The makers of Kalki 2898 AD announced Deepika Padukone’s departure from the sequel. Creative differences are cited as the reason. There are talks of fee hikes and entourage costs. Director Nag Ashwin revealed Deepika shot scenes while pregnant. Her unborn child was briefly part of the film. Deepika is now set to join Allu Arjun’s next project with Atlee.
Nag Ashwin rewrote box office history with Kalki 2898 AD, the film starred names like Prabhas, Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan and Deepika Padukone. The film minted more than Rs 600 crore in India and was also one of the biggest money spinners in North America, the biggest market for Telugu films outside of India.On Thursday morning , the movie world woke up to the shock news of makers of Kalki 2898 AD parting ways with Deepika Padukone for it’s sequel. Taking to X ( formerly Twitter) the production house wrote , “ This is to officially announce that @deepikapadukone will not be a part of the upcoming sequel of #Kalki2898AD. “ “ After careful consideration, we have decided to part ways. Despite the long journey of making the first film, we were unable to find a partnership. And a film like @Kalki2898AD deserves that commitment and much more. We wish her the best with her future works” they added. Soon the talk began to fill the air about how Deepika demanded a fee hike, would only work for a limited number of hours and the makers having to foot the bill of her huge entourage- these conditions were laid down by Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Spirit as well. But till this point no one has confirmed or denied the talk. Going back to the shoot of the film in 2024 , the actress shot for the film while she was in her early pregnancy. Just like her character Sumathi. The director Nag Ashwin in an exclusive interview with ETimes has confirmed the word and stated that her unborn daughter Dua has briefly become part of the film. Talking about it in the interview he said “In one of her last pickup shots, she was actually pregnant. So there were two days when her actual child also acted in the movie,” he added with a laugh.Deepika is now all set to be back on the sets for Allu Arjun’s next with Atlee, the shoot for the film has begun and she would be joining the film from November.
