- Friday, April 18, 2025
By: Vibhuti Pathak
Director Nag Ashwin, the visionary behind Kalki 2898 AD, recently stunned fans with a revelation about his early creative journey. During a college interaction in Hyderabad, the filmmaker shared that he had written a story in 2008 that bore striking resemblance to Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-winning film Inception, which released in 2010.
The uncanny similarity between the two concepts left Ashwin devastated at the time, resulting in what he described as a “week of depression.”
“I had written something like Inception in 2008. While Nolan’s movie dealt with dreams, mine was about memories,” Ashwin told the students. He added that watching Inception’s trailer made him deeply upset—not out of competition but because it felt like watching a version of the film he never got to make.
The filmmaker explained how the experience taught him a valuable lesson about the creative process. “Originality is something out of your control,” he said. “It’s okay to stop chasing it. Instead, concentrate more on bringing authenticity to your work.”
Ashwin’s perspective resonated with many young artists in the audience, especially those struggling to create something ‘never seen before.’
Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, follows Dom Cobb, a thief who steals secrets from people’s dreams. Offered redemption through a seemingly impossible task—planting an idea in someone’s mind—Cobb’s journey plays out as a complex and cerebral heist within layers of dreams.
Ashwin’s idea, though focused on memories instead of dreams, shared the same psychological, sci-fi undertone, which made the overlap with Inception even more painful to digest.
However, Ashwin turned that moment of despair into motivation. His creative path eventually led him to make Kalki 2898 AD, a mythology-inspired futuristic epic rooted in the Mahabharata. The film begins with Lord Krishna cursing Ashwatthama to eternal suffering.
Centuries later, Ashwatthama must protect a woman carrying the final avatar of Vishnu—Kalki—ushering in a battle between good and evil in a decaying world.
With a star-studded cast featuring Amitabh Bachchan as Ashwatthama, Deepika Padukone as the chosen mother, and Prabhas as the rogue warrior Bhairava, the film created buzz at the box office.
Though Kalki 2898 AD was praised for its storytelling and concept, it also faced criticism over its VFX, with viewers calling the CGI inconsistent.
Ashwin is now working on the sequel and hinted that each scene in the Kalki universe has been crafted with painstaking detail. “The writing is the core. Every frame has months of planning. If you break it down, it’s a zig-zag puzzle,” he shared.
He also acknowledged the fast-growing influence of AI in filmmaking. “Even during Kalki, we had some AI tools. But now, people are creating entire trailers with AI. Still, the direction, the human brain—that’s irreplaceable.”
From almost creating Inception to building a new Indian sci-fi legacy, Nag Ashwin’s story is proof that even missed opportunities can evolve into monumental success.
