Interestingly, the throb of the world's end and a man riding a white horse is a recurring theme in most eschatological studies. We all know of a leader with 666 tattooed on his forehead who would be the proverbial anti-Christ who would ride on a white horse. Then there are the four Horsemen who would be riding in to right the wrong of a decadent world on the brink of extinction.
In Kalki Puranam, the end of kali-yuga will be marked with events signifying the loss of piety and goodness the world over. It will be climaxed with the total annihilation of Earth. The Big Bang would have reached the point of entropy. The reset button would be initiated for time to restart. Lord Vishnu would assume his last avatar, Kalki, to expedite this process by slaying the terrorising asuras. Again, Kalki would be marching in on a white horse. Kali-yuga will be replaced with Satya-yuga. Graham Hancock's research suggests that time is cyclical. One major civilisation is replaced with another.
Most world belief systems have an eerie commonality about a nihilistic future where civilisation would decay and meet a fiery end. The trouble is that no time frame is given for this end, but many are cocksure that he knows that end is nay.
Depending on which scriptures one reads, the rider on the white horse can be a saviour or a villain. And they had different names. The founder of the Ahmeddya sect may have proclaimed to be Kalki. In the Shia sect, at the end of times, they believed Imam Mahdi would unite the believers and help to rule the world. In Buddhism, Maitreya, a messianic-like saviour, would rule the world.
Some historians believe Kalki Puranam is a later production, unlike other Hindu scriptures. It is said to have been penned in Bengal around 1500-1700CE when a Muslim Sultanate was in power. Are they saying the Muslim reign was terrible and the ordinary people dreamt of a saviour on horseback to rescue them?
In modern times, many doomsday prophets sniff around for gullible souls to convince them the end is near. Like Chicken Licken, they holler around, yelling the sky is falling down, asking people to join in the reception party that greets the Lord when His Kingdom reigns after Armageddon. Every now and then, we hear cults interpreting certain everyday occurrences as proof that the end is near. Many are in the corner for fake news or a brush with the law, like in the cases of Branch Davidian under the tutelage of David Koresh in Waco, Texas, or Jim Jones 'People's Temple' in Jonestown, Guyana.
In the film, when a vacationing same-sex couple with their adopted young daughter is visited by four people talking about the end of the world, they think the four people are nuts. They insist that one of the couple must kill the other or the girl to stop the multiple air crashes and the raging natural calamities. Even though the plot is hollow and the script may not be the best I have heard of late, the movie managed to grab the attention of its viewers via its ability to create suspense. It makes one think.
