Kumail Nanjiani Teases The Eternals' Big Bollywood Dance Number

In a recent interview with the New Hollywood podcast, The Eternals star Kumail Nanjiani has revealed new details about his character Kingo, teasing that the fans should expect a massive Bollywood dance number where he attended dance classes for months in order to prepare for the big scene. The Oscar nominee confirmed that like in the original comics, Kingo will indeed still be a film star. However the only difference is that in the upcoming MCU film, Nanjiani’s Kingo will be the biggest Bollywood movie star.

“A lot of it takes place in the present day,” Nanjiani said (via Comic Book Movie). “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 further explained how important the Bollywood dance number scene is for representation, revealing that he was very moved by how the film is so diverse and inclusive where around 50 South Asian actors can all appear in a scene for a big budget film. “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.”

The Eternals is based upon Jack Kirby’s comic of the same name. That series introduced a group of immortals called the Eternals and their rivals, the Deviants. Within the comics, Thanos and the other inhabitants of Titan were also Eternals. It’s unclear if the MCU will maintain that connection.

During the 2019 CCXP, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige revealed a few details of the film’s plot and characters, confirming that the Celestials and Deviants are indeed included in the film. The Celestials are known as a powerful race of aliens who played a huge role in key events in human history. They are the reasons why the Eternals and the Eternals’ evil counterparts Deviants were created.

“[The Eternals is] an epic that spans 7,000 years of human history, has cosmic connotations, and changes everything we know about the MCU,” Feige explained. “It’s ambitious, and takes…from present-day to Mesopotamia to all sorts of locations and time periods and really feels like nothing we’ve done before.”

“We will see the Celestials in their full, true, enormous power in Eternals, yes,” Feige said.“Deviants are in the film. The Deviants in the comic book mythology were…extremely important plans of the Celestials…and we will see Deviants that look unlike anything we’ve seen in the comics. This is a new form of Deviants that we’ll see in the movie.”

The film will feature a star-studded cast led by Academy Award-winning actress Angelina Jolie and Game of Thrones alum Richard Madden, who are headlining as Thena and Ikaris, respectively. It will also as star Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick) as Kingo, Lauren Ridloff (The Walking Dead) as Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta) as Phastos, Salma Hayek (Frida) as Ajak, Lia McHugh (The Lodge) as Sprite, Don Lee (Train to Busan) as Gilgamesh, Gemma Chan as Sersi, Barry Keoghan as Druig and Kit Harington (Game of Thrones) as Dane Whitman/ Black Knight.

Chloe Zhao is directing Eternals from a script by Matthew K. Firpo and Ryan Firpo. It will hit theaters on November 6, 2020.

Recommended Reading: The Eternals by Jack Kirby Vol. 1