A poster of the film. (courtesy: Kalki2898AD ) Its vaulting ambition, visual extravagance and bewildering millennium-spanning time-frame never desert Kalki 2898 AD . That contributes to as well as occasionally helps the Ashwin Nag-directed film leap over its narrative speed-breakers and hurdles.
There are many, especially in the first half, which is an incoherent mess riddled with many an unanswered question. Kalki 2898 AD , which opens during the Kurukshetra war and culminates with an encounter between Lord Krishna and Ashwatthama (Amitabh Bachchan), leaps across 6,000 years plays out 874 years in the future. Kaliyug is upon mankind, evil has overrun the world, the Ganga has run dry, infertility has gripped humanity and people wait hopelessly for divine deliverance.
Iska koi scientific reason toh hoga (there must be a scientific reason for this), says a character when he is shown an object that baffles him. That is a question that could well be asked about the film as a whole. This is beyond science, he is told.
That, in a way, sums up Kalki 2898 AD is an awkward melange of rationality, mythology and high-octane action inspired in part by Hollywood superhero movies. The expository parts of Kalki 2898 AD are hurried, convoluted and hard to grasp. The film could have done with some intervention to increase directness and clarity.
But, as it plunges into the second half and hurtles towards its climax, it falls back on the sheer sweep of mounting and execution to make up for wha.
