India’s Costliest Film: Top Quality, But Penetration?

It is known that Prabhas and Nag Ashwin’s Kalki 2898 AD is supposedly the costliest project in Indian cinema thus far. Though these is no clear number in terms of budget, it is understood that the film is being made with the biggest budget ever in Indian cinema.

Coming to the topic, in terms of quality, Kalki has always been right up there with its grade-A making values. The recently released Amitabh’s glimpse video is also of elite quality.

But this brings us to the question, does Kalki have enough penetration in the mass Telugu markets and also non-Telugu markets? The promotional content released thus far has superior technical finesse but the penetration of the same into the Telugu masses is in question.

The topic in discussion here is Kalki’s premise hasn’t yet been presented in a comprehensive manner for the larger section of the audience to comprehend. While the quality of the content is being appreciated, not many have an idea of what the film has to offer in terms of world-setting and storyline.

This doubt can be answered only through a winning trailer or a teaser that explains, or at least presents the theme of the film in a clearly understandable manner. This level of connect is needed for the audience to understand what is to offer.

For instance, in the case of Baahubali, which was the biggest budgeted project back then, had its premise clearly established right from the outset. This is lacking in the case of Kalki and it must be rectified at the earliest for the film to get a deeper penetration in the wider markets.