Kaliyugam Movie Review: Succession of bold writing choices makes you forget all the flaws

In a pivotal moment in The Dark Knight, Joker tells Batman, “When the chips are down, these civilised people, they’ll eat each other.” His bleak commentary on the dark basal instincts of humans is about how, during the most desperate times, we will show our darkest nature. It is perhaps wise to assume that darkness is as much a part of our psyche as goodness. However, if we are to believe the Joker, then how dark is our inner darkness, and is it really all that we are composed of? This becomes the central rumination of Pramodh Sundar’s post-apocalyptic thriller, Kaliyugam.

Kaliyugam begins like every other dystopian film; we get a tedious montage of how the social order broke down around the world. Some resource is scarce; in Mad Max, it was oil, and here it is drinking water. All hell breaks loose, and humanity is reduced to its survival instincts. Of course, there is an isolated colony of survivors who hoard the last few resources behind the walls of ‘Residence’. There is a revolutionary army calling themselves ‘Liberators’, trying to break into the impregnable 'Residence' fighting for the unfortunate who scrape a living outside the walls in the desolate, war-torn world. The film is wildly ambitious, which makes it all the more charming when you see how they tried as much as possible not to compromise on the vision while on an evidently shoestring budget. However, the derivative nature of the story becomes a major drawback. While Kaliyugam feels like a love letter to the post-apocalyptic thriller genre, its derivative nature exhausts you with the sheer number of films in the genre it reminds you of. Curiously, the tedium stops to a halt, and you perk up with interest as the film makes a succession of bold choices in the middle, and this welcome pivot starts almost immediately after Kishore’s character walks into an underground safe house. While the film still feels derivative, it collects a number of these borrowed ideas to build an interesting whole. 

Kishore and Shraddha Srinath’s earnest and committed performances add to the world-building and immerse us completely into this decrepit world. What lacks in terms of budget and production design is circumvented with clever writing choices along with Kishore and Shraddha’s performances. However, the performance of the primary antagonist, on which the impact of a large chunk of the story hinges, leaves a lot to be desired. The philosophical musings get a little overbearing towards the end, only to be saved again by another string of bold writing choices. Kaliyugam leverages every strength of the genre, from its ability to provide a canvas for broader social commentary, psychological character study, extraordinary yet subtle world-building, and interesting subversion. 

Unlike recent films which use the dystopian sci-fi genre as an empty ornamentation to pack a flashy action film, Kaliyugam carefully picks its genre to mount a well-rounded story. Even though it is rough around the edges, and even though it might be derivative, the film is evidently a sincere attempt to convincingly tell a story that has a lot to say. The film ends on a hopeful note about how even a faint and flickering light, like its protagonist, can stand up against overwhelming darkness. This somehow resembles your thoughts on the film itself as you walk out. What feels refreshing about Kaliyugam—its inventive writing, its charming love for the genre, the actors’ evident commitment to the production — might look small stacked up against its multiple issues, however, the positives drive out the issues like how a single strike of a match can suddenly drive out the darkness in a room.