Screening Kalki 2898 AD on the Busan Worldwide Movie Pageant (BIFF) this yr, producers Swapna Dutt and Priyanka Dutt advised Deadline that one in every of their targets is to safe distribution for the movie in China and Korea.
Raking in $140M at field places of work globally to date, sci-fi epic Kalki 2898 AD is the highest-grossing Indian movie of 2024. With a reported funds round 600 crore rupees ($72M), the movie can also be estimated to be one of many most costly Indian motion pictures ever made. The movie stars Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Prabhas, Deepika Padukone and Disha Patani.
Kalki 2898 AD sequel and different movies in manufacturing
A second instalment is on the way in which and the producers, who’re additionally sisters, stated that round 35 to 40 % of the shoot for the sequel have been accomplished. They intend to choose up manufacturing once more within the second quarter of 2025 and full the movie by the tip of the yr — and hope to proceed increasing the Kalki Cinematic Universe with many extra titles.
“The primary half has achieved nice in India, North America and UK, amongst others,” Swapna stated. “The movie has the potential to journey all over the world and we wish the primary half to journey much more earlier than releasing the second half.”
Swapna added: “Is Kalki impressed by Marvel? I wouldn’t say impressed nevertheless it positively has given us a lot to study. I feel it’s an ideal achievement to have placed on a visible expertise that others have in comparison with Marvel.”
Kalki 2898 AD had its first screening on the competition’s largest theater — the 4,000-seater BIFF Theater on the Busan Cinema Heart.
Kalki 2898 AD can also be the third highest-grossing Telugu movie of all time, simply behind S. S. Rajamouli’s RRR.
“We’ve began crossing all types of borders and turning into one Indian cinema, with Telugu now being heard as probably the most vital languages in Indian cinema,” Swapna stated.
Each Swapna and Priyanka are additionally engaged on Champion, a love story set in 1955, directed by Pradeep Advaitham, with the title already in manufacturing. They’re additionally in pre-production for Aakasam Lo Oka Tara, directed by Pavan Sadineni.
The unmatched complexity and scale of Kalki 2898 AD have pushed the battle-hardened and seasoned sisters to a different degree of filmmaking. “After Kalki, every little thing appears to be very straightforward,” Swapna stated. “The individuals who labored on Kalki and are actually engaged on these different movies say the identical. For Kalki, we needed to handle 1000 issues a day, whereas for these two movies, it’s like 20 to 30 issues.”
A household enterprise
Kalki 2898 AD has been a household enterprise for Swapna and Priyanka. The movie was made below the manufacturing firm Vyjayanthi Films, which was arrange by their father, Chalasani Aswani Dutt, who additionally holds producer credit on the movie. Kalki 2898 AD is directed by Nag Ashwin, who’s Priyanka’s husband.
“This household relationship makes it each troublesome in addition to straightforward. On the nice aspect of issues, this provides me numerous energy, as a result of making cinema is itself a dangerous enterprise, particularly making a movie of this scale,” Swapna stated.
Priyanka added: “We are able to rely upon one another, whether or not it’s one thing detrimental or constructive, we all know that we’re there for one another to speak, determine it out and remedy issues collectively.”
Each sisters stated that they will hint the seed for Kalki 2898 AD again to a dialog that that they had along with Ashwin at their father’s dwelling round mid-2019, though they acknowledge that Ashwin had the thought for the movie from way back to 2014.
“My dad was the one who taught us the way to dream within the language of cinema,” Swapna stated. “He at all times wished to make bigger movies with larger expertise, like social fantasies, in order that’s the sort of cinema we grew up with.”
Priyanka stated: “My dad used to return dwelling and there have been at all times these discussions about profitable movies, or how a sure movie was shot, or how he made a sure tune or script.”
Nevertheless, Swapna stated that she had thought of different ventures outdoors of filmmaking earlier than committing to the craft. She had a stint in Ohio whereas pursuing a grasp’s diploma there and entertained various profession paths. Priyanka additionally had a stint in Los Angeles whereas pursuing her undergraduate diploma at UCLA.
Apart from the Telugu movies that they watched whereas rising up, each sisters stated that Hollywood movies like Jurassic Park additionally impressed them.
Additionally they stated that cinema has now entered a unique age, the place persons are extra open to watching movies in different languages and from completely different elements of the world.
“Again within the day, we couldn’t experiment or increase the bar of cinema past some extent, as a result of we had sure limitations,” Swapna stated. “Now, the world is watching Telugu cinema, and so all we’ve to do is a crack a very good story and have good actors on board. If we try this, the sky is the restrict.”
