Eternals actor Kumail Nanjiani (who recently drummed up some heat for the film by showing off his superhuman physique ) appeared on Deadline‘s New Hollywood podcast, where he shed some light on the plot of Eternals, and discussed getting into Bollywood dance shape for a particularly memorable sequence.
“We were sent to Earth thousands of years ago to protect Earth from these monsters, the Deviants,” Nanjiani explained, echoing part of the film’s official synopsis. “A lot of it takes place in the present day. By this point, we’ve been on Earth for along time. and 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.”
Nanjiani’s Kingo appeared in part of a large scale musical dance sequence in footage from Eternals shown last year at Comic Con Experience in Brazil, in which the actor shows off his hard-earned Bollywood chops.
“I took months of Bollywood dance classes to prepare for that,” Nanjiani said, explaining how important it was to join other people of south Asian regional heritage to celebrate part of their shared culture in a superhero movie. “I remember the first time I went to rehearsal I walked in and there were all these South Asian people…I was so moved immediately. I was like, ‘Oh my God, we went from none of us [in the Marvel Cinematic Universe] to so many in one scene.”
In fact, Nanjiani highlighted the diversity of Eternals‘ cast as one of the film’s most unique aspects.
“We have the first gay superhero, the first south Asian superhero, the first deaf superhero, the first Korean superhero, all in this mainstream Hollywood film.”
Eternals is due out in theaters November 6, 2020.