Kalki 2898 AD Review – Ek Naya Yug Aa Gaya Hai

Welcome to the Kalki Cinematic Universe

Warning – this will be full of spoilers. Avoid reading if you haven’t watched Kalki 2898 AD yet. Dekh aao fir padhna. Aur agar sirf verdict chahiye toh you can skip directly to the last paragraph. Dwapar Yug se pratiksha kar rahe the, ab last moment pe spoiler toh accha nahi lagega na.

We will be going into a lot of details. Obviously, I loved the film and will be talking about all the positives. But there are a lot of negatives and rooms for improvement as well, both in technical and creative aspects. Ab ‘negative points discuss karna’ apko ‘burai karna’ lagta hai, toh ye review apke liye nahi hai. Core mein ghus ke samajhna aur discuss karna pasand hai, toh ye definitely apke liye hai.

The World of Kalki 2898 AD

World building is the most important and most creative part of Kalki 2898 AD, and I totally love it. The details with which Nag Ashwin has created the 3 citites – Kashi, Sambhala and Complex is something we need to pay proper attention to. Ever place has it’s own rules, clothes, technology, food and lifestyle. When you notice all these in every scene and it elevates the viewing experience. The carvings on the wall, the design of vehicles, the rules of the survival, Supreme Yaskin and his labs, the film is so much detailed and I love every bit of it.

Mahabharat Scene

I like it but I still don’t like it. Hear me out.
They changed a lot of things. Ashwatthama attacks the sleeping Pandavas at night which they skipped. He is in a rage when he attacks Uttara’s womb but here it felt as if he solely planned an attack on her womb. Ashwatthama attacks just once, Krishna pushes him, and everything else was just simple sentences as it they were telling it to a dumb audience.

There was no tension or conflict or rage, either in action or words. Krishna ne shrap de diya, fir Ashwatthama ne bhi prayshchit ka puch liya uska bhi bade aram se jawab de diya. Action ke peeche motive and emotion hota hai kuch feel hi nahi hua. I know everyone is in awe of this scene but I feel that is because they are devoid of such scenes and movies, not because it was great. For someone who watches a lot of movies, reads and discuss religious scriptures and fiction, this was very pale in comparison.

Deaging and Vfx

When young Ashwatthama was speaking, we all felt weird. The face was deaged well, but like it happened in Josstice League, the speaking part was very jarring. We are in a development phase in terms of vfx so I’ll let it go. But it can be a lesson for future that we could have gone for another actor. He was looking too much like Abhishek Bachchan, I really wish they would have taken him as young Ashwatthama rather than going for deagig toh maza hi aa jata.. nahi?

Overall vfx se koi complain nahi hai. Set designs bahaut acche the jinko vfx se enhace kiya gaya. Except some weapons which looked like they were made from theromocol, other things were top notch. Visually it was so great I wanted the frames to last a little longer so that I could absorb them more. Koi baat nahi.. second watch mein tasaali ho jayegi.

First Half Boring Tha ??

Dekho boring toh nahi tha.. drag zarur tha. Lekin kyu tha ye discuss karna zaruri hai.
The biggest drawback was the writing of Bhairava scenes. I liked his entry, the comedy in the beginning and then it dragged so much that it became unbearable. In every non-Bhairava scene, about complex, Deepika, Yaskin, Raya, we were getting some new info about the world. And this is the key in writing and screenplay, till the time a scene provides new info, the story progresses. In every Bhairava scene the story just stalled and hence it got boring.

Disha’s character did not add much value except showing us a glimpse into complex. But that could have been done in some other way, the whole Roxie sequence was unbearable. I’ve seen so many people complaining about the first half but nobody is able to point out why. Audience ka I get, but critics and reviewers nahi kar pate toh kya fayda.

Lack of Information

To actually understand and like this film, you need to know about Mahabharat, the Kali and Kalki, the four yugas, the 7 immortals and much more. People are ready to fight in the name of religion but they do not read the holy books and stories of their culture. Mera dimag pure time yahi tha ki, Agar Kalki, Deepika ke womb mein hain toh Bhairav Kalki nahi hai? That old man is saying Kaal Bhairav was the protector of Kashi. Prabhas is Bhairav, toh Prabhas Kalki (Vishnu avatar) hai ya Shiv avatar? Ram (Vishnu avatar) ki help karne Hanuman (Shiv avatar) aye the, toh kya Bhairav ko waisa kuch dikhane wale hain? Supreme Yaskin 200 saal ka hai, Kali kab bolenge isko? Maza aa rah tha, bore hone ka time kaha tha? Only if you don’t know the backstory, the history, it won’t excite you. Fir tum bas baccho ki tarah bas fight scene dekho aur taali bajao.

For those who want to read and know more, we have compiled the long history in a short form which will make you all set for watching Kalki 2898 AD and absorb all it’s details.

Read: A brief history of Kalki and the 7 Immortals

Prabhas vs Ashwatthama

We got two fights in the second half and both were epic. They designed them so well. Ashwatthama has raw power because of his origin, Bhairava has future tech plus strategies. At one point in the first fight it reminded me of Ironman vs Hulk fight scene. Compare nahi kar raha, bas ye bol raha hu ki ek physically strong tha aur dusra tech and tricks se lad raha tha. Bahaut maza aya, dono fights mein.

Manas and Supreme Yaskin

Supreme Yaskin was the devil in true form. Kya sahi system banaya tha, powers bhi mast thi. And the most interesting part, was that he truly thought he was doing good. Like Thanos. If a villain who thinks he is on the right path is a very strong villain. And the end part just charged me fully. He now has an essence of Lord Kalki (Vishnu) inside him. That makes him so much more powerful. Great writing. Loved that part.

Saswata Chatterjee as Manas was evil, dedicated to his job and at times, funny. But I wanted him to be more evil. I mean just think, the time is so bad in Kaliyug, that Lord Vishnu had to take an avatar to come and get rid of evil. Did we feel that much evil? Not really. kashi toh kafi chill city thi. Usse zyada crime toh Dilli-Gurgaon-Meerut mein ho jata hai.

Kashi jitna basic toh kisi bhi movie mein dikha dete hain. Iska 20x minimum hona chahiye tha. Bhairava ka character iske beech develop hona chahiye tha. This would have been a stronger reason for him to want to go to complex. To get rid of all the pain and suffering. The problems, the evil was not strong enough for the audience to care, or for Kalki to take birth.

Ashwatthama – The Greatest Character of the film

Amitabh Bachchan and Kamal Haasan proved what it is to be a senior actor, what it means to be a legend. Kya maza ata hai dono ko dekh ke. Even the writing supported their characters. If you notice, much of the action was choreographed in such a way that Big B did not have to move, jump or roll much, which is difficult at his age. A lot of footage consisted of moving the upper half. So it looked more real as the use of body double and vfx was minimized. People were so thrilled to see Ashwatthama fight. Bujji ki missile hath se pakad ke fek di jaise khilona ho. Great vision, great execution.

Special Appearances

All the special appearances were nice! Mrunal Thakur and Dulquer Salmaan were part of the story. Vijay Devarakonda looked great as Arjun. Ram Gopal Varma was quite funny and SS Rajamouli was the best! Prabhas says, “Pakad liya toh 5 saal nahi chhodega.” I laughed so hard on this. Kya mast meta joke add kiya hai.

Problem with action

Majority was great. But wire-work was quite evident. Anybody flying after a hit was so slow and moved in a manner that they appeared to float. This could have been handled in editing by increasing the speed. Bahaut weird lag raha tha dekhne mein ek ek wire work ka pata chal raha tha.

Music

Writing and Direction

Would say it again, overall I loved it. My complaints are only so that makers take notes and focus on these areas so that we get better films in the future. Writing of Bhairava was quite week, the character arc was not up to the mark. World building, setup, conflict, journey, resolution, all was great. The twist of Bhairava being an incarnation of Karna was delightful. Samajh nahi aya ki ye kya connection baithana chah rahe hain but faith rakhte hain aur dekhte hain.

Bujji in the film did not connect much. I knew about it from the sKratch episode and animated prelude. But for the ones who do have not watched these, they won’t feel the same. Jitna build up kiya tha utna bada payoff nahi mila movie mein.

I’m very excited about the what and how of the future parts. They are calling it a universe now so excited to see all that too. I just wish Nag Ashwin focuses only on this and does not take other projects like other directors of different universes do.

Verdict/Recommendation

Yes, yes, yes! You have to watch it and in theatres only!! Not because of Prabhas and fight scenes or the twist in the end. Those are bonus! Watch it for the story, for the world creation, for the shear efforts and dedication of the director, producer and entire team of Kalki 2898 AD. This movie is a stepping stone in the future of Indian storytelling. I have the same feeling for this film as I had at the time of Brahmastra. I consider both as game changers on a deeper level. When the scale, the vision is so grand, one should not get fixated on minor flaws. This is only the beginning and we should celebrate the art, the efforts and Indian Cinema.

Also check out: Kalki 2898 AD Phone Wallpapers

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