Arshad Warsi breaks silence on his ‘joker’ comment on ‘brilliant’ Prabhas: I spoke about character, not the person

Actor Arshad Warsi broke his silence a month after he faced backlash over his ‘joker’ remark on Prabhas.

In August, Arshad had said that Prabhas, in the film Kalki 2898 AD, ‘was like a joker’. Now, at the IIFA Awards 2024 green carpet on Saturday, Arshad talked to the media about the backlash following his comment and also called Prabhas a “brilliant actor.”

Arshad clarifies his ‘joker’ remark for 1st time
He said, as quoted by news agency ANI, “Everybody has their own point of view and people like to interpret noise. I spoke about the character, not the person. He (Prabhas) is a brilliant actor and he has proved himself again and again, and we know about it. And, when we give a bad character to a good actor, it’s heartbreaking for the audience.”

What Arsaf said about Prabhas in Kalki 2898 AD
Last month, while speaking with Samdish Bhatia on his podcast, when Arshad was asked to name the last bad film he watched, he said it was Kalki 2898 AD. Arshad had said, “Prabhas, I am really sad, why was he… he was like a joker. Why? I want to see a Mad Max. I want to see Mel Gibson over there. Tumne usko kya bana dia yaar. Kyu karte ho aisa mujhe nahi samajh mein aata (What have you made of it? Why do they do such things I never understand).”

How celebs reacted to Asrahd’s comment
After his comment, many celebrities in the Telugu film fraternity, including actors Nani, Sudheer Babu and director Ajay Bhupathi slammed him by saying that the latter could have chosen his words better. Director Nag Ashwin took to X (formerly Twitter) and reacted to Arshad’s comment. A part of his tweet read, “Arshad saab (sir) should have chosen his words better… but it’s ok… sending Buji toys for his kids… I will work hard so tweets… that Prabhas was the best ever in K2.”