the pre-destined hero of the era. Kalki’s imminent birth is arguably the unidirectional storyline of Kalki 2898 AD. But the numerous allied factors of the storyline have given Nag Ashwin a wide scope to put imagination to play and present the first of its kind sci-fi film to the Indian audience.
The anti-character is a much larger entity than the yet-to-be-born hero, so much so that it took an entire film in the Kalki franchise to unfold the elements of it. The end of Kaliyuga is envisioned as an ethically crippled, technologically dystopian world with little to no resources left to sustain the common man. The dry urban landscape is painted using a dull, muted colour palette. The time inflicted wounds of the world are worsened by a totalitarian ruler (Supreme Yaskin) who dwells inside a ‘complex’ in Kasi, an inverted pyramid like structure encompassing everything good that is left in the world and catering only to the privileged. Nag Ashwin had a challenge in hand to envision the world of the future that had to be technologically advanced but dystopian in religious terms. He introduced poverty and class division to achieve the latter; and technology, despite being powerful, is still depicted to be subordinate to human intellect and will. Though Kalki 2898 AD has futuristic technology, humans are not fighting autocratic robots – they are in fact still held back by the same problems that have always plagued humanity such as hunger, poverty and unfair concentration of wealth. Technology is simply means for tyrants to either inflict and further intensify the same old humanitarian issues, or for rebels to feebly attempt a revolution. Nag Ashwin’s futuristic world is simply an exaggerated interpretation of the Marxist Theory – with a lot of technology and backwards evolution of humanity. Even though most of the film’s investment has gone into the manifestation of the technologically advanced world, the storyline can well be alienated from the robots and the machines and understood as a social commentary. The well executed vision of the future is mostly a further elaboration of the negative side of the story in the first film of the franchise.
Despite the blend of imaginative futurism and scriptural grounding, Kalki 2898 AD is still an apparatus for social commentary because the dystopian universe is vividly reflective of the many adverse experiences of the world. A non-existent ecosystem, stark class distinction, female subjugation and trafficking (in search of fertile women who are rare), ethical bankruptcy – none of the evils are invented by Nag Ashwin to demonstrate the gruesomeness of the world that Kalki would be due into. ‘The dystopian universe’ did not need much ‘creating’ other than the technological aspects of it, which is simply a tool to intensify existing evils.
The evil side of the story takes its time to unveil in the first half of the film, albeit sluggishly, but brings to fore the important characters that arise from the chaos itself. SUM 80 (portrayed by Deepika Padukone), a pregnant woman imprisoned within the complex as a part of Supreme Yaskin’s simulation program to extract an elixir, escapes the impossible complex and finds her way to Shambala, the other end of the spectrum housing the good side. The structuralist approach in extracting SUM 80 from within the tyrant’s den to the only surviving haven for good allows an evident transition from despair to hope and gives momentum to the film. She finds sanctuary at Shambala which is hidden from the rest of the world until Bhairava (played by Prabhas), a rogue bounty hunter ends up in the haven with an intent to take SUM 80 back to the complex in exchange for a ransom. Bhairava’s role is another significant bridge between the good and the bad side as well as the ancient and the modern, but the film does not reveal much – perhaps the sequel will have a bigger, more convincing role for him.
A towering sentinel on the good side balances the scales against the extremely powerful Supreme Yaskin (played by Kamal Hassan) in Kalki 2898 AD. As much as the first film in the franchise focuses on unwrapping the evil side and elaborating upon its callousness, a strong defender is placed at the gates of the other side who intertwines two completely different worlds. Ashwatthama (played by Amitabh Bacchan) is an immortal man awaiting the arrival of Kalki since the Kurukshetra war in Mahabharata. He’s had centuries to stand witness to the evolution of the world so the technologically enhanced enemies that stand against him are no strangers to him. But his powers are completely different from theirs. The envisioning of Ashwatthama, an immortal from the Dwapara Yuga is arguably the best part of Kalki 2898 AD, much of whose credit goes to casting of the role and Archana Rao’s costume design. Ashwatthama accompanies SUM 80 to Shambala and upon their arrival, the resistance reserve is put to test and the war sequence sets the stage for the sequel of Kalki 2898 AD.
A science fiction film by definition keeps faith out of its realm. Kalki 2898 AD is arguably the first film that amalgamates science with religious faith and proposes the birth of a religious hero in the distant future who will be supplemented more by technology and less by magic. This genre hybridization opens a door to envisioning Kalki unlike any other character ever written in cinema. While the character of Ashwatthama blends into the futuristic world through decades of experience and centuries old strength, Kalki will purely be a technologically enhanced hero born into a world that is devoid of any form of pure magic. How Nag Ashwin shall interpret the birth, growth and purpose of Kalki within the dystopian yet preternaturally charged universe will be interesting to see. Though a religiously prophesized hero, Kalki might as well be a genetically modified human being with cybernetic enhancements that allow him a fighting chance against Supreme Yaskin. The technology that remains mostly on the negative side in the first film will also be required to perform a balancing act. Nag Ashwin has set a theatrical, immersive stage for the upcoming hero.
The question whether Kalki 2898 AD is a good film is debatable because of meandering character arcs, forgettable action sequences and unnecessary romantic elements with distracting star cameos sprinkled throughout the span of the film. The film also surrenders shamelessly to the temptation of playing into the stardom of the star cast. Why a film so thematically rich had to succumb to such theatrics is incomprehensible. That is one reason why Kalki 2898 AD falls drastically short of being an epic film that could have been a defining milestone in Indian cinema. In retrospect, however, Nag Ashwin and Djordje Stojiljkovic (cinematographer) have set a precedent with the film for science fiction genre to take root in Indian cinema. The assurance that the audience will overlook narrative shortcomings and appreciate futuristic visions is granted with the commercial success of this film.
With a rather unidirectional storyline of the birth of Kalki, Nag Ashwin has displayed creative excellence with the visually captivating and convincing depiction of the good and bad sides set in an imagined version of the future. Despite its shortcomings, Kalki 2898 AD can well be claimed as India’s most successful sci-fi genre film by far for the impactful usage of futuristic technology and landscapes in narration. The blend of faith is an added bonus.
[Edit: The makers have announced that the film franchise has parted ways with Deepika Padukone. This means that we will be seeing someone else in the role of Kalki’s mother in the upcoming sequel. It’ll be interesting to see who replaces and her if the role’s importance in the story will see a upwards or downwards trajectory.]
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