Director Nag Ashwin shared a new trailer for Kalki 2898 AD on Friday that reveals much more about the film than any previous promotional material. It reveals a lot about Prabhas, Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan and Kamal Haasan’s roles if looked closely. Here’s decoding 5 clues the makers dropped in the trailer. 

SUM-80 is carrying Kalki

At the beginning of the trailer, Ashwatthama (Amitabh) seemingly tells SUM-80 aka Sumathi (Deepika), “They say the whole universe resides in God. But God himself resides in your womb.” While we aren’t explicitly shown that Ashwatthama is talking to SUM-80, the next shot shows him helping her get down from a vehicle. The dialogue and the character’s name confirm that Deepika’s baby will be Kalki - the avatar that will end Kali Yuga. The song played in the trailer also hints at this.

Ashwatthama is paying penance

The trailer shows Ashwatthama vowing to protect SUM-80 and her child and seemingly regretting his past. He even fights Bhairava (Prabhas), who can only think of how the bounty on her will help him get to the Complex. One shot shows Bhairava pushing Ashwatthama, as we cut into a flashback of war when the latter is in a similar situation. There is also a shot of Uttara’s (Malvika Nair) baby getting killed by the Brahmastra in Mahabharata due to Ashwatthama later in the trailer.

Ashwatthama is too big for Bhairava to fight

The scenes between Ashwatthama and Bhairava show just how huge the former is. He can easily throw numerous people with the flick of his hand like a Telugu hero, except it’s believable here. Despite fighting him for bounty, Bhairava seems to need innovative techniques to do so. One shot shows him wearing boots that give him a boost, while the end of the trailer sees him piloting a massive mecha to make it an even fight, possibly a variation ob BU-JZ-1 aka Bujji.

Supreme Yaskin is sage-like

During Kalki 2898 AD’s pre-release event, Kamal spoke about his character Supreme Yaskin and said, “I’ve always wanted to play the bad man, but I don’t play a run-of-the-mill character here. He’s almost sage-like…it’s just he has a bad idea. I didn't want to be pregnant in the film, so we arrived at an acceptable look for him.” But no one expected him to look like an actual sage - withered away - albeit being hooked to wires. Yaskin also seems to think of himself above humankind when he says, “Despite endless opportunities spanning over generations, man fails to redeem himself, and he never will.”

Bodily autonomy lost for women

Despite his ‘sage-like’ nature, Yaskin seems to be artificially impregnating women against their will at the Complex. One shot shows a woman crying out in pain inside a pod as a contraption digs into her stomach. The shot before it shows SUM-80 and several other women looking on with trepidation in their eyes. It’s hinted that this is where SUM-80 was impregnated too before she decides to escape the Complex, possibly to Shambala - a Shangri La for refugees and rebels.