Kalki 2898 AD: Moviegoer said Sci-fi epic is one time watch

New Delhi: The Bollywood movie ‘Kalki 2898 AD’ received mixed reviews from moviegoers. The film boasts a star-studded cast with Amitabh Bachchan as Ashwatthama, Prabhas as Bhairava, and Deepika Padukone as a female slave pregnant with the tenth avatar of Lord Vishnu.

The movie blends Indian mythology, martial arts, and Bollywood-style dance-romance-and-melodrama plot mechanics, all through a futuristic sci-fi lens. It begins with the aftermath of the Mahabharata war, where Lord Krishna cursed Ashwathama (played by Amitabh Bachchan) with immortality. However, some viewers found the first half slow-paced, while the second half gained momentum. Opinions on the open ending, which hints at a second season, were divided; some were intrigued while others were not enticed to watch further.

When The New Indian team asked moviegoers about the movie, one audience member said, “The movie is okay, visuals are nice. Overall plot is good. But it’s a one-time watch. I don’t even want to watch part two.”

The graphics and visuals received praise, but the humor fell flat. The combination of the latest technology with mythological power again received mixed opinions from viewers.

Regarding the performance of the actors, one viewer commented, “Amitabh Bachchan performed really well. I watched the full movie only because of him. Prabhas’s entry was very lame and below average. Deepika Padukone has very little screen time; you can barely see her. Kamal Hasan’s makeup is terrible.”

The film is a dystopian drama revolving around a pregnant woman whose unborn child might rescue the godforsaken planet from itself. The antagonists want to capture and kill her, while the protagonists need to protect her. Think ‘Children of Men’, ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, the ‘Dune’ films, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, and more, but it offers a different taste from Hollywood due to the added mythological elements.

Another audience member perceived the movie positively and said, “The ending with the climax is nice, the Hollywood concept of sci-fi and mythological mixture is good. Kamal Hasan has a small role in this movie, but it seems that in part 2 he is going to have more screen time.”