Nag Ashwin says there is no ‘Kalki 2898 AD’ without Deepika Padukone’s character

Nag Ashwin’s directorial ‘Kalki 2898 AD’ starring Prabhas is on its way to becoming the biggest blockbuster of the year, with the film minting Rs 900 crore globally by Monday, July 8. The dystopian epic sci-fi film also has Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, and Kamal Haasan in crucial roles.
Deepika Padukone’s performance in the film has been receiving a lot of praise from the audience.While many are drawing parallels between her role with ‘Khaleesi’ of ‘Game of Thrones’ among others, filmmaker Nag Ashwin has spoken about why her character is pivotal to the storyline. In a recent interview with Zoom, the director stated that there is no ‘Kalki 2898 AD’ without Deepika Padukone.
While Deepika's performance is receiving rave reviews, the crucial scene involving her walking through flames, has got a fanbase of its own. The director too expressed that it was his favourite scene from the film, as the visual of that scene and the way Deepika Padukone holds herself – the poise won his heart. Nag Ashwin also recalls telling Deepika that, if everything goes well, this is a movie poster that will live longer than her and him.

Nag Ashwin stated that Deepika’s character is the most important part of the story. He also added that they (he and the team) had a lot of discussions on it when they were writing as well. “I think the simplest answer that we arrived at was whose character do you remove and the story does not exist? And that became Deepika's character,” he stated. He also emphasized that if Deepika’s character is removed, then there is no story, and no Kalki.