Jul 05, 2024 08:11 PM
686 Views
After being sure of not watching Kalki post the trailer, I finally succumbed to the euphoria and saw Vyjayanthi films mega budget bilingual KALKI 2898AD in packed theatres. A film of this magnitude requires a long write up so please bear with me for lengthy writeup WITHOUT the spoilers. Ved Vyas immortal epic Mahabharat has been a permanent source of inspiration for plays, stories, folk tales, films across languages, tv serials(most notable BR Chopras and Tiwaris Star Mahabharata and many more), web series, animation, Amar Chitra katha comics and now science fiction as well. The film also bases itself on Mahabharat. As most of us already know Ashwin Nag's dream project KALKI 2898 A.D.(previously titled Project K after the successful Mahanati) is a Telugu-Hindi film connecting ancient Hindu epic age of Mahabharata with post apocalypse dystopian era of future. The common link being immortal warrior Ashwathama(played by old yet active Amitabh Bachchan) who is present in both the eras. There is a story of evil self-proclaimed god Supreme( menacing Kamal Hassan) and the complex where pregnant and non-pregnant women including Sumati( Deepika Padukone) is kept for research. Then there is bounty hunter Bhairava(Prabhas) who works basically for money(points in this case to enter the complex). Adding to the already complex stories are many more characters, rebels, villains etc making Kalki A UNIVERSE in its own. The film is how things shape up for next Lord Vishnu jis Avtar Kalki and the evil forces trying to stop it. After long fights, the film ends on a cliffhanger leaving scope for a sequel or rather full series.
Ashwathama(epitomized by Pradeep Rawat in Chopras cult show Mahabharat)and his immortality curse has always led to curiosity and interest in public since ages. Even Dharam veer Bhartis cult play Andha Yug had Ashwathama, Lord Krishna and Kripacharya in important roles. Ashwin Nag deserves a big pat for thinking so big for making a film which connects different eras and having such massive PAN INDIA starcast. The producers Vyjayanthi productions( famous for grand epic Telugu films)leave no stone unturned to give the best quality budgets for such a HUGE film. The film however has more than it's set of flaws as per me alongwith the good points.
If we discuss the good points is definitely it's budget, canvas, sets, VFX and setting. Nag, the makers and team successfully creates the Mahabharat era and more importantly the dystopian future. While Hindi films attempting such a mix till now like Rudraksha, Naksha and even Brahmastra(as per me) have failed to connect the dots, here Nag does succeed in connecting link between Indian mythology to Western depiction of dystopian society. In contrast Telugu films like Aditya 369, Kartikeya and serials like Mahakumbh, Naaglok had succeeded in connecting dots but this is the first multilingual huge film to do it rather effectively. The post apocalypse setting is taken from Mad Max, Avengers and lot of Hollywood films yet kudos for world class effects which succeed in creating a rather scary picture of future. The interval is the highlight of film and the post interval till climax are rather interesting and action is of international standard.
Now the flaw(s), the first being that at 3 hours the film is tooo long for today's standard. The first half after the initial build up falls flat and comedy, song, long fights, romance all look forced. Inspite of being prepared about the bad first half, I literally got a headache seeing all that complexity and so many characters. The music as we know fails to deliver and romantic scenes tests your patience. In making the setting too dark and complex for dystopia, the film becomes unnecessarily complicated leaving one confused. Things ofcourse improve in second half but again I felt there was overdue of action. Infact non action fans will feel kind of suffocated with all that throwing of objects, bullets etc(though the 3D effects were not great). The film for me came to it's peak in last 10 minutes and the climax definitely left me interested in what will happen now?
The film is lead by 81 year old yet in form legend Amitabh. Though honestly I can't say that it was a great performance(as compared to my favs-Khakee, Piku, Virudh, 102 not out from his old man innings) as he did such stuffs from Eklavya, Thugs of Hindustan to Brahmastra(none of them worth remembering in my opinion). Yet kudos to him for being effective in the high octane VFX laden fights and looks convincing as the 8 feet huge giant Ashwathama and back doing action after long even at 80 plus. His younger AI enhanced avtar looks a caricature like Rajnikanth in KochaDaiyan and Amitabhs own animated version in Mahabharat cartoon film(2013). Prabhas(m not his fan) looks odd in all those comedy, romantic and action in first half. He however rises in second half peaking in the last 10 minutes. Deepika is first rate and acts very well in emotional scene. Kamal hassan as the super villain again carries overdue of makeup(he seems to be obsessed with it since Indian/Hindustani-1996) and his character will also remind fans of his Abhay film, maniac villains of Hollywood Marvel films, the bad guy roles by Naseer and Vivek Oberoi in Krish series and even Surendra Pal's-Samrat Kilvish(Shaktimaan serial). However even with 2 scenes Kamal manages to leave solid impact and his character should finally arrive in second part(can't wait to see faceoff between Amitabh and Kamal, they never fought in GERAFTAAR). Shobhana also leaves her mark. In Mahabharta scenes they havent shown actors face playing Lord Krishna effectively, yet as die hard BR Chopras Mahabharat fan I could imagine Nitish Bhardwaj as KESHAV(I am sure most Telugu fans will imagine NTR saab when Lord Krishna appears on screen). The rest of the cast with some cameos was nothing great to write.
The teams research on Mahabharat, Kalki Avtar, dystopian write ups is very good but there are misses like no mention of the other Chiranjeevi from Mahabharat- Kripacharya(played effectively by Dharmesh Tiwari in Ravi Chopras serial Mahabharat) in the film. The film has genuinely has alot of flaws but still hats off to Nag and entire team for lifting Telugu, Hindi and overall Indian cinema to an international level and mixing science fiction with Hindu mythology. The audience comprising of Mahbaharat and Avengers style action fans are flocking to see this synthesis even with flaws!
