Filmmaker Nag Ashwin, currently riding high on the success of his sci-fi epic Kalki 2898 AD, recently opened up about an emotionally difficult moment from his early days as a storyteller. While speaking to a group of film students, the director revealed how watching the trailer of Christopher Nolan’s Inception left him deeply disheartened.
Ashwin shared that in 2008, he was working on a concept that bore some resemblance to Inception – except his story revolved around thoughts, not dreams.
“I had come up with a concept that was eerily similar,” he recalled. “But when I saw the trailer of Inception, I felt crushed. Nolan had done it – his version focused on dreams, mine on thoughts. Still, it was too close for comfort,” the filmmaker added.
He further revealed that moment of creative heartbreak took a toll on his mental health. “I dropped the project and went into depression for a week,” he reportedly confessed.
Inception plot
Inception follows Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), a skilled thief who specialises in stealing secrets from people’s subconscious during dreams. He’s offered a chance to have his criminal record erased if he can successfully perform ‘inception’ – planting an idea in someone’s mind without them realising it.
As Cobb and his team dive through layered dream worlds, the line between reality and dreams blurs, leading to a mind-bending mission filled with emotional depth, action, and psychological twists.
Fast forward to 2024, Ashwin is now the visionary behind one of India’s most talked-about sci-fi spectacles. Kalki 2898 AD, starring Prabhas, Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, and Kamal Haasan in the lead roles, has been hailed for its cinematic ambition, blending Indian mythology with futuristic storytelling.
Kalki 2898 AD is set in Kashi and it is based on an evil ruler named Yaskin who dominates the city and extracts all the natural resources from there to make a complex.
The film also narrates the tale of a superhero, Kalki, who is also known as the 10th incarnation of Lord Vishnu. In the movie, Ashwatthama, whom Lord Krishna cursed in the battle of Kurukshetra, decides to protect Sumathi’s unborn child (Kalki) from evil.
Meanwhile, on the work front, Ashwin is currently busy developing the highly anticipated sequel to Kalki 2898 AD.
