Director Nag Ashwin's years of hard work have paid off! His sci-fi thriller Kalki 2898 AD is earning an outstanding response from the audience at the box office, becoming one of the highest-grossing movies in India in 2024.

The film brings together Indian cinema's biggest superstars like Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Deepika Padukone and Prabhas, and has been in everyone's talks for its grand spectacle, VFX and action sequences. The sci-fi flick is performing exceptionally well and amid all this, it has been compared to many Western superhero and action films, with many saying that it's the Indian version of Marvel and DC movies.

Nag Ashwin on Kalki Being Compared to Western Movies

Directed and written by Ashwin, Kalki 2898 AD is a fusion of Hindu mythological and sci-fi. During an interview with Indian news agency PTI, the director was asked: Is his film India's answer to superhero movies from the stables of Marvel and DC Studios in Hollywood?

"I don't know if it is an answer or not but we definitely have the kind of stories and the depth, complexity and heroism that any other Marvel or DC movie . We just have to delve into it and tell it in the correct way,'' he said. 

The apocalyptic drama is inspired by Hindu mythology and revolves around Ashwatthama, a prominent figure in the Hindu epic Mahabharat. 

Talking further, he added, "If we tell it in a way that the generation now is used to, maybe mix it with sci-fi, I feel that would be the correct way. And that's actually worked out because people are now feeling that it is our story."

Nag Ashwin on Kalki's Analysis

While the movie is performing well in the theatres, one fact that cannot be ignored is the trolling that the movie is going through for its convoluted lot and being heavily inspired by Western films like Star Wars, Mad Max and Dune among others.

(With agency inputs)