[Updated: July 12, 2024] Kalki 2898 AD is a mega-budgeted science fiction movie that is all set to release in theaters on June 27, 2024. The Vyjayanthi Movies produced film, written and directed by Nag Ashwin is inspired from the Hindu mythological lore of the Mahabharata and the Kali Yuga, and is a multi-starrer with names like Prabhas, Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, among others in it.
A quick look at who plays what character in Kalki 2898 AD movie:
1. Prabhas - Bharaiva, Iron-Man-meets-Peter-Quill type bounty hunter/super-hero
The Kalki 2898 AD trailers showcased film's lead actor Prabhas as Bhairava, a tech-savvy bounty hunter in a dystopian world. Bhairava's ability to build the interactive-AI droid/super car BU-JZ-1 aka Bujji from scratch, and upgrade and maneuver it to fight people with super-human abilities, mimicks that of Marvel's Iron Man building his Iron Suit from scratch, and upgrading it to the Hulkbuster in defense against the indestructible Hulk.
Prabhas himself describes Bhairava as a super-hero type character in the Kalki 2898 AD story, and he is seen flying with the help of self-made gadgets, like Iron Man in the movie. Bhairavaa's self-centered nature, and his nonchalance in the midst of high pressure situations is similar to that of Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr) in the Iron Man, Avengers and other MCU superhero movies. It also reminds one of Peter Quill/Star Lord (Chris Pratt) from the Guardians of the Galaxy films.
2. Keerthy Suresh (voice over) - BU-JZ-1/Bujji, a Batmobile-meets-Artoo type AI supercar
National award winning actress Keerthy Suresh who has previously worked with Kalki 2898 AD director Nag Ashwin and producers Swapna and Priyanka Dutt (left in image), has lent her voice for BU-JZ-1 aka the multi-lingual Bujji. A reminder of Christopher Nolan's Batmobile/The Tumbler, Bujji is an ultra-futuristic car in the dystopian Kalki 2898 AD.
Within the supercar body, Keerthy Suresh's voice as the AI robot with a snarky sense of humour takes one back to the fictional robot characters R2-D2 alias Artoo-Detoo, and C-3PO alias See-Threepio, both of which are part of the Star Wars franchise created by George Lucas.
3. Deepika Padukone - SUM-80/Sumathi, birth mother of Lord Vishnu's 10th avatar Kalki
According to Hindu mythology, Lord Vishnu who is one of the three main Gods and is considered 'the protector', decides to take his 10th avatar of Kalki, as the world draws closer to its end in 2898 AD. Kalki takes human form through one Sumathi, and Deepika Padukone plays SUM-80, an interpreted version of this character in Kalki 2898 AD film.
Kaashi, the last city of this world, Complex an inverted pyramid with bountiful resources where the baddies reside, and Shambala, a Kaliyuga-reference are the three main geographies in the Kalki 2898 AD story. SUM-80, a test subject in a Red Room/Black Widow Program - type pregnant experiment, ends up a successful result, but also is on the run.
While almost everyone recognizes that SUM-80 is about to birth a God, how a bounty is placed for her life, who becomes her protector and what war ensues as a result is what forms the rest of Kalki 2898 AD movie.
4. Amitabh Bachchan - Ashwatthama, Guru Dronacharya's son from Mahabharata
Actor Amitabh Bachchan plays Ashwatthama who is characterized as a 12-foot man born with a divine gem on his forehead. Ashwatthama's forehead gem gave him power over all living beings lower than humans. It also made him invincible, immortal and also protected him from hunger, thirst, fatigue, old age, diseases, weapons, and deities.
Ashwatthama is the son of Guru Dronacharya, who was a master of advanced military arts, including the divine weapons known astras. Dronacharya taught cousins Pandavas, Kauravas, and son Ashwatthama. During the Kurukshetra war, also called the Mahabharata war which is a dynastic war waged between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, Ashwatthama is on the side of the Kauravas, and is keen on ending the Pandavas' lineage.
In a fight with Arjuna, one of the Pandavas, Ashwathhama redirects a powerful weapon known as the Brahmastra on a pregnant Uttara, earning the wrath of Lord Vishnu's 7th avatar Lord Krishna. Ashwatthama is forced to surrender his forehead gem as a result, and is cursed with a life of blood and pus for 3000 years until the end of Kali Yuga.
In the Kalki 2898 AD movie, Ashwatthama (Amitabh Bachchan) is given a redemption arc as the protector of an unborn Kalki. He takes on a tech-savvy Bharivaa (Prabhas), and is up against the mighty army of Supreme Yaskin (Kamal Haasan), who are out to capture and kill SUM-80 (Deepika Padukone) respectively.
5. Malvika Nair - Uttara from Mahabharata
Uttara is the wife of Abhimanyu, the son of the third Pandava Arjuna. Widowed during the Kurukshetra war, Uttara gets attacked by Ashwatthama's Brahmastra, killing her stillborn son Parikshit. However Lord Krishna revives the unborn, and Parikshit is birthed saving the Pandavas and their entire Kuru lineage from extinction.
Ashwatthama during the same Kurukshetra war kills all five of Pandavas and Draupathi's sons, who were collectively called the Upapandavas. Ashwatthama does this as a retaliation of the death of his father Drona at the hands of Arjuna during the war.
6. Kamal Haasan - Supreme Yaskin, a Thanos-coded sage-like villain
Kamal Haasan plays a sage-like villain named Supreme Yaskin in Kalki 2898 AD. While humanity suffers in the last city of a dystopian world, Yaskin floats in meditation, making everyone treat him like a God, segregating him and his minions in the inverted pyramid complex.
According to the Hindu scripts, any being who reigns during the age of the Kali Yuga, and acts as the nemesis of Kalki, is known as the villainous demon Kali. Kali looses his mortal body in a war, and retreats to a citadel (complex in Kalki 2898 AD) in his capital city of Vishasha.
Kali does not die but keeps escaping through time and space to live in 2898 AD. Kamal Haasan, in a reinterpretation of the same sports a Voldemort-like physical form, and has a Thanos-like disdain for the human race.
Just like the whole Avengers storyline is centered around the purple-villain Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Supreme Yaskin is the focal point around which Kalki 2898 AD revolves. It took the makers a whole year to convince Kamal Haasan to come-on-board, a move looking back was risky considering they had already shot for a whole year with Prabhas, Amitabh Bachchan and Deepika Padukone [Kalki 2898 AD was in production for 3 years].
7. Saswata Chatterjee - Commander Manas, Supreme Yaskin's commander-in-chief
8. Disha Patani - Roxie
8. Pasupathy - Veeran, a rebel from Shambala
9. Anna Ben as Kyra, Veeran's associate and a rebel from Shambhala
10. Shobana - Mariam
11. Brahmanandam - Rajan, Bhairava's landlord
12. Vijay Deverakonda - Cameo (Arjuna - third and most famous Pandava brother)
13. Dulquer Salmaan - Cameo
14. Mrunal Thakur - Divya