Mum-to-be Deepika Padukone plays a pregnant woman hunted down by Prabhas’ bounty hunter in a world ruled by a despot portrayed by Saswata Chatterjee in the trailer of Nag Ashwin’s Kalki 2898 AD, a sci-fi epic movie that seems to have combined the Mahabharata with a dystopian narrative.

Released on Monday by the makers, the trailer begins with a conversation between a child and an old man, who introduce us to the world’s first city Kashi, now ruled by Saswata’s dictator. We get a grim view of the two-layered city riddled with oppression as the king is shown to have been residing on the upper level, while his subjects live amid squalor on the ground level, scavenging for food and eking out a life full of hardship.

Deepika plays a woman carrying a child, who will have the strength to change the future by overthrowing Saswata’s autocrat. But the king perceives a potential threat from the unborn baby and hires Prabhas’ Bhairava to hunt down the pregnant woman.

As Prabhas closes in on Deepika, enters Amitabh Bachchan as Ashwatthama, the immortal son of Guru Drona from the Mahabharata, to protect the yet-to-be-born baby from dangers and enemy forces.

Disha Patani plays a fierce character in the trailer and is involved in a fight scene. Prabhas’ bounty hunter is often guided by his AI-driven sidekick Bujji, voiced by Keerthy Suresh, in the trailer.

The trailer ends with a view of Kamal Haasan’s character who promises the dawning of a new age. Deepika’s baby is presumed to be Kalki, the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of Vishnu.

Initially scheduled to hit theatres on May 9, Kalki 2898 AD has been announced to arrive in theatres on June 27. The release date has been reportedly pushed due to production delays. Santhosh Narayanan serves as the music composer of the sci-fi epic, while the cinematography is done by Djordje Stojiljkovic.