Amitabh Bachchan recently stirred excitement among fans by appearing in his role as the immortal Ashwatthama from the upcoming film Kalki 2898 AD to announce the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024. Star Sports recently unveiled a video featuring Amitabh Bachchan embodying his character. He delivers a motivational speech to the Indian cricket team as they prepare for the tournament. The video opens with Amitabh Bachchan saying, “Yeh mahayudh hai, ab hoja tu taiyaar (This is a great battle, now prepare yourself). Amitabh Bachchan's character is seen sporting long hair and a bearded look. He can be seen wearing dishevelled clothes. His face can be seen covered in bandages.
The video features players such as Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah gearing up for the challenge ahead. It also shows glimpses of the Indian cricket team in action.
Amitabh Bachchan empowers the team with these words, “Ab ban ja veer, buland kar le apni taqdeer, dikha dum, laga dum (Now, become brave, shape your destiny, show your strength, put in the effort).” Maan mat tu jeet se kam, garv se uthe har matha, ye mahadwand hai, mahayudh, virodhi se tu nazrein mila, ab hoja tu taiyaar (Do not consider yourself less than victory, let every head rise with pride, this is a great struggle, a great battle, face the opponent eye to eye, now be prepared).”
The video also offers glimpses of the iconic moments featuring former players like Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh during India's historic T20 World Cup final victory over Pakistan in 2007.
Kalki 2898 AD features a star-studded cast including Kamal Haasan, Prabhas, Deepika Padukone and Disha Patani. The mythology-inspired sci-fi film is directed by Nag Ashwin. Backed by Aswini Dutt, Kalki 2898 AD will be released in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. The film will hit theatres on June 27.