It was important to create language for Indian sci-fi movie: ‘Kalki 2898 AD’ director Nag Ashwin

PTI, Aug 27, 2024, 7:59 PM IST

New Delhi: Filmmaker Nag Ashwin says he wanted to create a blueprint for an Indian sci-fi movie with his latest “Kalki 2898 AD” as not many films have been made in the genre.

Featuring a star-studded cast of Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Prabhas and Kamal Haasan, the action-adventure has emerged as one of the biggest films of 2024, earning over Rs 1100 crore at the worldwide box office. The film is now available on streamers.

Set in a post-apocalyptic city of Kasi in the year 2898 AD, the film follows a select group of people who are on a mission to save Kalki, the unborn child of a lab subject.

“One of our main targets or goals in this film was to really make sure that this film looked like an Indian science fiction film, there are not many of those. So it is important for us to try to create that language. We’re so used to films from the West that we didn’t want to look familiar to those.

“We wanted to see what it meant to be in Kasi and in a science fiction world that does not look like Tokyo and New York. It was also a very new process and I think we achieved it as best as we could,” Ashwin told PTI in an interview.

Since its release in theatres in June, the film has been praised for its ambitious blend of mythology and futuristic elements, including visual effects and performances of its lead cast.

Ashwin, who made his directorial debut with 2015’s coming-of-age film “Yevade Subramanyam”, said “Kalki 2898 AD” is universal in its appeal because behind all the visual grandeur, there is a story about good vs evil.

“Though we are rooting it in Indian mythology and culture, the basic core of the film is about hope. There is this larger idea of good vs evil, and what it means to be good or evil.

“I feel these themes resonate with almost any human being or culture across the world.” “Kalki 2898 AD” recently became available for streaming on Prime Video in Telugu as well as Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam, with subtitles in English.

Writing the film’s story was a long process as Ashwin didn’t want to make a movie about a protagonist and then follow his adventure.

“It is rare that you have almost four parallel stories of people who are almost as important as each other. You have to make a three hour film about all four of them and how their stories come together…

“It is Deepika’s story, it is Amitabh Bachchan sir’s story, it is Prabhas’ story, but it is also Haasan’s Supreme Yaskin story in a certain way. So writing that was a long process, to understand how to do that.” To create the world of Kasi, the team did a lot of concept art and research before shooting the movie, he added.

“Even before our cameraman even came on board, we had so much storyboards and concept art that was being done by a production designer and different artists and companies… Then we had to decide how each character, world and city would look in the film…

“I think the final phase was VFX. So it was a very long process, from writing to almost the release, we were still fine tuning the look of the film.” In the movie, Prabhas stars as Bhairava, the reincarnation of Karna from the “Mahabharata”.

Ashwin said he wrote the character keeping the “Baahubali” star in mind.

“When I was writing Bhairava, an early version of the script, I really had Prabhas as a wish list for this film. And when I finally got a chance to pitch it to him, I was very excited. I wasn’t sure if he would fully be convinced.

“But his love for anything new is so much that he fully trusted and came on board. I think there are few actors who can hold those different kinds of emotions that a character like Karna needs to have. I think it’s going to be an exciting exploration as we do more.” The critics have particularly praised cinema icon Bachchan’s performance as Ashwatthama, an immortal being from “Mahabharata”.

“Bachchan sir is a legend and he was extremely patient with us as a team. As a very young team, we were trying to pull off something that usually somebody from his generation might not be very comfortable with, so much CGI and green screen. But he was extremely gracious and he was patient with the whole process.

“He would come and sit and wait while we figured out some stuff sometimes which took longer than we planned. His experience, especially in the action parts, shows on screen. That’s why people love him so much.” “Kalki 2898 AD” will be produced under the banner of Vyjayanthi Movies by Priyanka Dutt, C Aswani Dutt, and Swapna Dutt.