The ending of Kalki 2898 AD left some viewers unhappy when the dystopian epic fantasy action comedy was released in 2023. When a critic questioned it on X in the wake of the release of the Mahabharatha-coded film Lenin, director Nag Ashwin hit back with a passage from author and translator Bibek Debroy's respected Mahabharata translation, specifically the Drona Vadha Parva section.
The quoted lines come from Lord Krishna himself, speaking to Arjuna. Krishna admits that if Karna had held his spear, nobody on earth could have faced him. Had he also kept his armor and earrings, Karna's strength would have let him conquer all three worlds, gods included. The passage suggests Arjuna's win came down to luck, not skill.
Nag Ashwin's film reinterprets these mythological figures in a sci-fi setting, turning Ashwatthama and Karna into guardians fighting on the side of good during the Kali Yuga. At the time of its release, Garikapati Narasimha Rao criticized the film. Later on, lyricist Anatha Sriram, too, lashed out at the film.
Meanwhile, work on Kalki 2 continues smoothly. Two shoot schedules are already wrapped, and full-scale filming is likely to pick up around August or September of this year. Kalki 2 won't feature Deepika Padukone as Sumathi. The character could well be played by Sai Pallavi.
