The post-apocalyptic period is the setting for “Kalki 2898 AD.” It expertly blends science fiction with Indian mythology and is loosely based on the Kalki Purana. But it’s only a work of fiction, a reimagining of a planet full of gloom and devoid of nature by director Nag Ashwin.
The movie is set in Kashi, which the legends say was the first city in the world. The city, which was once praised for its knowledge, divinity, and otherworldliness, has now devolved into a desolate, decaying tract of land. The “complex,” a massive futuristic structure built by Supreme Yaskin (Kamal Haasan, the major antagonist), the ruler of the new world, has drained all of Kashi’s life. He’s on a mission to find a woman who can carry a baby inside her for at least 150 days, and he knows that this is his destiny.
All of the planet’s fertile women are brought to the complex for the major experiment, which is called the “Kalyuga.” Yaskin wreaks havoc when his team, which consists of the brightest minds on the planet, is unable to locate that one woman. In the meantime, his commander, Saswata Chatterjee, sets out on a personal quest to locate the fabled city of “Shambhala,” which is the last remaining location on earth that Supreme Yaskin’s army hasn’t yet reached—that is, destroyed.
Deepika Padukone appears as “Sum 80,” a worker at the “complex” assigned to provide food and medication to the fertile women. She was thought to be infertile for a long time, but now she is five months pregnant. For five months, Sumati is able to keep her pregnancy a secret in the complex, but how long will it last?