Ever since the poster of the upcoming multi-starrer movie Kalki 2898 AD was dropped, there have been several criticisms, with people pointing out that the poster and characters shown in it looked very much similar to the settings and people of Denis Villeneuve’s 'Dune' film franchise.
Kalki 2898 AD, directed by Nag Ashwin, stars Prabhas, Kamal Haasan, Deepika Padukone, Disha Patani, and Amitabh Bachchan.
Director Nag Ashwin took the criticism head-on and said the two films look similar because of sand.
At the recent VFX Summit in Hyderabad, the director was asked why the film "looks a lot like the Hollywood movie Dune when it comes to the theme and the artwork.
Nag Ashwin replied saying it was because of the sand. "You noticed the film has sand in it, no? Basically, whenever there’s sand, it’ll look like Dune,” he said.
However, sand was the only factor that many on social media pointed out that the film's poster had in common with Dune. Some observed that Padukone's character resembled that of Chani played by Zendaya in Dune. A user called it “Zendayafication of Deepika.”
Touted to be an epic science-fiction dystopian movie inspired by Hindu mythology, Kalki 2898 AD is scheduled to be released on June 27.
According to media reports, the director had earlier said the movie "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," he had said.