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NewsTranscript
00:00Good afternoon, this is Manjusha Radhakrishnan, I'm the entertainment editor for Gulf News.
00:06I'm here with the review for the dystopian drama called Kalki 2898 AD, directed by Nag
00:13Ashwin.
00:14Now, this is a star-studded spectacle.
00:16It boasts a galaxy of stars from across India.
00:19We have stars like Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Prabhas from Telugu
00:24industry and a string of cameos.
00:27It's a sci-fi adventure that blends both Indian mythology and also is set in the dystopian
00:33future where there's no air, water and it's being ruled by despotic rulers.
00:39So it starts off with Ashwatthama, played by Amitabh Bachchan, who gets cursed by Lord
00:43Krishna, the Hindu deity, that he is never going to die and that he's going to remain
00:49immortal forever and he will live to see the dark ages, the Kalyug, as we call it, where
00:56everybody is corrupt and all the commodities like air, water, et cetera, is extremely rare.
01:02I thought it was a very visually stunning piece of work.
01:05But what I did not like was how the first half is a big letdown.
01:11There is Prabhas, who plays this bounty hunter in the dystopian era.
01:16He wants to get into the world of the complex, which is run by a despotic ruler.
01:21He's morally ambiguous and he somehow wants to gain power.
01:25So that's how we are introduced to Prabhas.
01:27The first one hour is all about him making lame jokes, having a friendly banter with
01:33his girlfriend.
01:34So precious time is wasted in setting the field.
01:37I wish director Naga had just gone straight into the meat of the story.
01:44It's the second half that picks up, where we have Deepika Padukone playing a pregnant
01:49lab rat of sorts who belongs to the complex.
01:51She escapes it.
01:52And then the bounty hunter, which is Bhairava, is on call to capture her.
01:57There is Ashwatthama, played by Amitabh Bachchan, who is her all-savior.
02:01He is her protector, and he wants to save her against all evils.
02:05Now, this is a movie that had great promise.
02:07I mean, imagine blending Hindu mythology with a futuristic spectacle like The Dune.
02:14It borrows heavily from Hollywood movies like The Dune, Matrix, The Dark Knight, Star Wars.
02:20If you think it, Lord of the Rings even.
02:22If you look at Kamal Haasan, he's reminded of a character from there as well.
02:26The problem is, it's a messy mishmash of Hollywood epic films and Hindu mythology.
02:32I wish they had done a better job.
02:34In terms of performances, I thought it was Amitabh Bachchan who stole the show.
02:38His turn as Ashwatthama, who's towering, he's around eight feet tall, he lends a lot of
02:43gravitas into the movie.
02:45But the other actors, like Deepika Padukone, I feel was underutilized.
02:49She is on call to look perennially scared as this pregnant woman on the run.
02:53Then all these cameos, you know, when you feel the narrative is slowing down, there's
02:58not much meat in the screenplay.
03:01In fact, while I was watching the movie, I was reminded of how Dune director Danny Villeneuve
03:05was like, I made Dune 2, and I wanted it to be more emotional than the first part.
03:10I understood what he meant, because none of the characters in Kalki actually speak to
03:15you emotionally.
03:16They don't make a connect.
03:17Some of them are just like there for laughs at first, that is Prabhas.
03:22Then there's, of course, Amitabh Bachchan, who had a heart.
03:26Kamal Haasan plays a despotic ruler.
03:29He's got limited screen time, but still makes an impact.
03:32So none of these actors make a very, you know, they don't come together.
03:36And what makes you wonder is that they have spent more than rupees six billion into it.
03:40They've got the best stars across India on call into the same project.
03:45But they were not able to give us a very riveting saga.
03:49When it came to the visuals, of course, it was visually stunning, there's no doubt about
03:52it.
03:53I loved the second half of it, especially the climax is a rousing one.
03:57It's filled with action.
03:59The face-off between Amitabh Bachchan's character, who plays Ashwatthama, and Prabhas's character
04:05Bhairava, it's worth watching.
04:08I think the last 20 minutes, it picks up pace.
04:11The movie would have benefited a lot from heavy editing.
04:15The first half should have not ideally even been there.
04:17They could have just gone straight into the dystopian era by blending and talking to us
04:22about the Hindu mythology in between.
04:24I thought the transition between Hindu mythology and blending it with the dystopian future,
04:28that was very interesting.
04:30It is a unique idea, and the director has done a very good job of it.
04:34But what he forgets to do is actually have a very comprehensive storyline or a riveting
04:40or an engaging one.
04:41I've gone with 2.5 out of 5.
04:44For my full review, you can always go to gulfnews.com.
04:47Tell me what you think of the movie and if you agree with us.