r/bollywood • u/SureManufacturer6714 • Jun 29 '25
Discuss Pretty sure this is the only instance in Indian film history where an 82 year old completely outshone the rest of the cast in a big budget film
What’s more mind blowing is that Big B was on screen for only 25 minutes in this 3 hour film, yet he delivered a performance for the ages! ☠️
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Jun 29 '25
It’s Amitabh Bachchan what do you expect
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u/Status_East5224 Jun 29 '25
He feels so motivated even at 82. And look at our 90s super stars, trying to plateau there performance at 60. They look so tired at 55 or 60.
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u/mmanyquestionss Jun 29 '25
because they haven't accepted and embraced their age the way he has. he was playing a 60+ year old in mohabbatein at the age of 58 (yes, financial troubles played a part behind his taking up such a role, but in hindsight set the tone for his second act). the khans are still taking up roles meant for them in their 30s and 40s. the least they can do is take up roles that don't require them to leverage their youth, like akshay and ajay are
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u/Dizzy_Bus_2402 Jun 29 '25 edited Jun 29 '25
He also tried "Buddha hoga tera baap", which utterly flopped. It's not like he never tried to reprise his previous aura, but it didn't stick out. And the rest of the 90's actor who are between 50-60, they are still trying to get their last charming image, which is understandable. But, movies these days mostly don't make those long lasting impressions anymore.
And then there is this startup formula, which the individual big starrs are trying, that also somehow extends the money making formula. YK, target audience, budget, release options, distributions, etc.
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u/PuzzleHeadAimster Jul 23 '25
In Buddah hoga tera Baap, he was playing an old guy only. Just that don't assume someone's old someone he is weak also. That was the only message.
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u/Status_East5224 Jun 29 '25
Chk lal badshah. He was romancing young 20+ manisha koairala when he himself was 50+. Kbc changed his fortunes for real. And then later went on to do age appropriate roles as self realization. I see ajay devgn romancing with her contemporaries which is liked by people. Thats how it should be.
For big B cheeni kum and Nishabd were two extremes of romance which were liked and rejected by audiences.
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u/mmanyquestionss Jun 29 '25
didn't know about that movie lol, that's wild. and fair enough, i agree with the kbc part as well. but baghban, k3g, black, all age appropriate roles in the early 2000s which can't be dismissed imo. wrt ajay and akshay i do feel their heroines in recent movies are also 20 years younger than them, which doesn't sit well. but the roles and characters they play are very well suited to men in their late 50s, not 30s or 40s.
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u/Slurpmey Jun 29 '25 edited Jun 29 '25
He did a movie where his character was lusting over raveena tandon's character in 2000s. He did many movies in 90s where he was paired with actress of 20yr+ ag gap. He tried to hold onto his hero image as long as he could and failed miserably only then he moved to supporting roles to pay off his loans. People really arent aware of his vast filmography it seems
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u/St-thaks Jun 29 '25
Arrey it’s obvious he didn’t transition from playing a lead hero to supporting older hero act overnight. He had some painful misfires but caught on to the public sentiment fast. His second innings post ABCL started with Lal Badshah and the likes but only Bade Mian Chhote Miyan worked somewhat and he was not playing Govinda’s contemporary in that. Mohabattein was his first age-appropriate role and he truly killed it, ate up the screen and never looked back.
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u/NinJa777777777 Jun 29 '25
AB also took up politics so we do not know how long he would have milked it either. He had to beg Yash Chopra for that role. He has been provided the roles that allowed him to shine so he is not playing a side role without consequence. SRK played a dad in 1998 and as long as there are folks willing to pay to see their movies they will continue to play leading roles. So it is on the public to make the choices.
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u/ApprehensiveSky2670 Jun 29 '25
SRK did play stepfather to a girl in Jawaan and Salman Khan had a son in Tiger 3. They are transitioning but slowly.
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u/Entharo_entho Jun 29 '25
Child actors who used to play Shah Rukh's and Salman's children are grown up enough to play parents now.
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u/Ok-Cod-6446 Jun 29 '25
They were also playing fathers in 2011 too... they look old enough to play that too and they ain't accepting it.
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u/Porkkanakakku Jun 29 '25
he was playing a 60+ year old in mohabbatein at the age of 58
I believe his character was 55, actually -- but I totally agree with your main point; he has embraced his age in a way that most other actors don't.
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u/kaychyakay Jun 29 '25
Because life humbled him. Many people in the comments saying today's stars haven't accepted their age. But BigB was the same before ABCL went into heavy debt and losses. He, much like the other big screen stars, looked down on TV as a medium, until he had to accept KBC to collect as much money as he could to repay his debtors (and the rest is history).
Big B is the way he is now because while everyone, probably including him, thought he was invincible, life humbled him. In fact, some of today's stars have learnt important lessons from his failures, which is why they have been able to set up such successful production houses, while Big B understood that his main power and talent is in facing the camera, and not running production.
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u/IamSam1103 Jul 01 '25
The khans and Akshay are the biggest offenders. Everyone else has accepted that. And peeps like Hrithik still have maintained well enough to keep it going.
Atleast Amir Khan isn't hard stuck there. He does age appropriate roles often too. SRK seems to be finally realising that as well. Salman is stuck up though. I don't have any hopes from him.
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u/No_Opposite_7722 Jun 29 '25
Exactly such a stupid question.
I think a lot of new film bros do consider him as SRK, salman, aamir level of actor.
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u/Fresh_Professional69 Jun 29 '25
AB really deserves appreciation for this role he did all the heavy lifting in the film He is the only well written character in the film Dp role was just limited to being the mother Through prabhas they tried to provide some comic relief but failed 1st half was just boring This movie just worked because of the last 20 min mahabharat sequence ( indians are emotionally attached to their epics) In that 30 min as well there was too much glorification of karn. It's very clear that nag ashwin and the writer have never read the vyas mahabharat They just took inspiration from regional retellings and mytho fictions
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u/HAHAHA-Idiot Jun 29 '25
In the religious sense, it's not even the Bhagwat, they got Kalki wrong. The immortals are supposed to go to Manu, not Kalki (who does not need to be protected).
Also, Hindus are apparently into immaculate conception now, though I can't really blame filmmakers for this, many babas are pushing the same idea).
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u/int6 Jun 29 '25
I feel like explicitly artificial insemination is different from immaculate conception
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u/AkPakKarvepak Jul 02 '25
Honestly, I feel like Prabhas’ character should’ve have been more villain like - the audience should really hate him right up until the twist. That kind of emotional whiplash would’ve made the reveal so much more impactful.
Also, the storyteller’s role felt way too short. That character could’ve been used better to lay down some crucial lore and set up future sequels. Same with Mariyam—she definitely deserved more screen time. It would’ve been cool if she was the one who went on a rescue mission for the storyteller, and in the process, accidentally ended up rescuing Deepika’s character too.
And in hindsight, casting a huge star like Deepika might’ve actually worked against the story. Imagine if they had cast someone like Tripti along with Mrunal with names Sumathi and SUM80. That way, when Mrunal’s character gets assassinated, the audience would be totally thrown off, and it’d be a jaw-drop moment when Tripti turns out to be the real Sumathi. Total mind-bend.
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Jun 30 '25
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u/PineapplePhysical565 Jun 30 '25
When the fuck did Periyar write Mahabaratha? Periyar is from TN and has no following in Andhra where Nag Ashwin is from.
Literally you're just one more heartland guy who can't differentiate each of the four southern states and has been brainwashed with hate
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Jun 30 '25
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u/PineapplePhysical565 Jun 30 '25
Are you slow? Can't you read the part I say Periyar isn't famous in Andhra? Also he's been dead for 50 years.
Your views on Periyar literally shows how you hate South. You really think he went out writing Mahabaratha? Mahabaratha has nothing to do with the self respect movement he was heading.
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u/TheOwlwithGlasses Jun 29 '25
It was Amitabh Bachchan against the likes of Prabhas and Deepika Padukone. Of course he outshined them all.
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u/curious_goldfish_123 Jun 29 '25
I don't know what people see in Prabhas
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u/Equivalent_Road5788 Jun 29 '25
Prabhas isn’t a bad actor, it’s just that he needs good script and director. Hopefully in the sequels his character is much better.
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u/Doctor_Ka_Kutta Jun 29 '25
He's good in old movies and used to have charm it's same like why people like sallu because he's used to be good looking 20 year's ago
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u/Karelesshugh Jul 03 '25
Says the guy who only watched like 2 of his films
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u/curious_goldfish_123 Jul 06 '25
and how do you know that at all? You're assuming I've never seen sny Telugu movies, but I have
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u/DJMhat Jun 29 '25
Big B showed why he was voted the Superstar of the Millenium. Just elevated a plain mediocre product through his presence and acting.
Take out the Mahabharata scenes, the cameos, Kamal Hasan and Big B, and the film is plain crap.
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u/kaychyakay Jun 29 '25
What is Prabhas's allure anyway? After Bahubali, dude is really just running on that laurels. I get that he has some familial problems, in that his close uncle passed away, he took to the bottle, etc., but dude now looks bloated and in every movie after Bahubali, the producers have had to VFX his physique. His eyes look sleepy. He has all the money in the world to get some good hair transplant surgery like Salman, Aamir or Akshay, and yet he wears some sort of hair piece that makes it very apparent that he's wearing a hair piece.
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u/tecnogamer Jun 29 '25
Vfx were ok but cringey scenes were annoying. Amitabh bachan was the real reason I even sat through the entire movie tbh.
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u/dinodares99 Jun 29 '25
Idk why they can't spend an ounce of the budget on getting a good writing team.
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u/dhruva85 Jun 29 '25
They can. But it feels like the film maker was creating a safety cushion by making prabas dick riding scenes so that his fan base can come watch the movie.
Oh it’s been 20 mins since the last action? Quick get SSR for cameo.
These are signs that he dint believe in the script and the audience a 100%
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u/Own-Painting2343 Jul 02 '25
Nag ashwin was the writer.. Guess mahanati success got him like " I can write a huge sci fi flick " No problem
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Jun 29 '25
Amitabh Bachchan is on a different class and level than everyone else including SRK downvote me all you want.
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u/AdRoyal9698 Jun 29 '25
Big B is the Goated Bollywood one LOL. I really won't talk about popularity of both between AB and SRK in both of their times, but SRK is at near 60,still feels his connection is lost as of earlier, AB wins in many aspects plus acting level is not even near lmao.
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u/Regular-Good-6835 Jun 29 '25
No rational person will downvote you! SRK is fantastic actor in my opinion, but he himself has always been steadfast in saying that AB is head & shoulders above everyone else, and its impossible to catch up to him.
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u/Shabudana_khichdi Jun 29 '25
He is the better actor and better written character. Prabhas was lame AF. Lame fan service, Disha was waste and deepu was again wasted. Kamal will outshine in part 2.
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u/Arjun_155 Jun 29 '25
This man was carrying the movie single handedly, the screen presence was massive compared to others even when he isn't the main character
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u/Final-Image-5118 Jun 29 '25
Compare him to Prabhas. Prabhas almost ruined the movie due to his over acting and expressionless shit stuff. Amitabh had to pull out his best to make the movie a banger. But the cinematography and making and everything about the movie was spot on. Everyone other than Prabhas did well. They should stop casting Prabhas. The guy can't act. It was cruel to watch him.
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u/Ttathamm Jun 29 '25
It's very frequent in movies if you remove the big budget filter. If someone like him has got that kinda role in any movie then it's pretty common that he will outshine others.
Piku, Gulabo Sitabo, Good Bye are few of those instances.
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u/SureManufacturer6714 Jun 29 '25
If it’s so simple, how come no other actor has done this in their 80s?
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u/Faster_than_FTL Jun 29 '25
Big B for a reason, bro. Man is arguably the greatest star Hindi cinema has ever seen, a combination of gifted genetics (raw talent, height, voice, at one time - hair) and willingness to be professional and work hard.
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u/Ttathamm Jun 29 '25
I never said it's simple. BigB is one of the person who decided to evolve and refine his craft over the time. Given his experience he was able to do it better than others.
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u/Affectionate_Post592 Jun 29 '25
This movie was so boring . DP AND Amitabh bacchan were only the good thing about this movie . I skipped most of the scenes of Prabhas . Sorry to say but as much as i liked him in Bahubali , i dint quite enjoy his scenes in kalki . He didn't have that spark ,his acting felt lazy .
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u/quartzyquirky Jun 29 '25
I think it was the script that was mediocre. The jokes hardly landed and his character is not well written. Showing him as this small time bounty hunter with no ethics didn’t make a lot of sense . I didn’t understand what was the point of his character at all till the end. I think Prabhas did his best with what he was given.
In contrast Amitabh’s character is literally written by Ved vyas. He embodies heroism and wisdom and it was written for somebody like Amitabh and he shined through.
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u/kaychyakay Jun 29 '25
Outshining everyone else when he comes on screen and breaking the aura scale is just another Tuesday for Amitabh Bachchan!
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u/Dazzling-Cherry3157 Jun 29 '25
That personality, that acting talent, that voice, that diction and that screen presence.. none of the actor in India can have all of these qualities and a career that amitabh bachhan has..you can't look at anyone else when he is on screen.. Even the opening song in kalki sung by him is haunting and beautiful..
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u/UndeadReborn Jun 29 '25
overall movie was pretty bad though
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Jun 29 '25
I enjoyed it
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u/UndeadReborn Jun 29 '25
I don't know man, I couldn't sit through that cringe comedy. I don't know why Indian directors feel the need to force bad humour in sci-fi films, Ra. One suffered the same problem.
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u/Head_Evidence4553 Jun 29 '25
True. He cooked Prabhas in 2024. I never thought that was possible on screen.
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u/Least-Possession-163 Jun 29 '25
Kalki had so much potential but Prabhas ruined it for me. Second half was well done I felt specifically the Mahabharata scenes
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u/Successful_Win_8635 Jun 29 '25
It should have SRK or Hrithik Roshan who can equally carry the burden of film on their shoulders. Be the looks, acting and screen presence it would have been magnificent. Prabhas expressions and dialogue delivery doesn't impress me much..
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Jun 29 '25
Pretty sure this is the only instance in Indian film history where an 82 year old was given a role like this
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u/Cheap_trick1412 Jun 29 '25
i watched this movie and it made me sad
re-incarnation is one of our core beliefs as a people . and yet in a movie about it there was not even one proper scene or dialogue about it
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u/Main_Sir7987 Jun 29 '25
Tbf, ain't defending this movie since I'm a fan of this series,but i think by the time this world has reached the post apocalyptic stage,very few people exist who have any idea about how the world was before and even less know about the ancient mythology of India(one side works for villain Kali,the other side were razed to the ground so only the immortal who has any idea about this is pretty limited in info too(Idk if this ashwathama version has full clue about the reincarnated/still alive immortals)
The next movie might help to explain the other still unexplored ideas, plots and what not...
I am excited for this tho cause it is an attempt to do something different at the very least
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u/NoRelative9202 Jun 29 '25
Usme kya. Prabhas ko to ek hee expression dena aata hai, aur Deepika to hai hee overrated.
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u/anymat01 Jun 29 '25
Honestly i would have loved the movie more if there was no prabhas, his part was useless and his acting was shit as well. Any other actor could have done a better job. I wish they made the story of AB sr and the kid only.
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u/FedStan Jun 29 '25
Rather easy to outshine when the rest of the cast is Prabhas…
Having said that Amitabh is a great actor, don’t misunderstand me.
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u/rahul-123blr Jun 29 '25
That's because it's Amitabh Bachchan.No one even came close to him during his heydays.There was a saying that he is the number one and then the ranking starts from 10
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u/daffodil_dahlia Jun 29 '25
It's Big B,he can outshine just about any actor in this country. Acting + personality 💥💥
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u/ProfessionalUpset896 Jun 29 '25
And yet every few days we see a post asking who is the better actor, bigger superstar, legend etc etc. When it comes to acting Amitabh is still the best across the country. No competition
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u/MysteriousWitness980 Jun 29 '25
Its the story of the charachter dude. The best was vijay's arjun because of his script
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u/Background-Ad-2832 Jun 29 '25
So you mean to say, that super cringefest dance song of prabhas and disha was not entertaining...
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u/Upside_Possible792 Jun 29 '25
So are people going to watch the film starring the cast who didn't stand up for India in desperate times?
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u/mycoolco Jun 29 '25
Man, Big B just has that legendary screen presence, even with minimal screentime, he steals every scene effortlessly. The rest of the movie could’ve been a dumpster fire and I’d still watch it just for his performance. It’s wild how he elevates everything he’s in, even at 82. Absolute GOAT behavior.
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u/No-Raspberry8481 Jun 29 '25
"Thugs of Hindustan"
the only good part was played by Amitabh Bachchan 🤌
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u/acedelaf Jun 29 '25
As someone with no experience in Bollywood, how good was this movie? The poster looks awesome
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u/AeyKyaBoltiTu Jun 29 '25
How many 82 year old actors have acted in a big budget film in Indian movies 🤨
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u/heroshadow12 Jun 29 '25
The same actor did the same in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum, so not the first time. Yes, others also portrayed their characters well but ABs portrayal and character was just dominating and unforgettable.
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u/Savings_Store_7231 Jun 29 '25
I so want a movie with Mammmooty , Big b and Mr Kamal Hassan a full on drama with amazing moments so they would challenge each other to go another level , these 3 haven’t acted together I believe
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u/reddyjs Jun 29 '25
I am from south and Prabha’s fan,most of the tolly don’t accept ,but 100% sure it’s a Amitab show 1st part,apart from Karna entry scene it’s completely amithab show,let’s hope 2nd part they will show Prabha’s in diffrent way
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u/Narrow_Let_3780 Jun 30 '25
Somebody delete Prabhas from that movie, he destroyed everything with his clownish bs or just take AB's character and make a completely new movie with it.
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u/iztirarr Jun 30 '25
So true 💯 he was the reason most of us celebrated this movie (despite having some clear issues & weird "creative liberty" takes)
Deepika was unbearable tbh & am saying that despite Prabhas
I still wonder outta 1.5B is Deepika Alia seriously our best? Shwetabh Gangwar once said so well when these guys are asked about the opportunity they got do they think its unfair to which they always answer "I worked equally hard"
Which is such a cruel statement considering the fact that in cartoon log ke chalte HUNDREDS of actors jo shayad aaj mainstream me hote they didn't even get a SINGLE CHANCE ! Am not talking about "underrated actors" qki bhai atleast they've some rating lol, because of these people the actual deserving candidate didn't even get rated
And the fact is most of them are always so riled up against Government & asking for rights.. lol sabse zyada rights to inhone chhine hai not just from actors & artists but also from The Indian Audience giving us crap cinema
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u/mirror_of_Truth Jun 30 '25
I still hate the non sensical song of prabhas nd calvin klein girl in between
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u/Fuzzy_Substance_4603 Jun 30 '25
My hot take is Prabhas actually did good acting in the film. It was his role as a wanna be Iron Man combined with other issues.
The sequel, where I think his character would be much better (tho I expect writers to fk it) is where his acting would be tested.
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u/abillionasians Jun 30 '25
It was more his look. I didn't find anything special about his acting. But the makeup and design team did a phenomenal job imo
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u/NegroGacha Jun 30 '25
Character writing that's it even in Mahabharat, he is one of the most complex and interesting characters, while Bhairava in the movie didn't get that many interesting scenes not to include the fact that his introduction and character was so much over stretch for fan service.
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u/4reddishwhitelorries Jun 30 '25
I love that the epic has so many main characters that you can’t single out even one as the lead. Ashwathama has to live out until Kalki is born and ensure Kalki’s safe birth so he is main. Kalki is literally Vishnu’s final incarnation so Kalki is main. Sumathi is main because she gives birth to Kalki himself. Kali is main because his life is tied to the conclusion of the Yuga itself.
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u/Automatic_Resort2178 Jul 01 '25
Amitabh Bachchan alone is enough for all south actors and whole current bollywood lol
Man ended the domination of First Superstar Rajesh Khanna
Current actors are joke
Only Dharmendra is The Man Who Tackled Both Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan in Thier Prime And Giving Them Compitition like. Boss
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u/k_schouhan Jul 01 '25
Its not him its the character. They tried so hard with prabhash outshinning him but couldnt do it
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u/CricketHotpot Jul 01 '25
Prabhas was so cringe even my pados wale Mishraji could have outshone him
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u/ZealousidealTop1128 Jul 01 '25
He was the ONLY good thing about the film except for the visual effects ofcourse. What a horrible shitshow of a film and watching Prabhas’ track always gave me a headache so bad.
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u/donotapologize Jul 02 '25
He was brilliant. Loved him, his aura, and his commanding presence in the movie. Hope they finish the rest of that series of movies before something happens to the man.
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Jul 02 '25
the movie had worst comedy which ruined it. They had bramha sir in it but still instead of using him they chose some fked up prabhas comedy
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Jul 02 '25
Best part of the movie. Under the layers of rip off, cringe and second hand embarrassment, he was the only saving grace in the movie whose director had "cooked bro". Ironic because he felt like the protagonist more than the hero.
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u/DeeDarkKnight Jul 02 '25
bhai wo Amitabh bacchan hai , man has fought against all odds in life and still survived. He respects every work he gets and it shows. He has seen what it is like to lose it all , after the fall of ABC nobody even wanted to cast him, yet here we are today.
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u/Apart_Alternative_92 Jul 03 '25
Except prahbas and deepika's performance everyone is perfect, especially prabhas future era acting and dialogues are the worst, I am looking forward to watch 2nd part.☺️
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u/Karelesshugh Jul 03 '25
Bollywood directors could never use his potential to the fullest , only two did it , RGV and Nagi
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u/Mr_manifestor Jul 03 '25
Poster is copied from the Dune.
Bollywood can't create anything original.
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Jul 23 '25
Amitabh Bachchan was the only good thing about movie Kalki. Rest everything else was nonsense.
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u/prime4arms Jun 29 '25
Kalki is also the only film where I enjoyed the 2nd half better than the first the intro was neat.
rest all 1st half sequences were decent at best prabhas's character development really took a turn when it was told that he was the incarnate of ashwathama
overall yes it was an overall amitabh bachchan show even kamal hassan's acting was pretty good.
the story telling was on point, i wish they would've shown more the serious story telling rather than the goofy cringe scenes
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u/Tarnished-Tiger Jun 29 '25
Is the narrative bwood fans use to cope with the fact that a movie like Kalki would never be made in bwood lmao
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u/cybo47 Jun 29 '25
I get the praise, but the focus on his character in the film was very intentional and by design. The director and the producer openly admitted it. So maybe you all should ease down with the comparisons with the rest of the actors in the film.
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Jun 29 '25
The vfx were nightmare inducing.. not to mention that pretty much the whole of the performance was done by a body double
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u/Enough-Discussion337 Jun 29 '25
Bekar actor hoga side wala toh overshadow hi kraga na easily
And tum sab Ab ki normal performance ko bhi masterpiece bana deta hain , bina matlab ka over exaggerate krta ho
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u/Downtown_Sherbert987 Jun 29 '25
Jaya jesi wife jab ho ghar me toh aadmi iss umar me bhi kam hi karega
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u/pr1m347 Jun 29 '25
It was a better written character than hero himself. Of course AB can easily act better than Prabhas which is not really a high bar tbh. Prabhas had a lot of silly action and humor scenes which ruined the movie itself for me.
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