Nag Ashwin Explains Why Deepika Padukone Has A Passive Role In Kalki 2898 AD: 'If You Remove Her...'

Deepika Padukone, who starred in Nag Ashwin’s dystopian sci-fi film ‘Kalki 2898 AD', delivered a stellar performance in the film.

Deepika Padukone starrer ‘Kalki 2898 AD’ was globally released on June 27.

Source : Instagram (kalki2898ad)

Nag Ashwin’s dystopian sci-fi film ‘Kalki 2898 AD’  is having a good run at the box office. The film is being praised for its stellar performances and stunning visual effects. Deepika Padukone, who features as Sum80, aka Sumathi, in the film, delivered a stellar performance in 'Kalki 2898 AD'. 

Nag Ashwin on Deepika Padukone's role in Kalki 2898 AD

However, after watching the movie, fans expressed that they expected more screen time for Deepika’s character. Now, director Nag Ashwin has explained the reason behind the actor’s limited screen time. While Deepika is the main character in the movie, he also asserts that the events surrounding her take centre stage.

In an inteview with Zoom TV, Nag Ashwin said, “She is the most integral part of the story. Whenever someone asks me, you have these four super important characters, who do you think whose story is it? We had a lot of discussion on whose story is it when we were writing as well. I think the simplest answer we arrived at was whose character do you remove if the story doesn’t exist? And that’s Deepika’s character. If you remove her, there is no story, there is no Kalki.” 

Nag Ashwin says Deepika Padukone couldn’t be 'proactive'

“Deepika had to bear that weight but she also couldn’t be that proactive part of the story because so much is happening around her and she comes from a certain place in the labs. She can’t be like Kyra or Mariam. She was caught in the headlight. Inadvertently she did become a little bit of a damsel in distress but that’s the world she was in,” he added.

‘Kalki 2898 AD’ was globally released on June 27 in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi and English. The post-apocalyptic film stars Prabhas, Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan and Kamal Hassan.