‘Project K’ makes history as the first Indian film to reach Hall H at Comic-Con
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Indian pride was on full display at Comic-Con’s Hall H in a thunderous and deafening panel for Project Kthe first ever Indian film to be shown not only in the pop culture convention but also in the hall which has launched so many Hollywood films including those from Marvel, Warner Bros./DC and Legendary’s monster pics.
The panel featured a who’s who of Indian superstars — Prabhas, Kamal Haasan, Amitabh Bachchan (via Zoom), veteran Bollywood producer C. Aswani Dutt — and everyone’s entrance was greeted with chanting and hollering. It was a form of Beatlemania hysteria rarely seen in Hall H.
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“Indian cinema is on the world stage,” said Rana Daggubati, another Indian actor and producer who acted as an unofficial moderator for the panel and who sat among the Project K squad. “We figured out what global fandom means… but we said to ourselves, now we have to be in the middle of fandom, and Comic-Con it is!”
Proceedings began with a show steeped in Indian culture as a line of drummers in Indian dress beat out an introduction as two lines of women with candles in hand made their way through the darkened hall and onto the stage for a ceremonial dance .
Project K he was then presented to be called Kalki 2989-ADa sci-fi epic that blends Indian mythology and Star Wars.
The teaser trailer shown (see below) had the hallmarks of famous Indian films, including the Oscar-winning cultural breakthrough, RRR. It’s over the top, heroic, and incredibly epic. The crowd ate him up and as soon as he was done, he started singing for a replay.
“What makes Indian cinema so great is the energy our audiences bring to our cinema,” said Haason. “We make the stories, they make the stars.”
Ashwin said the film has been in the works for a long time. It took four years to prepare, then two years to film. Now he can’t wait to come out in 2024.
He said the blend of mythology and science fiction made it “a different Indian film”.
“It’s still an Indian film at heart, it’s Indian mythology, our culture, from being a South Indian, from being a Telugu, from being an Indian, from being a fan of Star Wars, all that love goes into this thing. It’s a new kind of thing.
The historic moment, and what it means for Indian cinema, has not gone unnoticed by the filmmakers.
“It is a very proud moment for us,” said Swapna Dutt, the daughter of C. Aswani Dutt, producer of the film. “This is something we have not dreamed of. There was Telugu cinema, then it became Southern cinema, then Indian cinema. But bringing Indian cinema to Comic-Con is just incredible.”