Kalki 2898 AD review: Despite minor lags, Nag Ashwin and co succeeds

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Prabhas, Deepika Padukone, Disha Patani, Shobana, Pasupathy and Brahmanandam

Director: Nag Ashwin

Music Director: Santhosh Narayanan

Rating- 3/5

Kalki 2898 AD was one of the most-awaited Indian films of the year and a crucial project for Prabhas, whose fans have been waiting to see a riveting performance from their ‘darling’ for quite some time now. Nag Ashwin begins the story from the Mahabharat’s Kurukshetra war, as Krishna curses Ashwaththama (Amitabh Bachchan) with immortality until he serves his karma.

The story travels 6,000 years forward to the fictional city of Kasi, the final metropolis, and we are shown a huge complex ruled by the Supreme Yaskin (Kamal Haasan) who kills the last of the fertile women on the planet and tries to gain powers from a serum extracted from their embryo.

Then we are introduced to Bhairava (Prabhas), a selfish and a happy-go-lucky youngster in his car Bujji, whose only aim is to gain units to enter Yaskin’s complex. He gains his units as a bounty hunter for Yaskin’s men. Only rebels in the city of Shambala, along with SUM80 (Deepika Padukone), the bearer of Kalki Avatar, can set things right. But for Bhairava, whose only goal is to gain a million units to make it to the complex, there is no difference between good and evil.

He does so for a brief period with the help of his girlfriend Roxie (Disha Patani), who manages to get a job inside the complex. Carving these characters takes up most of the time, which makes for the first half in the 180-minute, 56-second film. By the time the story reaches the romance between Bhairava and Roxie, it becomes dreary. But striking visuals and VFX did help us sit through the first half of the film.

The story slowly builds up to SUM80 (Deepika Padukone), which leads to twists and turns, and brings Ashwaththama back to life in the year 2898 AD. This comes across as a huge sigh of relief.

While it is usual for a film to pick up pace immediately in the second half, Kalki 2898 takes a different route. There are a few more strong points to these characters, and they take their time to settle down. There is a shift in momentum and the character arcs begin to get better. We exclude the legendary Brahmanandam here, whose comedy is an irrelevant addition to the film and doesn’t evoke any laughter. Though there are minor deviations in the second half, the story gets better as it travels from Kasi to Shambala. Whenever there is Amitabh Bachchan gracing the screen as the 8-foot Ashwaththama, the film gets better. Fortunately, he is there in the second half predominantly.

Prabhas has finally relieved himself from the shackles of a firm body language from his previous films and is really impressive as Bhairava in different shades. His free-flowing mannerisms and emotions on screen are adorable and we feel like his charisma is back with him in Kalki. Santhosh Narayanan’s music in the chase sequence and Shambala fight shows why he is still one of the most-preferred music directors in the south.

Though this reviewer is not a huge fan of superhero films, the rooted emotions in Kalki make it a good watch. The VFX work is on a par with Marvel and DC films. Finally, we can proudly say that Hollywood has a tough competitor with Kalki 2898, as the technical aspects of the film will stay relevant for a few decades to come. This is the major takeaway of the film apart from strong performances from the cast.

Kamal Haasan as Yaskin is out-of-the-box casting. Nag Ashwin has given him a solid base for the Kalki Universe and we will see more of Kamal’s versatility in the franchise. Overall, Kalki has almost got everything right in terms of VFX, performances, and music in a decent commercial package.