Nag Ashwin is relieved with the response to the biggest film of his career, Kalki 2898 AD. It has raked in more than ₹500 crore in the first week at the box office. Reacting to the response, he says, “A movie like this is beyond us. The ambition was bigger in the sense, there was a larger thing at stake than just us. Many makers were waiting for the result of this sci-fi film. If it didn’t work, it would have closed doors for more years.”

The 38-year-old was able to bring together a dream cast including Amitabh Bachchan, Prabhas, Kamal Hassan and Deepika Padukone for his directorial. Recalling how the production begun during the pandemic and it was “very difficult to get the finances” in place for the film, he shares, “Luckily, we did have the biggest star cast of our country, so we had a little bit of a cushion there. Plus the previous films we (the producers) have done together, worked, so there was goodwill on that front.”

One common feedback from the moviegoers has been that they found the first half of the sci-fi mythological drama, which heavily draws from Mahabharata, slow. Ashwin is aware, “It has been a universal response that people found the first half slow, and it’s very valid. In a three-hour film if viewers liked two hours and 54 minutes, I will take that.”

As there are rumours that Mahesh Babu plays Lord Krishna in the film, ask him who does and he says, “This is how Krishna will be in the film. One of the first things I was very sure was we should have him in the silhouette, there should not be any form. Once you do that, you humanise him in a way. We didn’t want to humanise him.”

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