Nag Ashwin’s Kalki 2898 AD has been making all the right noises. The film, which premiered on June 27, features Prabhas, Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan and Disha Patani. Now, Nag Ashwin has opened up about his inspiration behind the film. In an interview with Zoom, he revealed that Kalki 2898 AD was inspired by Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars. “We grew up watching Marvel films. I would say Guardians of the Galaxy was more of an influence than Iron Man. Definitely, Star Wars is a huge influence. I love Star Wars, so that is subconsciously a part of my aesthetic,” he said.

Nag Ashwin rubbished the claims that Kamal Haasan’s role as Supreme Yaskin was based on Harry Potter’s antagonist Lord Voldemort. Tibetan monks played a major part in inspiring the director. “Our references were these old Tibetan monks, who are supposed to be 120-130 years old. Sir [Kamal Haasan] was always mentioning the portrait of Dorian Grey [from Oscar Wilde’s 1890 philosophical novel The Picture of Dorian Grey]. That was sir’s inspiration. We didn’t have many movie references for that ancient look,” he said.

Previously in an exclusive interview with NDTV, Nag Ashwin spoke about Prabhas’ confidence that Kalki 2898 AD would break the box office records. “He really believed in the project from the get-go. He believed even when things were taking too long, even when things were hard. He always believed in my project and in my vision. Even though I was only two films old, he was the biggest cheerleader for the film. He would say, ‘This is going to be massive, it’s going to be bigger than everything.”

On its second Sunday, Kalki 2898 AD minted ₹ 44.35 crores at the ticket window, reported Sacnilk. The film’s total box office collection now stands at ₹ 510.05 crores.

Kalki 2898 AD minted ₹ 510.05 crores at the box office.