Nag Ashwin on Kalki 2898 AD’s similarity to Dune: ‘It’s because of the sand’

Nag Ashwin’s upcoming sci-fi film Kalki 2898 AD, which boasts a stellar cast of Prabhas, Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan and Kamal Haasan, is one of the most-awaited films this year. That is not to say the film’s promotional material hasn’t met criticism or had comparisons drawn with Denis Villeneuve’s Tom Holland, Zendaya-starrer Dune. Looking back at when Nag addressed these concerns at the VFX Summit in Hyderabad. (Also Read: Deepika Padukone or Zendaya from Dune? Internet reacts to new Kalki 2898 AD poster)
At the event, a student asked Nag why his film looked a lot like Dune and if the films had any similarities. They said, “Project K (the film’s working title) looks a lot like the Hollywood movie Dune when it comes to the theme and the art work.” To which Nag replied, “It’s because of the sand. They (another student) noticed the film has sand in it, no? Basically, whenever there’s sand, it’ll look like Dune,” he said, before laughing at the notion.
Recently when the makers released a new poster of the film, announcing its release date on June 27, fans couldn’t help but notice that Deepika looked a little too similar to Zendaya in the poster. Zendaya played Chani in the sci-fi instalment, the sequel of which was released in theatres in March. One fan even shared the poster on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “Zendayafication of Deepika in Kalki poster.”
Kalki 2898 AD was initially supposed to be released on May 9. With the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh elections announced for May 13, the film’s release has been postponed to June. Despite the election dates being announced in March, the filmmakers took their time before announcing the new release date in April.
Earlier, Nag had talked about the inspiration behind the film at the Synapse 2024 event in Gurgaon and said, “The film starts with Mahabharat and ends in 2898 AD. It spans 6000 years in time. We tried to create worlds, imagining what they would be like while still keeping it Indian and not making it look like Blade Runner.”
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