After the release of Thalapathy Vijay's 'Leo' last year, fan theories surfaced online. Since the film belonged to the Lokesh Cinematic Universe, the theories were diverse and speculative. Amidst this, a theory had it that the flashback in the film could be half-true or even false.
In a post-release interview, director Lokesh Kanagaraj said that the flashback could be false. He added that the flashback episodes involving Vijay's Leo merely reflected the perspective of the narrator of the flashback. It was a disappointing statement to come from the director. It makes no sense for the audience to be told that they might have been conned. It is ridiculous to expect the audience to wait for years or for the immediate next LCU movie to figure out if the flashback in 'Leo' was indeed false and, if yes, to what extent.
In the climax of 'Kalki 2898 AD', a con has been pulled off. Lord Krishna's character suggests that Karna is awesome and perhaps greater than Arjuna. The scene is not from the epic Mahabharata. It is from Nag Ashwin's brain.
From a moral perspective, Kalki's fakery is more absurd than that of 'Leo'. That is because the Mahabharata is history and not just mythology. Crores of people revere it. If you are falsifying history, you are unarguably wrong. If you are showing Karna, a questionable character, as superior, you are undoubtedly wrong.
From a cinema perspective, though, Leo's fakery is more absurd. After watching 'Kalki', you at least know what Nag Ashwin's perspective of Karna is and how he wants to deal with the character in the Kalki Cinematic Universe. In the case of 'Leo', you don't know whether its flashback was even true.
