Anna Daniels
The Eternals sounds like it could be unlike any Marvel Studios movie we’ve seen before. An ambitious superhero movie that follows a race of immortal god-like beings, The Eternals will be big, wild, and cosmic. And it might have a musical sequence? According to star Kumail Nanjiani, The Eternals will have a Bollywood dance sequence, which the Pakistani-American will naturally be participating in.
Attendees at 2019’s CCXP in São Paulo, Brazil noticed some footage from The Eternals that was a little out of place in a typical comic book movie. According to Collider, the footage showed Nanjiani “decked out in colorful garb and makeup, dancing, surrounded by ensemble dancers in a seemingly Bollywood-inspired scene.” A Bollywood scene? In the MCU? It seems like the kind of weird fantasy sequence that a Marvel movie has never done before. But Nanjiani explained in an interview with the New Hollywood podcast that it’s all real in the movie:
“A lot of it takes place in the present day. My character, for instance, is like ‘OK we’re supposed to keep a low profile, no one should know.’ So I become a Bollywood movie star, that’s my secret identity. We’re supposed to keep quiet and I’ve become the biggest Bollywood movie star.”
Directed by Chloé Zhao, The Eternals follows a group of immortal aliens who have been secretly living among humans on Earth for the past 7,000 years. But when their evil counterparts, the Deviants, arrive to threaten humanity, the immortal Celestials — of whom Nanjiani’s cosmic-powered Kingo is a member — must rise up to protect them.
Okay, so maybe not a fantasy sequence, nor is it an all-out musical sequence (when will we get a Marvel musical?) but it is still pretty wild stuff for a Marvel movie. Bollywood movies are the flashiest form of cinema, often featuring three-hour runtimes and intricately choreographed musical numbers that feature multiple costume changes. And Nanjiani, who has never starred in a Bollywood film before, assured that he trained to do service to Bollywood.
““I took months of Bollywood dance classes to prepare for that,” Nanjiani said “It’s really a workout… and you know, there’s like 52 dancers, and 51 of them are professional dancers, and then there’s me!”
It would be hilarious that the one reason Nanjiani got super ripped was because he had to dance in a Bollywood scene. But we’re not complaining.
The Eternals is set to hit theaters on November 6, 2020.
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