Nag Ashwin Reveals How He Pulled Off Kalki 2898: One Reason Is Prabhas… | EXCLUSIVE

Yeah, but you succeeded, and that is not entirely in your hands. It’s completely out of your hands. You did what you could. I’m so glad. It’s worked so wonderfully. People are postponing their films.

Well, it’s a brilliant film. I loved it, especially the second half. First half, I had a little bit of problems. I first want to know, how on earth did you think of doing this? Because we, Indian filmmakers do not have the infrastructure. They don’t have the wealth. They don’t have the resources to pull off something like this? This is the first time I have seen something on par with what we see in those Marvel films and those superhero films from the West. How did you pull this off?

I think it’s just a coming together of things, in time also. I think it’s mainly two things. One is Prabhas. After ten years of Baahubali, the market has expanded. And the second is my producers, who are as maverick as I am.

Yeah, you have to have like-minded people to pull this off. You can’t do it on your own?

Yeah. So, I think these two are the biggest reasons why this happened. And I think Prabhas has grown the scale to which he is thrown right now.

Yeah, he is indeed, I mean, he is a huge star. Mr. Bachchan, you have brought him back after, you know, I told him this, after a series of films that misused him. Here is one that puts him right there as, you know, a genuine superhero, I would say.

Yeah. For me, Bachchan sir was the first person I wanted on board. The first person I approached.

And this is the way I would love to see him, like, as the original Bachchan hero. We shall be grateful to you eternally for giving him back that stature.

I know what you mean. I mean, once or twice is okay, but it’s become too many of these, like wise old man roles.

Not even a wise old man, just directors in awe of him who don’t know what to do with him. And he is to blame too, because he accepts everything that comes his way. It’s ridiculous. So, it’s just brought him back into, I mean, look at the kind of adulation he is getting. It’s very heartwarming. And you have used his voice so well, because, you know, in recent times, I found him overusing his voice?

His voice, yeah. It was being done in a like Amitabh Bachchan doing an Amitabh Bachchan. I think that’s something that he gave full freedom for, so he didn’t have any extra baggage.

The other question I want to ask you is, how many years did it take you to actually put Kalki together, I remember speaking briefly to you during Mahanati.

We decided to start, I decided to start this off, I think about a few months after Mahanati. Four or five months after Mahanati.

How did it come to you? In a flash? I mean, how did you decide that you wanted to start?

I would say that it’s something that was building up. It’s something that was building up over time. You have been thinking of this for a very long time.

This can’t materialize like a sudden explosion?

No, no. It definitely came from growing up with influences like Mahabharata.

Did you have to read the Mahabharata again or were you familiar with it?

I did. I mean, I read small abridged versions when I was growing up, but I read the proper big one during this movie. There was a proper one, which was a good translation. So, I did read that. But also, I think in Telugu cinema, there were so many of these Mahabharata adaptations.

But Mahabharata never works in Hindi cinema. I don’t know if you know about this. Not in Hindi, right?

But there’s so much of this Krishna Yudha. Growing up, I always saw these black and white films with these bow and arrow fights. So that mixed with, I guess, the exposure to the Western Star Wars series and trying to mix those.

So, you yoked your mythological influences with these futuristic films that you saw later in your life.

Yeah, mythological influences with these futuristic films that you saw out there in Hollywood. I think because I’m definitely a huge fan of Star Wars. I think that was one of the first things.

And also Mad Max? I mean, the whole chase is like Fury Road?

Yeah, I guess. I mean, though it wasn’t a very conscious thing. I mean, I definitely love Mad Max, but I would say this particular chase scene in some form or the other was written a while back. But I think it’s also a setting. Like, as soon as you put a truck in a desert, it’s going to look like Mad Max.

But it’s your vision primarily?

It is. But it definitely is like our production designer is a very unique talent. Our cameraman is a unique talent.

Everyone has a unique talent here. Even those who are not unique talents in other films are a unique talent here. I will not name anybody. But yes, it was like a surprise to see such excellence, such a pinnacle of achievement here. I mean, it’s just amazing. And what do you think of the way it has succeeded? Were you hopeful or were you sure that it would hit home?

I think we were so rushing till the last minute, to deliver the film to distributors. And it was like the amount of VFX, it was very tough.

So were you postponing the release repeatedly only because the VFXs were not ready?

It was that for sure. It was the VFX. And because there were also multiple languages and there are formats like 3D, IMAX and multiple formats.I mean, right till the last moment. Finally, it was set out in the world.

You must have felt like a woman delivering her first child. It was almost like somebody was pulling away my first child.

Yes, yes, yes. We didn’t have time to feel very tense. We were still delivering and we were still thinking about, you know, whether this was a shot or, you know… You have multiple versions to look into individually. The IMAX Telugu version was something that we had to deliver first. And it was the least finished of the lot. It had some unfinished VFX. It had some unfinished music, sound, all of that. Some missing dialogues. It was very unfinished. And we had to send it off almost 5-6 days before the rest of the delivery. First, the most number of calls I got for the visual excellence version was from the IMAX Telugu version.

And there was a whole uproar about it not being ready and being cancelled, the Hindi IMAX version.

But that was actually some technical thing in Pune. That was actually not up to date. Something happened with the IMAX servers. Yeah.

So now, Ashwin, now that you have caught the attention of the entire nation, we all want to know when is the next one going to come? Is it going to take years?

I don’t know. I mean, the next one is a while off because it’s not really shot yet. It’s shot in about 20 or 30 days.

Right. Do you have about 20% of the sequel ready? Am I correct?

I’d say at best 20%. Right, right. At best 20% because the big stuff is still remaining. We have to get that right.

Will it be in continuation or will it be a completely new story? And the same cast, of course, right? Same cast.

It’d just like the finishing of the story.

I believe there will be a lot more of Kamal Hassan in the sequel.

Yeah, it’s fully him being the antagonist.

He’s quite creepy in the first one.

Yeah, that was on the FX challenge also, yeah.

Are you going to keep yourself consumed with this Kalki universe for a long time now in your career?

Not so much. I actually immediately have one small other commitment I’ve finished for another producer. Then I’ll get back to this.

You have committed yourself to something that you have to do in between.

Yes, I have to do it in between, which has been sort of waiting.

It’s like a series. It will be in Hindi only.

Okay. So Kalki will be interrupted?

Yes. But anyway, I think the prep for it will take some time, so I’ll use that time in between.

Yeah, because you have all these humongous expectations now, which you didn’t have really when the first one came out. People who have seen it will want something much bigger now, much bigger, much more epic.

They’ll have more expectations for sure.

So where did this whole imagination of yours, when you were a child, were you very inquisitive? Where did this visual, optical, spectacle come into your head from? From just watching films or more?

I’d say comics and cartoons and films and books. Books, I used to read a lot. I haven’t read anything much lately, but I used to.

You must have been quite an introvert as a child.

Anything you could have done differently in Kalki?

As you were saying, there are definitely some issues. There are things we could have done so much better in the first half, all of that.

So when can we expect the second one? In how many years? How much time will it take?