The virtual world has been abuzz about the streaks of similarities between Nag Ashwin’s dystopian world of Kalki 2898 AD and Hollywood biggies such as Dune and Mad Max: Fury Road. Sung Choi, a South Korean artist who has worked for Marvel Studios, Disney, Warner Bros., and Netflix Animation, has now accused the makers of plagiarism.
Sung accused the creators on social media of selecting his work without consulting him. In order to prove his point, he posted a screenshot of the frame. The much-anticipated sci-fi tentpole stars Prabhas, Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan and Disha Patani among others.
The accusation against Kalki 2898 AD
The scene in question is the dystopian city seen in the first scene of the Kalki 2898 AD trailer. The scene takes place in a post-apocalyptic world in the year 2898 AD. He shared a frame of his own artwork that was published ten years prior, and there is a noticeable resemblance between them.
The concept illustrator and designer has accused Vyjayanthi Movies, the makers of Kalki 2898 AD, of allegedly stealing his ideas.
Sharing the collage, he wrote, “Unauthorised use of the artwork is a bad practice. This makes me question doing art in this lawless environment. @Kalki2898AD @VyjayanthiFilms #kalki2898ad.”
Netizens call it ‘shameful’.
After Sung called out the makers for plagiarising his work, social media users came forward to support him, and slam the film’s team.
“I hope you pursue legal action if possible. This is awful,” wrote a user in the comments section of his Instagram post, with one person writing, “The whole trailer gives off the vibe of Epoch, Mad Max, Dune and other films. The trailer of the film gives me the vibe of Saga comic book series published by Image Comics. A lot of designs from the trailer of the film are ripped off from the Halo series and Death Stranding too. Idk how some of the concept designers who worked on the film can stay silent.”
He was also asked to sue the makers by some Reddit users who agreed with his viewpoints.
“This is shameful and disappointing. They just copied and pasted a 10-year-old artwork on literally the first frame of the trailer. Even the weapons and other stuff look directly ‘inspired’ by so many games and movies. I wonder what else people will spot which will be without any credits. I’m too afraid to post this in Tollywood sub because of fanboys,” read a post on Reddit.