In mid-2020, the producer C. Aswini Dutt initially insisted on bringing veteran composer M. M. Keeravani to score music for the film, as well as A. R. Rahman also considered for the role; Neither of them did sign the film.[3][4] In late January 2021, Ashwin recruited composer Mickey J. Meyer, whom he had previously worked with in Mahanati (2018), as a part of the technical crew.[5] By November, speculations arose that Meyer opted out of the project and would be replaced by Santhosh Narayanan as the composer.[6] It was officially confirmed in February 2023, when Dutt stated in an interview regarding Narayanan's inclusion.[7][8] Narayanan stated that Ashwin had liked his compositions for Cuckoo (2014) which led to his involvement in the film.[9] He spent a year to research the sounds that suited the film's theme and storyline.[10][11]
When Narayanan was brought onboard for Kalki 2898 AD, almost eight months of the film's production had been completed. During the music discussion, Ashwin insisted the album to be epic, but also need to be soulful. His inspiration for developing the film's music was attributed to Rahman's Academy Award winning score for Slumdog Millionaire (2008), adding "The biggest takeaway was how he did what he does — his own original music — and the world lapped it up and loved it. He didn’t have to cater to a different audience but worked to his strengths. The entire music team surrendered to the vision of the production and the director. Only then we can create something raw and new."[9]
The themes for the four different worlds—Kasi, Shambhala, the Lab and the Complex—he composed specific themes for that, and separately stored them in his system folder under the name "World Boxes".[9] Narayanan personally intended to add the sounds of 1980s and 1990s, as he was a huge fan of Ilaiyaraaja, Rahman and M. S. Viswanathan; he cited the "Bhairava Anthem" as an ode to Ilaiyaraaja, "Veera Dheera" as an ode to Viswanathan, and the treatment of the Mother in lab as an ode to Rahman. The Mahabharata sequence was cited as an ode to S. S. Rajamouli and M. M. Keeravani's works in epic period films. The song "Ta Takkara" was essentially composed to match Prabhas' on-screen presence, but also wanted it to be quirky. This resulted the song being composed in a mix of various genres: dubstep, psychedelic trance, orchestral and Indian folk.[9]
Since the film is set in the future where the remainder of the population are a mix of languages, cultures and communities, he wanted to implement the same in the film's music. Diljit Dosanjh who made his debut with the South Indian film music scene, performed the Punjabi rap in the song "Bhairava Anthem" with lyrics written by Kumaar;[12] he added that the song lyrics will be the same in every language. Likewise, Amitabh Bachchan performed the song "Keshava Madhava" in Hindi, which was retained in other languages.[13][14] The same goes for the oppari bit, which he originally composed in Tamil. Narayanan described the album as his "ode to the multicultural identity of India".[9]
The songs and score were recorded at Narayanan's Future Tense Studios in Chennai.[15] As Sumathi (SUM-80) being the film's central character, he composed few themes that revolve around her character and also designed three specific sounds for Bhairava as well.[16] To experiment with the music, he travelled to South Africa for recording the percussive sounds using Kika drums and percussions.[9] A glimpse of the film's main theme was performed by Narayanan at his Neeye Oli concert during February 2024.[17]
Release
In May 2024, it was announced that the record label Saregama acquired the marketing and distribution of the film's musical score and soundtrack.[18] The label nearly spent ₹18 crore (US$2.2million) for the film's music rights.[19] The song "Bujji Theme" was released separately on 27 May 2024.[20] The theme featured vocals performed by Switzerland-based singer Priya Ragu and lyrics written by Japhna Gold.[21]
The first single titled "Bhairava Anthem" was released on 16 June 2024.[22] The music video, which released the following day, featured Prabhas and Diljit Dosanjh in the latter's maiden collaboration.[23][24] The theme song of the film, "Theme of Kalki", was released as the film's second single on the evening of 23 June 2024 in Lord Krishna's birthplace, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the Yamuna river.[25][26] The lyrics for the song were written by Chandrabose, who described the song is about the Dashavatara of Lord Vishnu.[27] The vocals were performed by Kaala Bhairava, Ananthu and Gowtham Bharadwaj.[28] The third single "Ta Takkara (Complex Song)" was released on 29 June 2024.[29] The song featured vocals performed by Sanjith Hegde, Dhee and Santhosh Narayanan.[30] The fourth single titled "Hope of Shambala" was released on 4 July 2024.[31] The song featured vocals performed by Shobana, while Meenakshi Santhosh and Pavithra Chari did so for the dubbed versions.[31]
In early-July 2024, Santhosh Narayanan in his X (formerly Twitter) account, announced that the film's album, which ties up the original songs and score will be released earlier.[32][33] The soundtrack album was released on 10 July 2024.[2] Along with the earlier released singles, the album also included a sixth song titled "Keshava Madhava" featured the voice of Narayanan (original version) and Amitabh Bachchan (Hindi version) and lyrics written by the duo of Siddharth–Garima in Hindi while Krishna Kanth wrote the Telugu lyrics for the song.[13][14]
Reception
Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu stated "The music too is a bit hit-and-miss. Santhosh Narayanan pays rich homage to the Bhagavad Gita and old Telugu classics, and then stunningly transitions into a futuristic gaming zone realm. However, the songs take some getting used to."[34] Ronak Kotecha of The Times of India wrote "Although the music score by Santhosh Narayanan is a letdown, the background score effectively complements the film's narrative, elevating key moments."[35]Sowmya Rajendran of The News Minute wrote "Santhosh Narayanan’s background score allows the frames to breathe, and this is welcome in an era where the bgm is near-deafening and constant in tentpole films like this. But on the flip side, the score doesn’t do enough to amp up the excitement when it needs to."[36]
A. Ganesh Nadar of Rediff.com wrote "Music by Santhosh Narayanan has no recall value. He does a better job with the background music."[37] Janani K. of India Today wrote "Composer Santhosh Narayanan, with his background music, gave life to the music. The elevation scenes featuring Prabhas, Kamal Haasan, Deepika Padukone and Amitabh Bachchan turned out to be epic because of his score."[38] Kaushik Rajaraman of DT Next wrote "Santhosh Narayanan’s music in the chase sequence and Shambala fight shows why he is still one of the most-preferred music directors in the south."[39] Uday Bhatia of Mint wrote "Santhosh Narayanan’s score does a lot to flesh out these environments, from a chiming theme reminiscent of Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy to Zimmer-ian strum und drang."[40]
Amitabh Bachchan is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema. He is often considered one of the greatest, most accomplished and commercially successful actors in the history of Indian cinema. With a cinematic career spanning over five decades, he has played pivotal roles in over 200 films. Bachchan is often hailed as the Shahenshah of Bollywood, Sadi Ke Mahanayak, Star of the Millennium, or simply Big B. His dominance in the Indian film industry during the 1970s–80s led the French director François Truffaut to describe it as a "one-man industry". He is a recipient of several accolades including six National Film Awards and sixteen Filmfare Awards.
Uppalapati Venkata Suryanarayana Prabhas Raju, known mononymously as Prabhas, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Telugu cinema. He is one of the highest-paid actors in Indian cinema and has been featured in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list since 2015. Referred to in the media as the "Rebel Star", he has appeared in over 20 films, and has received seven Filmfare Awards nominations, a Nandi Award, and a SIIMA Award.
Diljit Dosanjh is an Indian singer, actor and film producer who works in Punjabi and Hindi cinema. Dosanjh entered the Social 50 chart by Billboard in 2020. He has been featured in various music charts, including the Canadian Albums Chart, the UK Asian chart by Official Charts Company and the New Zealand Hot Singles. His films, including Jatt & Juliet 2, Sajjan Singh Rangroot and Honsla Rakh are among the highest grossing Punjabi films in history.
Krishnakumar Balasubramanian is an Indian actor and art director who predominantly works in Tamil cinema.
Santhosh Narayanan is an Indian film composer and musician who has worked predominately worked in Tamil cinema, while also having some Telugu and Malayalam films to his credit.
Singireddy Naga Aswin commonly known as Nag Ashwin, is an Indian film director and screenwriter known for his work in Telugu cinema. He is the recipient of a National Film Award, a Nandi Award, and a Filmfare Award. A graduate of the New York Film Academy, Ashwin began his career as an assistant director to Sekhar Kammula. He made his directorial debut in 2015 with the coming-of-age film Yevade Subramanyam, which earned him the Nandi Award for Best Debut Director.
Vishal Chandrashekhar is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer, who has predominantly scored music for Tamil and Telugu films.
Disha Patani is an Indian actress primarily working in Hindi films. Patani made her acting debut with the Telugu film Loafer (2015), and had her first Hindi film release with the biopic M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story (2016). After appearing in the Chinese action comedy Kung Fu Yoga (2017), Patani featured in the films Baaghi 2 (2018), Bharat (2019), Malang (2020), Kalki 2898 AD (2024) and Kanguva (2024). She has appeared in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list of 2019.
Pan-Indianfilm is a term related to Indian cinema that originated with Telugu cinema as a mainstream commercial cinema appealing to audiences across the country with a spread to world markets. S. S. Rajamouli pioneered the pan-Indian films movement with duology of epic action films Baahubali: The Beginning (2015) and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017), that changed the demography of Indian cinema.
Kalki 2898 AD is a 2024 Indian Telugu-language epic science fiction film directed by Nag Ashwin and produced by Vyjayanthi Movies. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Prabhas, Deepika Padukone, and Disha Patani. Inspired by Hindu scriptures, it is the first instalment in a planned Kalki Cinematic Universe. Set in a post-apocalyptic world in the year 2898 AD, the film follows a select group who are on a mission to save lab subject SUM-80's unborn child, Kalki.
Bhairava or Kala Bhairava is a deity worshiped by Hindus and Buddhists. Bhairava or Kala Bhairava may also refer to
Djordje Stojiljkovic is a Serbian cinematographer and visual effects artist.
Bujji and Bhairava is an Indian Telugu-language animated science fiction comedy television miniseries created and directed by Nag Ashwin and, written by Sahen Upadhyay. It is produced by Vyjayanthi Animation and Green Gold Animation. The series is a prelude to the 2024 film Kalki 2898 AD, and has a narrative primarily about Bhairava and his AI droid/vehicle companion BU-JZ-1 (Bujji).
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