It is July but many are already calling Kalki 2898 AD the film of the year. The dystopian sci-fi epic is based on tales from the Mahabharat and includes various elements of Indian mythology. Several cameos from big names are littered across the film and fans have been eager to find mythological Easter eggs in the film. Many fan theories have sprung up and one concerns the cameo of Dulquer Salmaan. The film’s director Nag Ashwin spoke to DNA to address the fan theory and what it means for Prabhas’ character.
Kalki 2898 AD is set in a dystopian Kashi of the 29th century with Prabhas playing a bounty hunter named Bhairava. In a flashback, it is revealed that a captain (played by Dulquer) rescued Bhairava after he was orphaned and raised him. The film’s climax reveals that Bhairava is a reincarnation of Karna from Mahabharata. This led many fans to speculate that Dulquer’s character is Parshurama, Karna’s teacher from the epic. The fact that Dulquer’s character does not age in the flashback added weight to the theory. Nag Ashwin says, “I think it is a very interesting theory and more than what I thought. But I am very happy.”
However, the filmmaker says that when he wrote the captain’s character, he was drawing a parallel to the charioteer (saarthi), the man who raised Karna. “The Dulquer angle was purely a parallel to the charioteer angle. In the Mahabharata, the charioteer rescued Karna and similarly here, the pilot rescues Bhairava,” says Ashwin.
The filmmaker says that he feels good that an Indian film is inspiring fan theories the way western media has for years. “I was the guy who was watching every little breakdown video and reading every fan theory for Game of Thrones before season 6. I think I wasted three solid months of my life, just nonstop. So, it’s very heartening to see that there is so much of that kind of content for an Indian film right now,” he says.
Starring Prabhas, Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, and Kamal Haasan in pivotal roles, Kalki 2898 AD is running in theatres across India. The film has earned close to Rs 900 crore worldwide and is racing toward the Rs 1000-crore mark.
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