Amitabh Bachchan defends Prabhas’ crowd-pleasing scenes in Kalki 2898 AD: ‘He’s a hero of the Telugu-speaking nation’
Amitabh Bachchan seems to be obsessed with Nag Ashwin’s Telugu dystopian sci-fi epic Kalki 2898 AD.
The film, in which he plays the immortal Ashwatthama, is also being panned for its length, particularly for Prabhas’ crowd-pleasing introductory sequence in the first half.
Amitabh defends Prabhas’ scenes
The official YouTube handle of Vyjayanthi Movies, the production house behind Kalki 2898 AD, posted a conversation, episode 2 of The Kalki Chronicles, between Amitabh and Nag Ashwin. In the episode, Amitabh is seen defending Prabhas’ introductory scenes.
“There are many portions, which I felt as somebody who’s been in the film industry can understand, that you’re playing to the gallery. This is Prabhas, this is a Telugu film. And Prabhas is Telugu. You’ve to understand that he’s massive, he’s God-like. There were many in the audience who felt in the first half, maybe because of the length, they thought, ‘Let’s go on with the story.’ The fact is it’s an intro of the hero of the film, but not just the hero of the film, but the hero of the Telugu-speaking nation. And that is something the people overlooked. But we have to give it to them,” said Amitabh, who felt Kalki 2898 AD is a ‘perfect amalgamation’ of playing to the gallery and going ahead with the story.
Nag Ashwin on playing to the gallery
“It’s a very thin line. There’s a sequence in his introduction, which a new audience from Paris would not get. There’s a hologram that glitches right next to Prabhas and says ‘Rebel Star’ for an instant. That’s a clap trap. For someone on the outside, it doesn’t make a difference. There’s also a bit when Bhairava (Prabhas’ character) says I have fans, and Buji says, ‘Ya, ya I know, Rebel fans.’ And it doesn’t make a difference for someone outside. Because we’ve established he’s a rebel,” Nag told Amitabh in the episode.
Kalki 2898 AD also stars Deepika Padukone, Kamal Haasan, Saswata Chatterjee, and Shobhana, among others.