Kalki 2898 AD assessment: Giants Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan overshadow Prabhas, Deepika Padukone in Ashwin’s gutsy epic

Kalki 2898 AD story

Bhairava (Prabhas) and his AI droid sidekick BU-JZ-1 aka Bujji (Keerthy Suresh), wish to earn sufficient items by bounty searching to have a greater life within the Advanced than the dirty Kashi. He may look like a egocentric prick on the floor, however he’s able to love, regardless of what Roxie (Disha Patani) thinks. In his thoughts, he solely hears classical music when fascinated about the Advanced or meals.

Supreme Yaskin (Kamal Haasan) has a god complicated and guidelines his kingdom with an iron fist. Fertile ladies are nothing however gestational ovens for the mysterious Venture Ok. SU-M80 (Deepika Padukone) is without doubt one of the many who may find yourself giving her life to deliver this experiment to fruition. Elsewhere, Ashwatthama (Amitabh Bachchan) is ready to be reunited along with his Shivamani (a gem on his brow), so he can heed the decision to guard Kalki.

The rebels and refugees of Shambala, led by Mariam (Shobana – who will get a kicka** combat scene), imagine within the legend of Amma (mom), who will give start to a child that may proper the whole lot mistaken with the world. The scales start to tip when the contrasting worlds of the privileged and the underprivileged collide in a world stuffed with those that have and those that don’t.

Kalki 2898 AD assessment

Kalki 2898 AD is the sort of visible spectacle that retains you hooked for three hours solely so that you can affirm what you already know. That’s each and dangerous factor. On one hand, it’s gutsy of Nag to aim one thing like this for what is barely his third movie. He does sufficient so that you can get misplaced on the earth and imagine there’s a future the place ladies don’t have any autonomy on their our bodies and males would solely care about capitalistic positive factors. A world the place financial disparity has solely turn into worse.

On the opposite, there are a couple of sci-fi and dystopia tropes he can’t escape irrespective of how exhausting he tries to masks them. Even when a spaceship is called Garuda, it’s nonetheless a spaceship you’ve seen in quite a few sci-fi movies earlier than. After some time, you’re not that excited by the laser beams capturing out of 3D-printed weapons; you wish to see extra human drama.

However Kalki 2898 AD presents a heady mixture of mythology and dystopia that works for essentially the most half. The scenes from Kurukshetra don’t stand out like a sore thumb, primarily as a result of they assist you match the puzzle items collectively for what’s taking place 6000 years later. The movie’s first half leaves you wanting, however the second half actually helps speed up the story and arrange extra for additional instalments.

Amitabh, Kamal steal the present

Greater than something, Kalki 2898 AD is the story of Ashwatthama redeeming himself after trying to finish the Pandava lineage by sending his Brahmastra in direction of Uttara’s (Malvika Nair) womb. Whilst Krishna curses him to spend an eternity understanding his folly, he provides him an opportunity at redemption. And boy, does Amitabh steal the present as Ashwatthama.

The combat scenes in Kalki 2898 AD, particularly ones that require a variety of VFX or are in shut quarters, are staged just a little oddly. You possibly can’t escape the sensation of all of it taking place on a sound stage.

Nevertheless, the identical can’t be mentioned for Ashwatthama’s combat scenes. All eight toes of him strikes virtually like a choreographed dance, at the same time as he’s tearing the enemy to shreds. There’s a grace to him at the same time as he’s chucking concrete in direction of Bhairava’s head. One explicit combat sequence between him and Bhairava-Bujji underlines how a lot of an knowledgeable the mythological character is at preventing. He’s Drona’s son, in spite of everything.

That is additionally the story of Supreme Yaskin and his thirst for energy. Kamal may need restricted display time, however he’ll ship a chill down your backbone each time he’s on display. And the movie’s closing moments give a glimpse of what’s to come back – and it received’t be fairly. Sure, Prabhas and Deepika are adept at what they do. Prabhas is even hilarious in some scenes. However you possibly can’t assist however concentrate on these two giants on-screen.

Wanted just a little extra focus

Nag makes the identical folly most filmmakers do after they have a follow-up movie. They drop hints and count on you to attend a couple of extra years to observe one other movie to get the solutions. Whereas the prelude of the movie, Bujji & Bhairava, answered a variety of questions on how the world of Kalki 2898 AD features, the movie doesn’t do a lot so as to add to it. Sure, it’s thrilling to see Bhairava’s backstory and what the long run holds for him, however the runtime ought to have been tighter.

It’s enjoyable to see acquainted faces play cameos – a few of that are utterly inconsequential to the story. Some self-referential jokes may also go over folks’s heads, particularly in the event that they aren’t Telugu. To Nag’s credit score, he provides the struggle you anticipate all through the movie as a substitute of taking the lazy method out. However on the finish of all of it, you possibly can’t assist however surprise if he may’ve used a few of the runtime with the facet characters to concentrate on the core story at hand.

In conclusion

Kalki 2898 AD won’t be flawless, nevertheless it’s gutsy and intriguing sufficient to be watched on-screen. Nag has at all times excelled at human emotion (Yevade Subramanyam, Mahanati), and this movie works due to that. As enjoyable as it’s to see a superhero-style sci-fi movie from Telugu cinema to pushes the boundaries of what might be carried out, it really works since you care about a few of these characters. Right here’s hoping the sequel is even larger and higher.

Observe: Reviewer watched the movie in its authentic Telugu language.